Sunday, 5 October 2014

Woodblock Printing

One of the most appreciated innovations of the Tang and Song dynasties were the inventions of the woodblock printing and the moveable type.  The first known notion of woodblock printing was in China around the year AD 600, and it was probably inspired by the older practice of seals to make impressions on clay and melted wax. This process of block printing on paper was perfected within the lifespan of the Tang Dynasty.
                                           
With the printing process also came a sophisticated paper industry with a more wide array of paper materials with different qualities for specific projects.  The original wood blocks were made from pear and date trees. The process for creating a wood block was quite straightforward. The text (or glyph) was first written on a piece of paper. This was then glued to a block of wood, and by the use of a knife the characters on the paper were carefully etched on the wood. The surface of the wood block was then inked and covered with a sheet of paper. After application of gentle pressure to the paper the character would be printed onto the paper.

The first use of woodblock printing was for the printing of calendars, calligraphy and charms, as well as for books on agriculture and medicine. The oldest existing printing in wood blocks that survived is the Mugujeonggwang great Dharani sutra that dates back to between AD 704 and 751. In the year 762, the first printed books were sold in the markets of Chang’an, the capital of Tang. Printed receipts were available in the markets for business transactions and tax payments.

Although woodblock printing was an important factor in the spread of information around China, it was very time consuming. These limitations led to the invention of moveable-type printing. This was invented between 1041 and 1048 AD (the Song Dynasty) by an experienced wood block printer by the name of Bi Sheng. He decided to make a clay type for each character, then he had them fired to get hard. A layer of resin, wax, and paper ash mixture was placed on the bottom of an open iron box to hold the type with characters facing up. The bottom of the box was heated to melt the wax mixture, and simultaneously all the typeface was pressed down with a wood board to ensure that the types were level. Finally the tops of the clay types were inked, and the mechanism would then be ready for printing just like a wood block. Afterward the clay types could be disassembled and reused. 


links: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodblock_printing
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ukiy/hd_ukiy.htm

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the information and additional knowledge about wood block printing..

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  2. with due respect, allow me to use this picture and information for additional information in a module for students... Thank you and god bless!

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