Group D

The Advent of Print and the Rise of Literacy

Crowley and Heyer: Chapters 12, 13, and 14

The Invention of Printing

The Invention of Printing by Lewis Mumford

Introduction

Invention of print second only to the clock according to Mumford

Human intervention in the process is eliminated except at the beginning: the production of the work, and at the end, through it’s consumption

Mumford states that a society must abandon slavery and be ready to distribute literacy, which was once available only to social elites, to all levels of society for literacy to truly become universal through cheap and widespread production

The invention of the printing press saw the elimination of the calligrapher from the process of bookmaking within a century

Printing unified the process of reading; Mumford states reading would have been a very difficult task if a person had to overcome understanding a new form of handwriting on every page they read

A handwritten manuscript lost is effectiveness due to the length of time taken to produce a volume and the individualism of the handwriting employed A work could not be widely distributed or

understood when handwritten Impersonality of print is a benefit to the

development of literacy

Print must underemphasize personality The printer must “convey the meaning

of the writer to the reader, with the least intrusion of his own personality”

The emphasis of the author is heighted considerably through downplaying the calligrapher

Mumford claims that society is falling back into illiteracy due to television and radio, and that this is the only way in which we will realize the benefit of the printed word

Final invention will be a “scanner” that produces print without the need for a typographer Essentially describing the automatic processes

enabled by the computer

Questions

Does the advent of print require a society which already rejects slavery to develop fully, or does the spread of print to all classes breaks down class barriers itself?

Are television and radio truly destroying the benefits of print, or are they simply conveying stories and information in more modern forms?

The Rise of the Reading Public

The Rise of the Reading Public by Elizabeth Eisenstein

The printing press made history, but didn’t make history

Printing was such a pivotal element of human development, yet there are very few accounts of its detailed effects on civilization

Studies about the history of printing are not integrated into the rest of historical literature

The exact nature and impact of printing on Western civilization is subject to interpretation.

It is obvious that the press made changes, although there are no theories of an explicit and systematic form that outline how these changes took shape, and how access to printed literature changed the way people learned, thought, and perceived

Question

Do you think that there are ways that historians could have better documented how the printing press changed human thought, learning, and perception?

Before 1494, the Carthusians of Cologne turned to local printers to expand their vocation Reformed Benedictine orders also kept local

printers busy Scriptorium to printing shop The revival of monastic scripture during the

century before Gutenberg was the last revival of its kind

Marshall McLuhan: Consequences to Print

Discourse replaced by silent scanning (reading)

Face-to-face contacts replaced by impersonal interactions

Claims that we need to think less metaphorically and abstractly

Paul Saenger: Silent Reading

Printing did not introduce silent reading, encouraged self-teaching

Textbook industries flourished, but classroom lectures never died

Increasing option to silent publication changed the character of somespoken words

Storytellers replaced by the literate villager who could read aloud

Mostly consumed by the hearing public Sunday paper replaced church-going The monthly gazette (newspaper) was

succeeded by a weekly to dailypaper

Rise of personal isolation where community becomes more privatized

Public reading becoming rare Competition between older, restricted center

of faithful groups andnew forms of group identities

Less public participation in civic ceremonies due to print

Rise in print and engravings made loyalty spread their message easier

Questions to Ponder

The printing press helped spread the religious word. Is this a factorfor a rise in public literacy?

Did silent reading lead to an impersonal means of communication?

Influenced through print reading, was there an increase number ofpeople in the teaching profession? The increase of educationalinstitutions?

Early Modern Literacies

Early Modern Literacies by Harvey J. Graff

Print, Reform, and Reformation

According to the text, the protestant Reformation was one of the biggest factors in the development of literacy.

Two of the primary results of the reformation were the printing press and use of the vernacular

Protestant Reformation: A Christian reform movement that took place in Europe in 1517 which contributed to the development of literacy.

Ninety-five theses: a document written by Martin Luther that sparked the birth of Protestanism.

“The availability of printed matter did not cause an increase in literacy; it increased the flow of communications and raised the probability of more and more persons’ receiving information. The use of printing insured that Luther’s theses and later writings were rapidly and widely circulated.” (Graff 104)

Discussion Question

What other factors/channels of communication might have influenced the Reformation?

Literacy in Colonial North America

New England

Those people with religious, familial, occupational, demographic, geographic, or economic reasons, and/or from places with higher-than-average rates of literacy, were more likely to migrate the long distance over to New England.

Some stats for you…

In the 17th century in New England, male literacy rates were at about 60%

The literacy rate went up almost one-half to almost all of the population from mid 17th century to 18th century

About one third of women were literate in 1670.

The Puritan religion was a big part of the rise in literacy in New England because... In the early 17th century, it was made a

requirement for children to have schooling.

“Literacy was a universal prerequisite to spiritual preparation” (pg, 110)

Schooling was seen as a sign of wealth, commercialization and as a institution of maturity

It was traditional and religiously oriented Children were taught in their households

until they were old enough to be taken to church and then placed in school

“Literacy was instrumental to the formation of modern personality characteristics in the new colonies.” (pg.111)

The biggest rise in literacy came in the 18th century because in the 17th century, a lot of the Puritan culture was still oral.

Reading and writing were not daily activities

Virginia and Maryland

The rich were usually literate but only about half of the poor were

This number rose to about two thirds of the poor in mid 18th century

The schooling class was biased

Literacy was not needed for work

Placement of the population was all over which made it difficult to set up any type of schooling or schools.

Book ownership and libraries were limited to the elite