AMITY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, SAKET

CLASS X
HISTORY- PRINT CULTURE AND THE MODERN WORLD
HANDOUT

Short Type Questions

Question : Explain any three features of handwritten manuscripts before the age of print in India.
: The three features of the handwritten manuscripts before the age of print in India are:

a. In India, there is rich and old tradition of handwritten manuscripts in different languages which were copied on
palm leaves or on handmade papers.

b. These manuscripts were highly expensive, fragile and needed careful handling.

c. These were preserved by pressing between the wooden covers or sewn together.

d. Reading the manuscripts was not easy as they were written in different styles which limits its use.

Question : Who was Martin Luther? What was his contribution to the Protestant Reformation?

: Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German monk, priest and professor of theology. In the following way, his writings
brought reforms in religious field i. Martin Luther wrote Ninety Five Theses criticizing the practices and rituals of the
Roman Catholic Church.

ii. These were reproduced in large numbers and read by a large number of people.

iii. This led to the division within the church into Catholics and Protestants.

iv. This print brought about a new intellectual atmosphere, which helped in the spread of new ideas. This also paved
the way for the reformation in the practices of the church.

v. The message in the Bible began to be reinterpreted.

vi. Print encouraged people to think reasonably and question the customs followed in the Church, which enraged the
Roman Catholics.

Question : Who was Menocchio? Why and how did he face the wrath of the Roman Catholic Church?

: i. Menocchio was an Italian miller.

ii. In the sixteenth century, Menocchio began to read books that were available in his locality.

iii. Menocchio reinterpreted the message of the Bible and formulated a view of God and Creation enraging the
Roman Catholic Church.

iv. When the Roman Church began its inquisition to repress heretical ideas, Menocchio was hauled up twice and
ultimately executed.

Question : It is difficult for us to imagine a world without printed matter. Justify the statement giving any three
suitable arguments.

: It is difficult for us to imagine a world without printed matter because:

i. We find print everywhere around us in books, newspapers, journals, magazines, famous paintings, official circulars,
calendars, diaries, advertisements and cinema posters.

ii. We read printed literature, books, novels and stories. Newspapers are being read every day and track public
debates.

iii. Printed matter helps in preservation and dissemination of history, scientific knowledge and culture, etc.

Question : Write about the different innovations in the printing technology during the 19th century.

: There was a series of new innovations in printing technology through the 19th century:

i. By the mid-19th century, Richard M Hoe of New York had perfected the powerdriven cylindrical press. It was
capable of printing 8000 sheets per hour which was specially useful for printing newspapers.

ii. In the late 19th century, the offset press was developed which could print upto six colours at a time.

iii. From the beginning of the 20th century, electrically operated presses accelerated printing operations.

iv. Later, some other improvements were developed e.g. methods of feeding paper improved, the quality of plates
became better, automatic paper reels and photoelectric controls of the colour register were introduced.

v. The 19th century periodicals serialised important novels, which gave birth to a particular way of writing novels.

Long Type Questions

Question : Examine the reasons for a virtual reading mania in Europe in the 18th century?

: The following were the reasons for a virtual reading mania in Europe in the 18th century.

i. Through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, literacy rates went up in most parts of Europe. Churches of
different denominations set up schools in villages, carrying literacy to peasants and artisans. By the end of the
eighteenth century, in some parts of Europe, literacy rates were as high as 60 to 80 per cent.

ii. New forms of popular literature appeared in print targeting new audiences. There were almanacks or ritual
calendars, along with ballads and folk-tales. In England, penny chapbooks were sold for a penny so that even the
poor could buy them. In France, there were Bibliotheque Bleue, which were low priced books.

iii. People believed that books were the means to spread knowledge. The periodical press combined information
about current affairs with entertainment.

Newspapers and journals carried information about wars and trade, as well as news of developments in other places.

iv. Scientists like Issac Newton could influence a large circle of people. The writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire and
Jean Jacques Rousseau were widely read. Their idea of reason and rationality was popular among the people.

Question : "Print led to intense controversies between social and religious reformers and Hindu orthodoxy.”
Support the statement with example.

: Print led to intense controversies between social and religious reformers and Hindu orthodoxy over matters like
widow immolation, monotheism, brahmanical priesthood and idolatry.
i. In Bengal as the debate developed tracts and newspapers proliferated circulating a variety of arguments.

ii. To reach a wider audience, the ideas were printed in the everyday spoken language of local people.

iii. Raja Rammohan Roy published the ‘Sambad Kaumud’ from 1821 and the Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the
‘Samachar Chandrika' to oppose the opinions of Rammohan Roy.

iv. From 1822 two Persian newspapers were published, ‘Jam-i-Jahan Nama' and 'Shamsul Akhba'.

Question : Give reasons for the following :

(a) Martin Luther was in favour of print, and spoke out in praise of it.
(b) The Roman Catholic Church began keeping an Index of Prohibited books from the mid sixteenth century.
(c) Gandhi said the fight for ‘Swaraj is a fight for the liberty of speech, liberty of the press and freedom of
association.
:
(a) Because it was the printing press which gave him a chance to criticise many of the practices and rituals of the
Roman Catholic Church.
(b) Print and popular literature encouraged many distinctive interpretations of religious faiths and ideas. In the 16th
century, Manocchio, a miller in Italy began to read books available readily in his locality. He gave a new interpretation
of the Bible, and formulated a view of God, and creation that enraged the Roman Catholic Church. As a result,
Manocchio was hauled up twice, and ultimately executed when the Roman Church began its inquisition, and to
repress the therapeutical ideas. After this several control measures were imposed on publishers and booksellers. In
1558, the Roman Church decided to maintain an Index of prohibited books.
(c) Mahatma Gandhi uttered these words in 1922 during the Non Cooperation Movement (1920-1922). Because
according to him without the liberty of speech, the liberty of the press and freedom of association, no nation can
even survive. If the country was to get free from foreign domination, then these liberties were quite important. If
there is no liberty of speech, liberty of press and freedom of association, then there is no nationalism. Nationalism
requires these three prerequisites for its survival. Mahatma Gandhi fully knew the fact. That is why, he said so,
particularly about these three freedoms. How could one ever think of nationalism in the absence of these three
essential conditions ?

Question : Write short notes to show that you know about:

(a) The Erasmus’s idea of the printed book.
(b) The Vernacular Press Act.
:
(a) Erasmus’s idea of the printed book : Erasmus, a Latin scholar and a Catholic reformer, who criticised the excesses
of Catholicism,but kept his distance from, Luther, expressed a deep anxiety about printing. He wrote in Adages
(1508) :
‘To what corner of the world do they not fly, these swarms of new books ? It may be that one here and there
contributes something worth knowing, but the very multitude of them is hurtful to scholarship, because it creates a
glut and even in good things, satiety is most harmful… [printers] fill the world with books, not just trifling things (such
as I write, perhaps), but stupid, ignorant, slanderous, scandalous, raving, irreligious and seditious books, and the
number of them is such that even the valuable publications lose their value.’
(b) The Vernacular Press Act : The revolt of 1857 forced the government to curb the freedom of the press. After the
revolt, enraged Englishmen demanded a clamp down on the ‘native’ press. As vernacular newspapers became
assertively nationalist, the colonial government began debating measures of strict control. In 1878, the Vernacular
Press Act was passed, on the model of Irish Press Laws. It provided the government with extensive rights to censor
reports and editorials in the vernacular press. The government started keeping regular track of the vernacular
newspapers published in different provinces. When a report was judged as seditious, the newspapers were given a
warning and if the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized, and the printing machinery could be
confiscated.