Editing Movable type (section)

=== Metal movable type ===
====China====
[[File:五贯宝卷.jpg|thumb|Copperplate printed 5000-[[Chinese cash (currency unit)|cash]] [[paper money]] in year 1215 ([[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]]) with bronze movable type counterfeit markers]]

At least 13 material finds in China indicate the invention of bronze movable type printing in China no later than the 12th century,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://news.ifeng.com/history/zhongguogudaishi/special/huoziyinshua/ |title = 韩国剽窃活字印刷发明权只是第一步 |website = news.ifeng.com |access-date = 2014-05-23 |archive-date = 2020-02-05 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200205160037/http://news.ifeng.com/history/zhongguogudaishi/special/huoziyinshua/ |url-status = live }}</ref> with the country producing large-scale bronze-plate-printed paper money and formal official documents issued by the [[Jin dynasty (1115-1234)|Jin]] (1115–1234) and [[Southern Song]] (1127–1279) dynasties with embedded bronze metal types for anti-counterfeit markers. Such paper-money printing might date back to the 11th-century [[jiaozi (currency)|''jiaozi'']] of [[Northern Song]] (960–1127).<ref name="Jixing" />{{rp|41–54}}

The typical example of this kind of bronze movable type embedded copper-block printing is a printed "check" of the Jin dynasty with two square holes for embedding two bronze movable-type characters, each selected from 1,000 different characters, such that each printed paper note has a different combination of markers. A copper-block printed note dated between 1215 and 1216 in the collection of [[Luo Zhenyu]]'s ''Pictorial Paper Money of the Four Dynasties'', 1914, shows two special characters—one called ''Ziliao'', the other called ''Zihao''—for the purpose of preventing counterfeiting; over the ''Ziliao'' there is a small character (輶) printed with movable copper type, while over the ''Zihao'' there is an empty square hole—apparently the associated copper metal type was lost. Another sample of [[Song dynasty]] money of the same period in the collection of the [[Shanghai Museum]] has two empty square holes above ''Ziliao'' as well as ''Zihou'', due to the loss of the two copper movable types. Song dynasty bronze block embedded with bronze metal movable type printed paper money was issued on a large scale and remained in circulation for a long time.<ref>''A History of Moveable Type Printing in China'', by Pan Jixing, Professor of the Institute for History of Science, Academy of Science, Beijing, China, English Abstract, p.&nbsp;273.</ref>

The 1298 book ''Zao Huozi Yinshufa'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《造活字印書法》}}) by the [[Yuan dynasty]] (1271–1368) official [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen]] mentions [[tin]] movable type, used probably since the [[Southern Song]] dynasty (1127–1279), but this was largely experimental.<ref>{{cite book |author = Wang Zhen |author-link = Wang Zhen (official) |year = 1298 |title = Zao Huozi Yinshufa (《造活字印書法》) |quote = 近世又铸锡作字, 以铁条贯之 (rendering: In the modern times, there's melten Tin Movable type, and linked them with iron bar)}}</ref> It was unsatisfactory due to its incompatibility with the [[ink]]ing process.<ref name="tsien" />{{rp|217}} But by the late 15th century these concerns were resolved and bronze type was widely used in Chinese printing.<ref>{{harvnb|Tsien|1985|p=211}}</ref>

During the [[Mongol Empire]] (1206–1405), printing using movable type spread from China to Central Asia.{{clarify |reason = which others? names of cultures please. It beats saying "among others..." |date = February 2012 }} The [[Uyghur people|Uyghurs]] of Central Asia used movable type, their script type adopted from the Mongol language, some with Chinese words printed between the pages—strong evidence that the books were printed in China.<ref name="TsienACH">''Chinese Paper and Printing, A Cultural History'', by Tsien, Tsuen-Hsuin</ref>

During the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644), [[Hua Sui]] in 1490 used bronze type in printing books.<ref name="tsien" />{{rp|212}} In 1574 the massive 1000-volume encyclopedia ''[[Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era]]'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《太平御覧》}}) was printed with bronze movable type.

In 1725 the [[Qing dynasty]] government made 250,000 bronze movable-type characters and printed 64 sets of the encyclopedic ''[[Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China]]'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《古今圖書集成》}}). Each set consisted of 5,040 volumes, making a total of 322,560 volumes printed using movable type.<ref name="TsienACH" />

==== Korea ====
[[File:JikjiType.gif|thumb|Recreated Korean movable type from 1377 as used for the ''[[Jikji]]'']]
[[File:Korean book-Jikji-Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters-1377.jpg|thumb|Printed pages of the ''Jikji'']]

In 1234 the first books known to have been printed in metallic type set were published in [[Goryeo dynasty]] Korea. They form a set of ritual books, ''Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun'', compiled by [[Ch'oe Yun-ŭi]].<ref name="christensen">{{cite web
 |url = http://www.rightreading.com/printing/gutenberg.asia/gutenberg-asia-1-introduction.htm
 |title = Did East Asian Printing Traditions Influence the European Renaissance?
 |author = Thomas Christensen
 |access-date = 2006-10-18
 |year = 2007
 |publisher = Arts of Asia Magazine (to appear)
 |archive-date = 2019-08-11
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190811145633/http://www.rightreading.com/printing/gutenberg.asia/gutenberg-asia-1-introduction.htm
 |url-status = live
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
 |last = Sohn
 |first = Pow-Key
 |title = Printing Since the 8th Century in Korea
 |date = Summer 1993
 |journal = Koreana
 |volume = 7
 |issue = 2
 |pages = 4–9
 |url = http://koreana.kf.or.kr/popup.asp?article_id=309
 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

While these books have not survived, ''[[Jikji]]'', printed in [[Korea]] in 1377, is believed to be the world's oldest metallic movable type-printed book.<ref>{{cite book |first= Michael |last= Twyman |title = The British Library Guide to Printing: History and Techniques |location = London |publisher = The British Library |year = 1998 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KXoaalwyOjAC&pg=PA21 |page = 21 |isbn= 9780802081797 }}</ref>
However, 2022 research suggests that a copy of the [[Song of Enlightenment]] with Commentaries by Buddhist Monk ''Nammyeong Cheon,'' printed 138 years before ''Jikji'' in 1239'','' may have been printed in metal type.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yoo |first=Woo Sik |date=2022-05-27 |title=The World's Oldest Book Printed by Movable Metal Type in Korea in 1239: The Song of Enlightenment |journal=Heritage |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=1089–1119 |doi=10.3390/heritage5020059 |doi-access=free |issn=2571-9408}}</ref> The Asian Reading Room of the [[Library of Congress]] in Washington, D.C., displays examples of this metal type.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/world-record.html World Treasures of the Library of Congress] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829232346/http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/world-record.html |date=2016-08-29 }}. Retrieved 26 December 2006.</ref> Commenting on the invention of metallic types by Koreans, French scholar Henri-Jean Martin described this as "[extremely similar] to Gutenberg's".<ref name="Briggs 2002 pp.15-23">Briggs, Asa and Burke, Peter (2002) ''A Social History of the Media: from Gutenberg to the Internet'', Polity, Cambridge, pp.&nbsp;15–23, 61–73.</ref> However, Korean movable metal type printing differed from European printing in the materials used for the type, punch, matrix, mould and in method of making an impression.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://origin-archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla72/papers/085-Lee-en.pdf |title=Korean Typography in 15th Century |author=Hee-Jae LEE |publisher=72ND IFLA GENERAL CONFERENCE AND COUNCIL |at=table on page 15 |date=20–24 August 2006 |location=Seoul, Korea |access-date=26 August 2020 |archive-date=4 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804030745/http://origin-archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla72/papers/085-Lee-en.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The techniques for bronze casting, used at the time for making coins (as well as bells and statues) were adapted to making metal type. The [[Joseon dynasty]] scholar Seong Hyeon (성현, 成俔, 1439–1504) records the following description of the Korean font-casting process:
{{blockquote|At first, one cuts letters in beech wood. One fills a trough level with fine sandy [clay] of the reed-growing seashore. Wood-cut letters are pressed into the sand, then the impressions become negative and form letters [moulds]. At this step, placing one trough together with another, one pours the molten bronze down into an opening. The fluid flows in, filling these negative moulds, one by one becoming type. Lastly, one scrapes and files off the irregularities, and piles them up to be arranged.<ref name="christensen" />}}

A potential solution to the linguistic and cultural bottleneck that held back movable type in Korea for 200 years appeared in the early 15th century—a generation before Gutenberg would begin working on his own movable-type invention in Europe—when [[Sejong the Great of Joseon|Sejong the Great]] devised a simplified [[alphabet]] of 24 characters ([[hangul]]) for use by the common people, which could have made the typecasting and compositing process more feasible. But Korea's cultural elite, "appalled at the idea of losing [[hanja]], the badge of their elitism", stifled the adoption of the new alphabet.<ref name="Man" />

A "[[Confucianism|Confucian]] prohibition on the commercialization of printing" also obstructed the proliferation of movable type, restricting the distribution of books produced using the new method to the government.<ref name="Burke" /> The technique was restricted to use by the royal foundry for official state publications only, where the focus was on reprinting Chinese classics lost in 1126 when Korea's libraries and palaces had perished in a conflict between dynasties.<ref name="Burke">Burke</ref>

Scholarly debate and speculation has occurred as to whether Eastern movable type spread to Europe between the late 14th century and early 15th centuries.<ref name="christensen" /><ref name="meggs58-69">{{cite book | last = von Polenz | first = Peter | title = Deutsche Sprachgeschichte vom Spätmittelalter bis zur Gegenwart: I. Einführung, Grundbegriffe, Deutsch in der frühbürgerlichen Zeit | location = New York/Berlin | publisher = Walter de Gruyter GmbH | year = 1991 | language = de }}</ref>{{rp|58–69}}<ref>{{cite book |author = Juan González de Mendoza |author-link = Juan González de Mendoza |title = Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China |url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k75292n/f2.image |year = 1585 |language = es }}
</ref><ref name="Thomas Franklin Carter">
[[Thomas Franklin Carter]], ''The Invention of Printing in China and its Spread Westward'', The Ronald Press, NY 2nd ed. 1955, pp.&nbsp;176–178
</ref><ref name="McDermott" /> For example, authoritative historians [[Frances Gies and Joseph Gies]] claimed that "The Asian priority of invention movable type is now firmly established, and that Chinese-Korean technique, or a report of it traveled westward is almost certain."<ref name="Frances&Joseph">[[Frances Gies and Joseph Gies|Gies, Frances and Gies, Joseph]] (1994) ''Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Age'', New York : HarperCollins, {{ISBN|0-06-016590-1}}, p.&nbsp;241.</ref> However, Joseph P. McDermott claimed that "No text indicates the presence or knowledge of any kind of Asian movable type or movable type imprint in Europe before 1450. The material evidence is even more conclusive."<ref name="McDermott">{{cite book |editor-last=McDermott |editor-first=Joseph P. |title=The Book Worlds of East Asia and Europe, 1450–1850: Connections and Comparisons|publisher=Hong Kong University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-988-8208-08-1 |pages=25–26}}</ref>

==== Europe ====
{{Main|History of Western typography|Spread of European movable type printing}}

[[File:Printing towns incunabula.svg|thumb|The [[Printing Revolution]] in the 15th century: Within several decades around 270 European towns took up movable-type printing.<ref name="ISTC">{{cite web | url = http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/istc/index.html | title = Incunabula Short Title Catalogue | publisher = [[British Library]] | access-date = 2 March 2011 | archive-date = 12 March 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110312185857/http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/istc/index.html | url-status = live }}</ref>]]
[[File:European Output of Printed Books ca. 1450–1800.svg|thumb|European output of movable-type printing from [[Johannes Gutenberg|Gutenberg]] to 1800<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Buringh |first1= Eltjo |last2= van Zanden |first2= Jan Luiten |title= Charting the 'Rise of the West': Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries |journal= The Journal of Economic History |volume= 69 |issue= 2 |year= 2009 |pages= 409–445 |jstor= 40263962 |postscript= p.&nbsp;417, table 2.|doi= 10.1017/S0022050709000837 |s2cid= 154362112 }}</ref>]]

[[Johannes Gutenberg]] of [[Mainz]], Germany, invented the [[printing press]], using a metal movable type system. Gutenberg, as a [[goldsmith]], knew techniques of [[Punchcutting|cutting punches]] for making coins from moulds. Between 1436 and 1450 he developed hardware and techniques for casting letters from [[Matrix (printing)|matrices]] using a device called the [[hand mould]].<ref name="meggs58-69" /> Gutenberg's key invention and contribution to movable-type printing in Europe, the hand mould, was the first practical means of making cheap copies of letterpunches in the vast quantities needed to print complete books, making the movable-type printing process a viable enterprise.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Before Gutenberg, scribes copied books by hand on scrolls and paper, or print-makers printed texts from hand-carved wooden blocks. Either process took a long time; even a small book could take months to complete. Because carved letters or blocks were flimsy and the wood susceptible to ink, the blocks had a limited lifespan.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Gutenberg and his associates developed oil-based inks ideally suited to printing with a [[printing press|press]] on paper, and the first Latin [[typeface]]s. His method of casting type may have differed from the hand-mould used in subsequent decades. Detailed analysis of the type used in his 42-line Bible has revealed irregularities in some of the characters that cannot be attributed to ink spread or type wear under the pressure of the press. Scholars conjecture that the type pieces may have been cast from a series of matrices made with a series of individual stroke punches, producing many different versions of the same glyph.<ref>{{cite conference |first = Blaise |last = Agüera y Arcas |author2= Paul Needham |title = Computational analytical bibliography |book-title = Proceedings Bibliopolis Conference ''The future history of the book'' |publisher = [[Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands|Koninklijke Bibliotheek]] |date = November 2002 |location = [[The Hague]] ([[Netherlands]])}}</ref>{{request quotation|date=January 2019}}[[File:Miklós Andor in the page-setting room of Athenaeum Printing House - cca. 1920 (1).tiff|thumb|Editing with movable metal – {{circa|1920}}]] It has also been suggested{{by whom|date=January 2019}} that the method used by Gutenberg involved using a single punch to make a mould, but the mould was such that the process of taking the type out disturbed the casting, causing variants and anomalies, and that the punch-matrix system came into use possibly around the 1470s.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.open2.net/home/view?entityID=15599&jsp=themed_learning%2Fexpanding_viewer&sessionID=-1161756493749&entityName=object |title= What Did Gutenberg Invent?—Discovery |access-date= 2006-10-25 |year= 2006 |publisher= BBC / [[Open University]] }}{{dead link|date= June 2016|bot= medic}}{{cbignore|bot= medic}}</ref>
This raises the possibility that the development of movable type in the West may have been progressive rather than a single innovation.<ref>{{cite book  |first = James L.  |last = Adams |title = Flying Buttresses, Entropy and O-Rings: the World of an Engineer |year = 1993 |publisher = [[Harvard University Press]] |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xfpj6Ad9Jh0C |page = 80 |quote = There are printed materials from Holland that supposedly predate the Mainz shop. Early work on movable type in France was also under way.|isbn = 9780674306899}}</ref>

Gutenberg's movable-type printing system spread rapidly across Europe, from the single Mainz printing press in 1457 to 110 presses by 1480, with 50 of them in [[Italy]]. [[Venice]] quickly became the centre of typographic and printing activity. Significant contributions came from [[Nicolas Jenson]], [[Francesco Griffo]], [[Aldus Manutius]], and other printers of late 15th-century Europe. Gutenberg's movable type printing system offered a number of advantages over previous movable type techniques. The lead-antimony-tin alloy used by Gutenberg had half the melting temperature of bronze,<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://letterpressprinting.com.au/page40.htm | title=Machine Composition and Type Metal | access-date=2019-03-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190303115141/http://letterpressprinting.com.au/page40.htm | archive-date=2019-03-03 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.onlinemetals.com/meltpt.cfm |title=Melting Points of Metals |website=Onlinemetals.com |url-status=dead |access-date=2019-03-07 |archive-date=2019-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307112302/https://www.onlinemetals.com/meltpt.cfm}}</ref> making it easier to cast the type and aided the use of reusable metal matrix moulds instead of the expendable sand and clay moulds. The use of [[antimony]] alloy increased hardness of the type compared to lead and tin<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pnjresources.com/Hardness%20of%20Lead%20Alloys.htm |title=Hardness of Lead Alloys |access-date=2019-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226222939/http://www.pnjresources.com/Hardness%20of%20Lead%20Alloys.htm |archive-date=2019-02-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref> for improved durability of the type. The reusable metal matrix allowed a single experienced worker to produce 4,000 to 5,000 individual types a day,<ref>''Scientific American'' "Supplement" Volume 86 July 13, 1918 page 26, HATHI Trust Digital Library</ref><ref>Legros, Lucien Alphonse; Grant, John Cameron (1916) ''Typographical Printing-surfaces: The Technology and Mechanism of Their Production''. Longmans, Green, and Co. p. 301</ref> while Wang Chen had artisans working two years to make 60,000 wooden types.<ref>Childressm, Diana (2009) ''Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press''. Twenty-First Century Books, Minneapolis, p. 49</ref>