Revolutions in Communication: The Printing Revolution (Section I)

Pre-Wired for Oral Culture

Humans possess language skills with a long evolutionary history; language is considered pre-wired in the brain, while reading and writing are learned capabilities.
Evidence for pre-wired language: functional MRI shows language-specific brain segments; humans have a vast horizon of symbolic communication compared to primates (e.g., chimpanzees) who have limited symbols.
Oral culture dominated communication for most of human history: songs, folklore, history, and traditions transmitted orally, often relying on mnemonic devices, communal storytelling, and performance to preserve and transmit knowledge across generations.
Thucydides’ caution on history: study history to guide future possibilities, especially as new communications revolutions unfold.
Marshall McLuhan’s idea of radio as a new oral culture, potentially re-tribalizing society through more communal, conversational forms (fireside chats).
Modern visual/aural media as extensions of oral culture; fantasy genres (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings) as contemporary means of fostering community and connection.
Oliver Goldsmith’s The Deserted Village and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart cited as lamentations of lost traditional communities under modern forces.
Anne Pancake’s Strange as This Weather Has Been cited as a contemporary example of social disintegration linked to economic and political change.

Before the Printing Revolution: Development of Writing

Writing represented the first real communications revolution, enabling a leap from memory-based transmission to durable records.
Harold Innis argued that writing plus flexible communication systems allowed empire-building, by enabling central authorities to administer vast territories through standardized laws, records, and communications that transcended time and distance; writing shifted thinking toward linear, sequential, and more homogeneous cognition (Walter Ong).
Walter Benjamin suggested that mechanical reproduction of writing and art could erode social ritual and personal identity.
Writing spread from elites to broader classes across Greek and Roman eras; literacy remained high in some non-European cultures (e.g., Arab world: Timbuktu to Baghdad) while Europe experienced a period dominated by oral culture during the medieval era.
Wilbur Schramm highlighted how writing allowed humans to conserve intellectual resources and focus on advancing knowledge; mass media would become an open university.
The book references a shift from oral to written culture as a foundational precursor to mass media revolutions.

Foundations of the Printing Revolution

Printing transformed Europe and the world by enabling cheaper, faster, and more accurate communication across space and time.
The Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, Enlightenment, and modern political revolutions were propelled by the spread of knowledge and challenges to authority via mass communication.
Industrialization of media technologies in the 19th century (telegraph, steam-powered printing) expanded audiences and created new institutions.
Joseph Medill’s metaphor: early newspapers as sailboats; by the mid-19th century the press resembled a large ocean-going steamer laden with mails and commerce.
Despite continuity, by the early 21st century digital media diminished traditional newspaper roles by lowering costs and transforming business models.

Technological Context of Printing

Technologies predating printing existed: clay stamps, metal seals in wax, wood block printing in China (from the 6th century), woodcuts on paper (around 1400 in Europe); early presses used on farms for oil and wine production; the growing availability of cheap portable paper, significantly advanced by Ts’ai Lun's papermaking innovations (circa 105 CE) and European use of linen rags, became widely available around 1400 in Europe, proving crucial for the scale of printed output.
Materials: parchment and vellum for elites; papyrus for cheaper media; Ts’ai Lun (circa 105 CE) credited with papermaking from plant fibers; linen rags and wood/linen-based paper contributed to supply.
Monastic practice of hand-copying manuscripts persisted; woodblock impressions were used for religious icons and sold at fairs; book production involved scribes, binderies, illuminators.
Gutenberg’s insight emerged in a system where technology, business, and culture converged; no single invention created printing—it's the aggregation of multiple enabling technologies.

Gutenberg’s Insight: The Original “Matrix”

Johannes Gutenberg: a Mainz-based goldsmith; planned to reveal a new typesetting technique around 1439, but records show a 15-year development period before mass production of books.
Problem Gutenberg aimed to solve: movable type needed a durable, repeatable production method; wood blocks wore out under thousands of impressions.
Potential competing claim by Laurens Coster in Holland using wooden type before 1440; Gutenberg ultimately assembled a workshop capable of rapid, mass production.
Gutenberg Bible (printed Bible) looked like hand-copied manuscripts but printed more cheaply, enabling massive dissemination.
Cost reduction example: in Venice, a monk could copy about 80 pages of Plato; in 1483, a Ripoli press charged about 3 florins for 1,025 copies—illustrating price declines tied to movable type.
By the 1470s, printing shops proliferated across Europe; a mix of older and newer labor skills reconfigured the workforce: traditional papermaking, ink making, leatherwork, bookbinding, and marketing plus new roles in press work and typecasting.
By around 1500, roughly four million books were printed and sold; by 1533 another ~18 million copies followed (as cited in the text).
Gutenberg’s legacy: movable type fundamentally changed the cost structure and scope of book production, enabling standardized, widely shared knowledge.
The idea of printing as a catalyst for social and political change is connected to later analyses by Clay Shirky, who links printing revolutions to the collapse of traditional institutions (and anticipates parallel dynamics in the digital age).

The Printing Revolution: From 1455 to 1814

Printing’s impact on society included regrouping skills: traditional crafts (paper making, ink production, leather work, binding, and marketing) plus new capabilities (press operation, type setting, and type founding).
Printing enabled rapid duplication of information that had previously been laboriously copied by hand; standardization of knowledge allowed critical comparison, contradiction exposure, and new ideas to emerge.
The early impact of Gutenberg’s method is widely recognized as a turning point toward modernity, enabling broader access to texts and spreading literacy.
The Medicis-like claim that the printing revolution precipitated 200 years of change—from religious conflict to the rise of secular governance—was later echoed by commentators (e.g., Clay Shirky).
Printing’s broader influence included the emergence of national languages via vernacular translations and each nation’s standardization of linguistic systems, enabling centralized political power, education, and national identity formation.
The mass production of books and the ability to disseminate new ideas widely contributed to both dialogue and conflict, shaping modern Europe.

Printing and the Protestant Reformation

Prior to printing, church literacy was limited; Bibles were chained to pulpits and limited to elites.
Luther’s translation and dissemination of vernacular Bibles disrupted church monopoly on religious knowledge, enabling lay access and individual interpretation, which fostered dissent and reform movements.
Printing amplified Luther’s 95 Theses (posted October 31, 1517); within a month, roughly 300{,}000 copies had circulated across Europe, illustrating mass distribution’s power.
Printing translated Latin Bibles into vernacular languages, undermining the Church’s authority and accelerating reform as ordinary people read scripture themselves.
The spread of vernacular Bibles contributed to widespread conflicts, including the Counter-Reformation that led to thousands of executions and religious warfare across Europe.
Luther’s own view: printing became a form of divine grace; reform movements spread rapidly due to the accessibility of printed texts.
The Reformation timeline includes: John Calvin in Switzerland; Henry VIII in England leveraging the press; emergence of religious conflict, suppression, and the Counter-Reformation.
The pamphlet and broadside era produced intense public debate, with printing enabling rapid mobilization and opposition to established authority.
The period also saw a shift in religious tolerance as a new Enlightenment ethos formed around concern for conscience and liberty.
Elizabeth Eisenstein emphasizes the paradox: printing encouraged religious zeal and bigotry even as it fostered ecumenical concord and a broader learning network.

Martin Luther and Printing

Luther’s 95 Theses catalyzed a broader movement because the press magnified his ideas in vernacular language.
The Reformation’s spread ratified the idea that mass media can transform religious and political life, creating an international revolt.
The Counter-Reformation and political power plays followed, including the emergence of reformist and counter-reformist dynamics across Europe.
The period highlighted the central role of print in shaping public opinion and institutional change.

The Slow Emergence of Religious Tolerance

Castellio (1515–1563) argued for liberty of conscience and warned against persecuting heretics; Voltaire later argued for religious tolerance.
The Maryland Act of Toleration (1649) represented an early legal step toward religious tolerance in the English-speaking world.
Milton’s Areopagitica argued for marketplaces of ideas and freedom of expression, approximating the idea that truth emerges from open debate.
Printing became a central ally of libertarian and ecumenical philosophies; publishers sought to expand markets beyond traditional religious authorities.
Benjamin Franklin’s 1731 Apology for Printers argued that printers serve all contending writers on fair terms, enabling pluralism of ideas.
Thomas Jefferson and John Locke echoed the notion that coercion in religious matters harms human development and collective wisdom.

Scientific and Technical Impacts of the Printing Revolution

Printing was pivotal in capturing the scientific revolution; it spread news of exploration, technology, medicine, astronomy, and other discoveries.
Before printing, knowledge depended on memory, hand-copied texts, and singular, immediate communication; afterward, exact, repeatable messages carried authority.
Maps, charts, and astronomical tables circulated widely, shaping geographic and scientific understanding (e.g., Columbus’ explorations spread in print; Vespucci’s voyages influenced Waldseemüller’s world map in 1507).
The printing press also supported early forms of participatory science: publishers invited readers to contribute notes on natural history, geography, and physics (plants, coastlines, tides, celestial phenomena); travelers and mariners were urged to contribute data.
Eisenstein describes this as early crowdsourcing or participatory media, akin to later collaborative projects like Wikipedia.
Despite initial church resistance, scientific publishing gradually integrated with research and education, forming professional communities that relied on print.

Political Impacts of the Printing Revolution

Printing standardized languages through vernacular translations, aiding national language formation and political centralization by fostering a shared linguistic identity among diverse populations, which in turn facilitated more effective governance and education across broader regions. William Caxton established English printing; early English texts included Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the Bible; later, translations like Tyndale’s New Testament (1525) and the King James Bible (1604) shaped national language.
Printing helped create a centralized instrument of political control in some contexts, contributing to the rise of the modern nation-state (a theme echoed by McLuhan and others).
However, print also amplified challenges to political authority, with printers becoming agents of reform and dissent.
Robert Darnton emphasizes print as an active historical force in the struggle for public opinion and political power.

News in Print

News dissemination is a universal social need across cultures; print accelerated and broadened this process.
Historical forms of news included bureaucratic reports (Acta Diurna in Rome/China) and mass publications that followed the growth of banking and trade in the medieval period.
Four basic kinds of early news publications (Schramm, 1988):
- The "relation": a one-time publication about a single event (e.g., a battle or coronation).
- The "coronto": a small bound volume about news from a foreign country.
- The "diurnal": a regular publication covering one subject, typically governmental events.
- The "mercury": a small bound book covering events from a single country for six months.
Modern analogs include Congressional Records or Federal Registers (diurnal), and industry newsletters (mercury).

First Newspapers

Johann Carolus (Strasbourg) published the first newspaper in 1605 as a response to time-consuming copying of business newsletters; early forms retained the spirit of public notice and information.
The Dutch Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. (first published in 1618) exemplified innovations including newspaper advertisements and woodcuts.
Benjamin Harris published early American periodicals, including Domestick Intelligence (London, 1679–1681) and Publick Occurrences (1690) in Boston, which faced censorship and license issues; Harris later contributed to the Boston press ecosystem and the London press network.

Censorship and Freedom of the Press

Four main censorship approaches were used: licensing of publishers, requiring pre-press approval of editions, imposing taxation/stamps on publications, and initiating sedition/libel prosecutions. These methods effectively controlled the means of production and distribution, allowing authorities to suppress undesirable content at various stages. Catholic states exercised dual censorship by state and church; the Index of Prohibited Books (1559) represented church control, aided by university influence (Sorbonne).
Protestant nations exercised licensing via the Stationers’ Company and Star Chamber penalties for unlicensed printing.
Printing licenses and punitive measures pushed talent to more permissive regions (Holland, Switzerland, later Britain/US).
Freedom of the press attracted Enlightenment figures (Descartes, Locke) and helped create a cosmopolitan, tolerant intellectual culture as described by Sagan’s remark on Holland as a refuge for unorthodox thought.

Press Freedom and the Enlightenment

Key Enlightenment thinkers argued for natural rights and the separation of powers to protect those rights (Locke, Rousseau, Franklin, Paine, Jefferson; Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws).
David Hume advocated for freedom of the press as a stabilizing force rather than an incendiary one.
John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon (Cato) argued that freedom of thought and speech are essential for public liberty; Franklin echoed these ideas in his 1731 apologia for printers.
The Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) embedded freedom of the press and religion into foundational political documents; the First Amendment (1791) enshrined freedom of the press in the US Constitution.
The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the European Convention on Human Rights (1963) reflect a broader international consensus on free expression.

Political Revolutions: “A tumult of journalists”

Historians have explored how media revolutions relate to political revolutions (e.g., American, French, Russian revolutions), noting that media can be a vehicle for revolutionary change even if not the sole cause.
Habermas argues that political revolutions often involve shifts from authoritarian monopolies to public opinion, driven by the rise of the periodical press.
Popkin emphasizes how revolutionaries used media—pamphlets, newspapers, broadsides, and clubs—to mobilize and shape democratic culture.
The period from the 17th to the 20th century shows that media played a critical role in mobilizing publics and legitimizing new political orders.

English Civil War and the Marketplace of Ideas

The English Civil War (1641–1659) saw a dramatic expansion of print: >350 periodicals and numerous broadsides, almanacs, and pamphlets circulated by both sides.
John Milton’s Areopagitica (1644) argued for freedom of conscience and the free circulation of ideas, though it did not fully resolve religious conflicts.
The 1643 licensing act persisted during the war; the Glorious Revolution (1688) ended licensing and promoted religious tolerance and press freedom.
Voltaire compared Roman civil wars to English civil wars in terms of religious warfare and liberty; he argued that English liberty arose partly from limiting the power of kings.

Revolutionary Press Fights for American Freedom

In the American colonies, early presses faced censorship and the threat of libel prosecutions; figures like John Adams noted that press freedom was foundational to broader political liberty.
The Zenger trial (1735) established truth as a defense against seditious libel; Andrew Hamilton’s defense argued that truth underwrites liberty and that this case fed into a broader democratizing trajectory.
Benjamin Franklin and other colonial printers supported press freedom while remaining pragmatic about licensing and market realities.
The American Revolution was influenced by a press culture that framed independence as a political necessity and shaped post-revolution governance.

France: The Call for Freedom and the Descent into Terror

Pre-revolutionary France saw intense censorship; Diderot and Voltaire faced suppression while continuing reform through clandestine writing and private networks.
In 1789, as the French Revolution gathered momentum, media networks—assemblies, clubs, newspapers, pamphlets, and broadsides—became central to democratic culture.
Camille Desmoulins’s provocative street speeches and writings helped mobilize revolutionary action (e.g., July 12, 1789, speech leading to the Storming of the Bastille).
The revolution produced a surge in newspaper publication (about 350 papers in the first decade) and intense partisan divides (Girondists vs Jacobins).
The press helped circulate the Declaration of the Rights of Man, currency reforms, calendar changes, and language shifts; the press energy was a vital force in the early revolutionary period.
Marat’s sensationalist rhetoric and the transformation of media into a weapon of political action illustrate how media can influence violent outcomes; Napoleon later tightened censorship in France (1808) and reduced newspapers.

The Fourth Estate

Edmund Burke’s famous (widely debated) reference to a Fourth Estate in Parliament’s visitors’ gallery highlighted the press as a powerful public force, potentially surpassing the traditional estates: nobility, clergy, and the middle class.
Carlyle’s later attribution and Wilde’s quip about the press reflect enduring perceptions of journalism as a dominant societal force.

Trans-Atlantic Connections

The exchange of ideas between Britain, the United States, and France forged a trans-Atlantic press culture.
Benjamin Harris, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and William Cobbett moved ideas across oceans, shaping political discourse on both sides of the Atlantic.
The print networks contributed to the dissemination of revolutionary ideas and the spread of reform movements across the Atlantic world.

The World of the Printing “Chapel”

The printing environment, known as the “chapel,” was a distinctive workplace culture with high ceilings and large windows, emphasizing craft, literacy, and intelligence.
Apprentices started around age 10, became journeymen by ~age 18, and masters by their 20s–30s.
Key printing terms and concepts originate from this culture:
- Upper case and lower case refer to caps and bases used in type cases for arranging letters.
- “On the stick” refers to composing text directly while working on it; it is still a familiar phrase in some contexts.
- Typesetting involved arranging letters backwards so that printed text reads correctly forward.
- The composing stick was used to hold lines of type; “frisket” and “frisket paper” referred to the dampened paper sheets placed over inked type for printing.
- The pressman (the “beater”) applied ink with two leather inking balls; a second pressman handled the damp page (frisket) and paper feed.
- A token press run might print roughly 258 sheets per hour, with a team of pressmen and an apprentice.
- Signatures (groups of pages) were sewn and bound to form a book; galleys and the composing stone (with quoins and furniture) organized the layout.
- The “wayzgoose” was the printers’ annual celebration; “solace” referred to punishments for misbehavior, such as chores or fund contributions.
- Quadrats were square spacers used between words; a social game involved tossing quadrats to win bets; “Ralph” (Spirit of the Chapel) symbolized shop mischief when a printer was caught; pieces of print could be pied (mixed up) and blamed on the style spirit.
The chapter emphasizes the social and linguistic culture embedded in early printing, including humor, rules, and workplace rituals that shaped the profession.

Connections to Earlier Lectures, Foundational Principles, and Modern Relevance

The Printing Revolution is framed as the hinge between medieval and modern worlds, linking to major shifts in religion, science, politics, and culture.
Printing lowered barriers to knowledge, enabling mass communication, and altering power dynamics between church, state, and citizenry.
The chapter repeatedly highlights the interplay between technology, economy, and culture: technology enables new business models and institutions; the social and religious orders respond with resistance, adaptation, or reform.
Themes that recur across sections include the idea of a “marketplace of ideas” (Milton, Voltaire) and the tension between free inquiry and authoritative control (censorship, indulgences, etc.).
Ethical implications discussed include the tension between freedom of expression and social stability, and the role of print in expanding both tolerance and conflict.
Real-world relevance today includes parallels to digital revolutions: how cost reduction and network effects reshape media ecosystems, public discourse, and political life; the concept of participatory media parallels modern crowdsourcing and open collaboration.

Key Numerical References (for quick recall)

The first Bible printed: around 1454–1455; the Gutenberg Bible fact is central to the narrative.
By the 1500s, an estimated 4{,}000{,}000 books were printed and sold; by 1533, another approx. 18{,}000{,}000 copies.
Luther’s 95 Theses were printed and distributed in about a month, with roughly 300{,}000 copies circulating across Europe.
The English press and licensing dynamics spanned centuries, including the 1643 licensing act and the Glorious Revolution of 1688; the Stamp Tax era affected both Britain and the American colonies.
The Zenger trial occurred in 1735, establishing truth as a defense against seditious libel.
The First Amendment (1791) and other constitutional landmarks anchored press freedom as a central civil right.

Summary Connections and Implications

The Printing Revolution is presented as a driver of major civilizational shifts: literacy expansion, vernacular languages, religious reform, scientific advancement, and political modernization.
It also reveals paradoxes: printing can spread tolerance and reason while amplifying intolerance and religious conflict; it can empower both reformers and oppressors