Notes And Questions For NCERT Class 10 Social Science Print Culture and the Modern World

Students can refer to Notes And Questions For NCERT Class 10 Social Science Print Culture and the Modern World below designed as per the latest syllabus and examination pattern for CBSE Class 10 Social Science

Johann Gutenberg

Gutenberg was the son of a merchant and grew up on a large agricultural estate. From his childhood he had seen wine and olive presses. Subsequently he learnt the art of polishing stones became a master goldsmith and also acquired the expertise to create lead moulds used for making trinkets. Drawing on this knowledge he used to design his new innovation. The olive press provided the model for the printing press and the moulds were used for casting the metal types for the letters of the alphabet. By 1448 he perfected this system and the first book he printed was the Bible. Printed books at first closely resembled the written manuscripts in appearance and layout. Between 1450- 1550 printing presses were setup in most countries of Europe.

The print Revolution and its Impact

• With the printing press a new reading public emerged.
• The time and labour required to produce each book came down.
• Cost of books also reduced.
• Books flooded the market reaching out to an ever growing readership.
• Due to print technique a new reading public emerged in place of hearing public.
• Now books could reach out to wider sections of people.

The Reading Mania

• Churches of different denominations set up schools in villages carrying literacy to peasants and artisans.
• In some parts of Europe literacy rate were as high as 60-80%.
• In England, penny chapbooks were carried by petty paddlers known as Chapman.
• In France there was ‘Biliotheque bleue’ which were low priced small books printed on poor quality paper and bound in cheap blue covers.
• A children Press, devoted to literature for children alone, was setup in France in 1857.
• The Grimm Brothers in Germany spent many years compiling traditional folktales gathered from peasants.
• Lending libraries had been in existence from the seventeenth century onwards.
• In nineteenth century lending libraries in England became instrument for educating white collar workers, artisans and lower middle class people.
• The periodical press developed from 18th century combining information about current affairs with entertainment.
• The writings of Thomas Paine, Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau were also widely printed and read.
• In the 1920s in England, popular works were sold in cheap series called the Shilling Series.
• With the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s, publishers feared a decline in book purchases. To sustain buying, they brought out cheap paperback editions.

India and the World of Print

• India had a very rich and old tradition of handwritten manuscripts- in Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian as well as in various vernacular languages.
• Manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or on handmade paper.
• They would be either pressed between wooden covers or sewn together to ensure preservation.
• Even though pre colonial Bengal had developed an extensive network of village primary schools, students very often did not read text. They only learnt to write. Teachers dictated portions of texts from memory and students wrote them down. Many of them became literate without ever actually reading any kind of texts.

Women, Print and Reform

• The writings of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Eliot etc became important in defining a new type of woman: a person with will, strength of personality, determination and the power to think.
• Lives and feelings of women began to be written in particularly vivid and intense ways. Women’s reading therefore increased enormously in middle class homes.
• Ram Mohan Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 and the orthodoxy commissioned the Samachar Chandrika to oppose his opinion.
• From 1822, two Persian newspapers: Jam-i-Jahan Noma and Shamsul Akhbar were published.
• The Deoband Seminari, founded in 1867 published thousands upon thousands of fatwas telling Muslim readers how to conduct themselves in everyday lives and explaining the meaning of Islamic doctrines.
• In 1876 Rashsundari Debi published her autobiography- Amar Jiban.
• In the 1880s Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote with passionate anger about the miserable lives of upper caste Hindu women, especially widows.
• Ram Chaddha published the fast selling Istri Dharm Vichar to teach women how to be obedient wives.
• In 1871 Jyotiba Phule wrote about the injustice of the caste system in his book Gulamgiri.
• Kashibaba, a Kanpur Mill worker, wrote and published Chote aur Bade ka Saval in 1938 to show the links between caste and class exploitation.
• In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed modeled on the Irish Press Act.

Important Statements

‘Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one’
                                                                    (Martin Luther King)
‘Printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away’
                                                                                            (Louis Sabastian Mercier)
Treamble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer!’
                                                                                   (Louis Sabastian Mercier)

New Words

Calligraphy- the art of beautiful and stylised writing is called Calligraphy.

Vellum- A parchment made from the skin of animals.

Platen- It is a board which is pressed onto the back of paper to get the impression from the type.

Compositor- The person who composes the text for printing.

Galley- Metal frame in which types are laid and text composed.

Ballad- A historical account of folk tale in verse usually sung or recited.

Inquisition- A former Roman Catholic court for identifying and punishing heretics.

Heretical- Beliefs which donot follow the accepted teachings of the church.

Sect- A subgroup of a religion.

Chapbook- A term used to describe pocket size books that are sold by travelling peddlers called Chapman in England.