Blogpost 4

 Week four bliss

At last the resources I reserved are available. I Just picked up 21 items from two different council libraries and have another library to go to tomorrow. Now I can happily work my way through those and then use the databases, internet etc. to get more detail on the areas that need extending. I didn’t do a reference interview today as both libraries were too busy. Instead I lodged a request through the library website so hopefully that will get a better response. I’ll also try at another library tomorrow, armed with more knowledge and some more questions. It will be interesting to see the difference in results.

Chinese translation

It’s not all smooth sailing though. I am now having problems finding out more information about Bi Sheng. Well actually, it’s not so much finding information on him that’s the problem, its finding information in English. Hopefully there will be information on him and his technique in the resources I borrowed today so I can get closer to solving the debate.

China traditional printing_movable type printing technology

 

"Moveable type printing" (WarsonPrinting 2008) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UpwOtb7yh0&feature=youtu.be

Searching online & in books

I spent quite a while searching the State and National library online databases this week too. There are quite a few interesting articles etc. however most of them are on information I had already discovered from the resources I borrowed or from Swinburne’s online resources. It was good to have the information I have so far confirmed and discover a few new people/periods to research. I also sent an e-mail to the “Ask a Librarian” link on the National Library website with some general queries regarding my report but mostly focusing on the Bi Sheng vs. Johanna Gutenberg debate. Hopefully they will have access to some translated information. I’m not sure how long it will take to get a response but hopefully soon (as the holidays are upon us I should have a reply before my next post).

Printing press

 

 “Photographic print of printing press supposedly used at Collins’ Sorrento settlement, 1803-1804. The press was housed in the Perth Public Library at the time of photograph, likely 1932.” (State library of Victoria [1932?]) – http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do;jsessionid=F442F5C9A6C473C6BC94D305EC660E7C?dscnt=1&docId=SLV_VOYAGER1810166&vid=MAIN&fromLogin=true .

 

Whilst in search of information on Bi Sheng vs. Johanna Gutenberg I have discovered that “Johann Gutenberg was voted ‘Man of the millennium’ by an American team of journalists” (Fussel 2003, p. 7) and that although Bi Sheng and Gutenberg both invented printing techniques, neither were responsible for making printing so widespread. During the time of these inventions China was very isolated and kept to itself with the discovery of paper only spreading after war prisoners shared the secret in return for their safe release. (Burns 1994) And as patenting wasn’t invented yet Gutenberg worked in secret keeping his ideas to himself. It wasn’t until Gutenberg’s business partner, a lawyer named Johann Fust (who knew nothing of printing); legally won the right to all of Johanna Gutenberg’s tools and printed materials that this knowledge started to spread and boy did it spread once it started. (Pollard 1992, p. 35 & 36) I intend to look into this more closely next week as well as how printing has progressed since first invented. I have found several stages that I need to search the databases for more information. I also have placement coming up so I will check the resources available there and talk to some of the staff to see if they know anything about the history of printing.

Cite

Beckham, R 2005, Who in the world was the secretive printer? : The story of Johannes Gutenberg, Peace hill press, Charles City.

Bennett, H. S. 1969, English books and readers 1475 to 1557, 2^nd edn, Cambridge University press, Cambridge. 

Berry, W. T. & Poole, H. E. 1966, Annals of printing: a chronological encyclopaedia from the earliest times to 1950, Littlehampton book services, London.

Bolton, A. T. 1978, ‘Alec Boltonat his printing press, printing the brochure for Greek coins’ [image], National library of Australia, viewed 21 September 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an14261020 .

Brookfield, K 1993, Writing, HarperCollins, N.S.W.

Burns, P 1994, Writing: stepping through history, Hachette children’s books, London.

Carter, J 1967, Printing and the mind of man, Littlehampton book service, London.

Crystal, D 2004, The stories of English, Penguin books, London.

Eisenstine, E 1989, The printing press as an agent of change : communications and cultural transformations in early modern Europe, vol. 1 & 2, Cambridge University press, National library of Australia online – Google books, viewed 21 September 2012.

Fisher, L. E. 1993, Gutenberg, Maxwell MacMillian International, US.

Franklin, C 1969, The private presses, Studio Vista, London.

Fussel, S 2003, Gutenberg and the Impact of Printing, Scolar Press, National library of Australia online – Google books, viewed 21 September 2012.

Gutenberg-museum Mainz 2012, The Gutenberg Museum, Gutenberg-museum Mainz, viewed 20 September 2012 http://www.gutenberg-museum.de/index.php?id=29&L=1 .

Hauser, D 2006, Printers of the streets and lanes of Melbourne (1837 – 1975), Nondescript press, Melbourne.

Johns, A 1998, The nature of the book : print and knowledge in the making, University of Chicago press, Chicago.

Krensky, S 1996, Breaking into print : before and after the invention of the printing press, Little, Brown and company, US.

Maddison, R 1979, ‘Claire Norman at the printing press’ [image], National library of Australia, viewed 21 September 2012 http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an21234224-2 .

McLuhan, M 1962, The Gutenberg galaxy : the making of typographic man, Routledge, London.

McMurtrie, D. C. 1940, The world’s greatest invention : printing, Hawthorn press, Melbourne.

McMurtrie, D 1943, The book : story of printing and bookmaking, 3^rd edn Rev, Dorset Press, US.

Moran, J 1975, Printing in the 20^th century: a Penrose anthology, Northwood Publications, London.

Mullins, L 2007, Inventing the printing press, Crabtree publications, US.

National library of Australia [193-?], ‘[Will Dyson at his printing press]’ [image], National library of Australia, viewed 21 September 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an23302330 .

Oxlade, C 1995, Writing and printing : facts, things to make, activities, Watts, London.

Pollard, M 1992, Johann Gutenberg: the story of the invention of moveable type and how printing led to a knowledge explosion, Exley Publications, UK.

Spilsbury, R & L 2012, The printing press, Raintree, London.

State library of Victoria [ca. 1914], ‘[Printing press]’ [image], State library of Victoria, viewed 21 September 2012, http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/24835 .

State library of Victoria [1932?], ‘Printing press’ [image], State library of Victoria, viewed 21 September 2012, http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/67145 .

State library of Victoria [ca. 1945- ca. 1965], ‘[Roland-ultra printing press?]’ [image], State library of Victoria, viewed 21 September 2012, http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/187815 .

State library of Victoria 2012, Mirror of the world, books & ideas,  State library of Victoria, viewed 21 September 2012, http://www.mirroroftheworld.com.au/index.php .

Tames, R 2006, The printing press : a breakthrough in communication, Heinemann Library, Oxford.

‘The history of printing gets inked’ 2012, PRWeb Newswire, General reference centre GOLD, viewed 20 September 2012.

‘The inky arts still press on the memory in Fleet Street; David Meara reports on an internationally renowned collection in the history of printing’ 2012, The Times(London, England), June 9 2012, pp. 87, Academic OneFile, viewed 20 September 2012. 

WarsonPrinting 2008, China traditional printing_moveable type printing technology, viewed 24 September 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UpwOtb7yh0 .

Wilkinson, P & Dineen, J 1994, Scrolls to computers, Anova books, London.

Wills, W. D & H.O. [19--?], ‘Caxton’s printing press’ [image], National library of Australia, viewed 21 September 2012 http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3891198 .

Note

I've also noticed that there are several different spellings for Gutenberg's first name. At the moment I am using the spelling from the resource I am referring to but I will try to find the correct spelling to use for the report.