The printing business. Report discusses the history, changes, and present of the business

Essay by TamaraCollege, UndergraduateA+, January 1996

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The printing industry is a very important and useful industry. The industry has gone through a lot of changes. My report will discuss the history, changes, and present of the printing business.

The first printing was actually in China and was called yin (meaning to authenticate by the impression of a seal on clay). Seals were followed by taking ink rubbings from stone inscriptions, which has directly led the way to the making of books by inked impressions from wood. Ink rubbings were made by taking a moistened paper and laying it on the stone inscription. With a stiff brush the paper was then forced into every depression and crevice of the stone. As soon as the paper was dry, a stuffed pad of cotton or silk is dipped in sized ink and passed lightly, and evenly over it, When the paper is peeled off it is imprinted with a perfect and durable impression of the inscription, which comes out in white on a black back ground.

This is a process similar to block printing. China was the first country to print with paper, ink, and carved wooden blocks, a process called xylography. In this process, a single carved wooden block of text was used to print impressions on whole pages. By the 11th century, the Chinese had cut the blocks into individual characters, creating the world's first movable type.
