Chapter 5 Print Culture and the Modern World Important Questions Class 10 History
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Chapter 5 Print Culture and the Modern World Important Questions and Answers Class 10 History
Chapter 5 Print Culture and the Modern World Very Short Answer Questions (1 Mark)
1. How had hand printing technology introduced in Japan?
Solution
Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand printing technology in Japan around 768-770 AD.
2. What is galley?
Solution
Galley is the metal frame in which types are laid and text is composed.
3. Why did Imperial state of China get books printed?
Solution
China had a huge bureaucratic system which recruited its staffs through civil service examinations. Textbooks for this examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state.
4. What was woodblock printing?
Solution
It is a variant of printing where paper is rubbed against the inked surface of woodblocks.
5. What kind of books were written in China for new readership?
Solution
New readership in China preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary master pieces and romantic plays.
6. Why did the Roman Catholic Church impose control over publishers and book sellers?
Solution
Being troubled by influence of popular readings and questionings, the Roman Catholic Church imposed severe control over publishers and book sellers.
7. What were chapbooks?
Solution
Chapbooks were little books sold by the peddlers known as Chapmen in England in return for each penny.
8. Explain ‘Calligraphy’.
Solution
It is the art of beautiful and stylised writing. Superbly skilled craftsmen could duplicate the beauty of calligraphy with remarkable accuracy.
9. How was Biliotheque Bleue different from Penny Chapbooks?
Solution
Biliotheque Bleue represented low priced small books printed in France with cheap blue cover. On the other hand, Penny Chapbooks were sold by petty peddlers called Chapmen in England.
10. What were almanacs?
Solution
The almanacs were the annual publications that reflected on astronomical data, movements of the sun and the moon, timings of full tides and eclipses and the significance of day-to-day life of people.
11. Who was Menocchio?
Solution
Menocchio was an Italian mill worker who was tried by the Inquisition for his heretical views on religion.
12. What kind of hand-printed books were available in Japan?
Solution
Books on women, musical instruments calculations, tea ceremony, flower arrangements, proper
etiquette, cooking and famous places.
13. Name the oldest printed Japanese book.
Solution
The oldest Japanese books printed in AD 868, is the Buddhist ‘Diamond Sutra’, containing six sheets of text and woodcut illustrations.
14. What were Shilling Series?
Solution
In the 1920s in England, popular works were sold in cheap series, called the Shilling Series.
15. Why did Governor General Warren Hastings persecute Hickey?
Solution
Hickey, the editor of Bengal Gazette, revealed many hidden secrets of the Company’s senior officials in India. Consequently, he was persecuted by Warren Hastings.
16. Who was Rashsundari Debi?
Solution
Rashsundari Debi was a young married woman hailed from an orthodox background, who got herself educated in the secrecy of her kitchen. She wrote her autobiography, named ‘Amar Jiban’ in Bengali language.
17. Why was the Vernacular Press Act passed in 1878?
Solution
The Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878 to restrict vernacular newspapers to publish any material that might excite feelings of dissatisfaction against the British government.
18. Who brought woodblocks printing technology from China to Europe?
Solution
In 1295 Macro Polo, returned to Italy after many years of exploration in China. He brought woodblock technology to Italy, from where it spread to other European countries.
19. Why was ‘Gulamgiri’ book written by Jyotiba Phule in 1871?
Solution
Jyotiba Phule wrote book ‘Gulamgiri’ in 1871 to linked the conditions of the black slave in America with those of the lower castes people in India.
20. Who developed the first known printing press?
Solution
Johann Gutenberg of Germany developed the first-known printing press in the 1430s.
21. Which was the first book printed by first printing machine?
Solution
The first book Gutenberg printed was the Bible. About 180 copies were printed and it took three years to produce them.
22. What was ‘reading mania’?
Solution
As literacy and schools spread in European countries, there was a virtual reading mania. It means people wanted books to read and printers produced books in ever-increasing numbers.
23. Who was Erasmus?
Solution
Erasmus was a Latin scholar and a Catholic reformer, who criticised the excesses of Catholicism but kept his distance from Luther, expressed a deep anxiety about printing.
24. Who were Grimm Brothers?
Solution
The Grimm Brothers in Germany spent years compiling traditional folk tales gathered from peasants.
25. Where was Children Press set up?
Solution
A Children’s Press devoted to literature for children alone, was set up in France in 1857.
26. When did first Printing Press come to India?
Solution
The first printing press came to Goa with Portuguese missionaries in the mid 16th century.
27. What was Deoband Seminary?
Solution
The Deoband Seminary founded in 1867, published thousands upon thousands of fatwas telling Muslim readers how to conduct themselves in their everyday lives, and explaining the meanings of Islamic doctrines.
28. Who wrote Gita Govinda?
Solution
Jayadeva was the author of Gita Govinda.
Chapter 5 Print Culture and the Modern World Short Answer Questions (3 Marks)
1. How had the Imperial State in China been the major producer of printed material for a long time? Explain with examples.
Solution
(i) From AD 594 onwards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper also invented there against the inked surface of woodblocks. The imperial state in China was, for a very long time, the major producer of printed material. China possessed a huge bureaucratic system which recruited its personnel through civil service examinations. Textbooks for this examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state.
(ii) From the sixteenth century, the number of examination candidates went up and that increased the volume of print. By the seventeenth century, as urban culture bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified.
(iii) Reading increasingly became a leisure activity. Women, revolutionaries, poets and even merchants used print in everyday life.
2. What was the apprehension of religious authorities and monarchs about printing?
Solution
(i) Not everyone welcomed the printed books and those who did also had fears about it.
(ii) It was feared that if there was no control over what was printed and read then rebellious irreligious thoughts might spread.
(iii) If that happened, the authority of valuable literature would be destroyed.
3. Describe the salient features of Indian manuscripts before the age of print.
Solution
(i) The tradition of hand-written manuscripts in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian as well as many vernacular languages is exquisite.
(ii) Manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or parchment. Pages were illuminated by hand with foliage. Despite the invention of printing, manuscripts were produced until the end of the nineteenth century.
(iii) Manuscripts were highly expensive, fragile and could not be perused easily as they were written in different styles.
(iv) Manuscripts were mainly preferred by the elite sections as they represented symbol of prestige.
4. Describe in brief how printing developed in Japan.
Solution
(i) Buddhist monasteries from China introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770.
(ii) The oldest printed Japanese book was the Buddhist ‘Diamond Sutra’ with woodcut illustrations. Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money.
(iii) Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing practices.
5. Explain the main features of the first printed Bible.
Solution
(i) The Bible was printed in the New Gutenberg Printing Press with metal type. However, the borders of the book were carefully designed and illuminated manually by the artists.
(ii) Each copy of the Bible was printed differently. Therefore, everybody could possess unique copy of the Bible.
(iii) About 180 copies of the Bible were printed and the process was highly time-consuming.
(iv) The Gutenberg press printed the text in black, leaving spaces that were later filled with colour.
6. How did the ideas of scientists and philosophers become more accessible to the common people after the beginning of the print revolution in Europe?
Solution
Notions of prominent scientists and philosophers on book printing became accessible to common public. Ancient and medieval scientific texts were compiled and published. At the same time, map and scientific diagrams were printed on a wider scale. Notions of Isaac Newton were widely published and these ideas could profoundly influence the audience. The writings of enlightened thinkers such as Thomas Paine, Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau were published and enthralled a wider circle. Their ideas were reflected in the scientific literature of the time.
7. Who was Mercier? What were his views about books?
Solution
Mercier was a novelist in the 18th century.
(i) He declared that “the printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away.”
(ii) In many of Mercier’s novels, the heroes are transformed by the acts of reading.
(iii) Mercier believed that power of print will bring down despotism.
8. What was the Portuguese influence on printing?
Solution
(i) The printing press first came to Goa with the Portuguese missionaries in the mid 16th century.
(ii) Jesuit priests learnt Konkani and printed several tracts.
(iii) By 1674, about 50 books had been printed in the Konkani and Kanara languages.
(iv) Dutch protestant in missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts, many of them were translations of older works.
9. How did the printing press help in emergence of children as a new reader base?
Solution
(i) Primary education had become mandatory from the late-nineteenth century.
(ii) Publishing industry initiated the process of producing school textbooks.
(iii) A children press was established in France in 1857.
(iv) The Grimm brothers in Germany spent several years in collating traditional folk tales.
(v) Anything that was not considered suitable for children was not published.
10. Explain the role of missionaries in the growth of press in India.
Solution
(i) With the advent of the Portuguese missionaries in Goa, the printing press was introduced to India. The Jesuit priests learnt Konkani language and printed several tracts.
(ii) By 1674, about 50 books had been printed in Konkani and Kannada languages. With the help of the Catholic priests in Cochin, the first Tamil book was published in 1579 and the first Malayalam book was published in 1713.
(iii) By 1710, the Dutch Protestant Missionaries had published 32 Tamil texts.
11. How did print culture affect women in the 19th century?
Solution
(i) Women became important as readers as well as writers.
(ii) Penny magazines were especially meant for women, as were manuals teaching proper behaviour and housekeeping.
(iii) When novels began to be written in the 19th century, women were seen as important readers.
(iv) Some of the best known novelists had defined a new type of woman; as a person with will, strength of personality, determination and the power to think.
12. How did print culture affect women in the 19th century?
Solution
(i) Women became important as readers as well as writers.
(ii) Penny magazines were especially meant for women, as were manuals teaching proper behaviour and housekeeping.
(iii) When novels began to be written in the 19th century, women were seen as important readers.
(iv) Some of the best known novelists had defined a new type of woman; as a person with will, strength of personality, determination and the power to think.
13. What type of books were printed in Japan?
Solution
(i) Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing practices.
(ii) In the late 18th century, illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture, involving artists, courtesans and tea house gatherings.
(iii) There were books on women, musical instruments, calculations, flower arrangements, proper etiquette, cooking and famous places.
14. What was the significance of printing for people to spread their ideas?
Solution
(i) Print created the possibility of wide circulation of ideas and introduced a new world of debate and discussion.
(ii) Even those who disagreed with established authorities could now print and circulate their ideas.
(iii) Through the printed message, they could persuade people to think differently and move them to action.
15. How did interest for writing develop in mill workers?
Solution
(i) Workers in factories were too overworked and lacked in education to write much about their experiences. But Kashi baba a Kanpur mill worker, wrote and published ‘Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal’, to show the links between caste and class exploitation.
(ii) The poems of another Kanpur mill worker, who wrote under the name of ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ and published a collection of poems called ‘Sacchi Kavitayen’.
(iii) By 1930s, Bangalore cotton mill workers set up libraries to educate themselves, following the example of Bombay workers.
Chapter 5 Print Culture and the Modern World Long Answer Questions (5 Marks)
1. How did a new reading culture bloom in China?
Solution
(i) By 17th century, print was no longer used just by scholar officials. Merchants used print in their everyday life, as they collected trade information.
(ii) Reading increasingly became a leisure activity.
(iii) The new readership preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary masterpieces and romantic plays.
(iv) Rich women began to read and many women began publishing their poetry and plays. Wives
of scholar-officials published their works and courtesans wrote about their lives.
2. Trace the history of print revolution in India.
Solution
(i) The printing press first came to Goa with the Portuguese missionaries in the mid 16th century. Books were printed in Konkani and Kanara languages. Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book, in 1579 at Cochin.
(ii) By 1710, Dutch protestant missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts, many of them were translations of older works.
(iii) By 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weekly magazine.
(iv) By the close of 18th century, a number of newspapers were published by Indians too. The first
to appear was the weekly ‘Bengal Gazette’ brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya, who was close to Rammohan Roy.
3. Why did the Roman Catholic Church begin keeping an Index of Prohibited Books from the mid-sixteenth century? Explain by giving five reasons.
Solution
(i) It was felt that if there was no control over the printed materials, then rebellion and irrational thoughts might permeate.
(ii) Many monarchs thought that if there is no control, then printed books could lead to rebels against the state authorities.
(iii) Many religious prerogatives feared that printed materials could make the people rebel against the religious beliefs and faith.
(iv) The Roman Catholic Church wielded control over publishers and book retailers. The Church began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books.
(v) In the same way, many writers and artists felt that if nobody exercised control on the printed material, then the prerogatives of the precious publications would be perished.
4. How did the British pass certain regulations to control freedom of press in India?
Solution
(i) By 1820s, the Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain regulations to control the freedom of press.
(ii) The Company began encouraging newspapers that would celebrate British rule.
(iii) Many editors gave urgent petitions to Governor General Bentick, who agreed to revise Press Laws.
(iv) After the revolt of 1857, the attitude to freedom of press changed. Engaged Englishmen demanded control on the vernacular press as they were becoming nationalists.
(v) In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed. It provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorial in the vernacular press.
(vi) From now on, the government kept regular check on the vernacular newspapers published in different provinces.
(vii) When a report was judged as seditious, the newspapers were warned, and if the warning went ignored, the press would be seized by the government and printing machinery confiscated.
5. Which new strategies were opted by the printers and publishers to sell their products?
Solution
(i) Printers and publishers continuously developed new strategies to sell their products.
(ii) In the 19th century periodicals, serialised novels, gave birth to a particular way of writing novels.
(iii) In 1920s, popular works were sold in cheap series called the Shilling Series in England.
(iv) The dust cover or the book jacket is also a twentieth century innovation.
(v) With the onset of Great Depression in the 1930s, publishers feared a decline in book purchases. To sustain buying, they brought out cheap paperback editions.
6. What was the attitude of people in India in the nineteenth century towards women reading? How did women respond to this?
Solution
(i) Common prejudices permeated the native landscape. The attitude of people towards woman reading was not favourable. It was not that the conservative Hindus would favour the education of women.
(ii) At the same time, the Muslims feared that educated women would be corrupted by reading Urdu romances. However, there was a ray of hope in the dismal picture. There were some notable women who transgressed such prohibitions and carved out a unique space for themselves in the history of India. A Muslim girl in north India defied her family and learned to read and write in Urdu in utmost secrecy.
(iii) Rashsundari Debi, a young married woman hailing from an orthodox family, learnt to read secretly in her kitchen. Subsequently, she documented her life story in a form of autobiography in Bengali language.
(iv) A few Bengali women like Kailashbashini Debi penned down the tragic experiences of native women in her books.
(v) In the 1860s, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai of Maharashtra depicted the miserable plight of upper caste women in their writings.
(vi) In Punjab, the folk literature projected women as docile and obedient wives. For instance, Ram Chaddha wrote Istri Dharm Vichar that emphasised on the changing equations between men and women. The Khalsa Tract Society published cheap booklets or chapbooks with the same message.
(vii) In Bengal, an entire area in Central Calcutta–the Battala–was oriented towards print and
popular culture. Battala was the hub of printing popular books and magazines. They were subsidised editions of religious texts, scriptures as well as seditious literature.
(viii) The education of women was not encouraged by the majority as Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain reported in her address to Bengal Women’s Educated Conference.
(ix) In this way, women valiantly responded to the attitude of people towards reading in the nineteenth century. Many women defied the norms of the stigmatised society and exercised in the art of penmanship. Thus, they came out bravely and proved their mettle.
7. Describe the shortcomings of manuscripts that were overcome by the printing press.
Solution
(i) It is noted that expert manual writers took enormous time to copy manuscripts. The process was expensive and burdensome. However, the printing press did not take much time to produce many copies of books.
(ii) Copying manuscripts was really an extravagant affair and it was mostly preferred by the aristocratic sections of the society. Hand-written manuscripts represented status symbol. The printing press lessened the cost of books extensively and made them accessible to common people.
(iii) Carrying handwritten manuscripts was extremely cumbersome and entailed the risk of getting destroyed or mutilated. Printed books could be carried, handled and transferred with ease.