The place of engravings in the evolution of Printing Technology

Printing is a modern technology used for a number of applications. Not many centuries ago, it was in the nascent stage used for printing books. Before that, books were hand written and extremely rare. The earliest known printed book is said to be the ‘Diamond Sutra’, a Buddhist scripture, dating back to 838 AD, China.

Text engravings on stone for making copies on paper

Engravings have been an integral part of printing since ages. The roots of making paper copies of text engraved on stone, dates back to the second century China. In AD 175, the Chinese emperor issued an order to preserve six main Confucianism classics, by engraving them on stone to ensure that the authentic versions of the text were available to future generations. The fall out was unexpected. Those who wanted to own copies of the text, found that they could place paper sheets on the engraved stone slabs and rub them over with charcoal and get copies of the text with white letters on a black background. Later, other emperors had other texts engraved on stone and this led to raised letters being engraved on stone to which ink was applied. When these were pressed on paper they produced copies with black or colored letters on a white background, which looked much better than the earlier ones.

Use of engraved wooden blocks

Later on, wooden blocks were engraved with text and images and pressed on wet paper to produce a print. The earliest reference to this type of printing is found in the history of the Tang Dynasty of China, which ruled between AD 618 and 907. This is known as wood block printing.

Engraved metal plates used for printing
 
As time progressed, metal plates replaced wooden blocks. Printing using engraved copper plates was done in China, as early as the fifteenth century AD. The recent find of four books of Buddhist scriptures written in red ink, unearthed while cleaning old storage in the Wuwei City Museum in Gansu, Tibet, support this. According to experts, these priceless books were printed with the help of engraved copper plates using vermillion as ink and are estimated to be at least six hundred years old. They are expected to shed much light on the earliest forms of printing in ancient China.

The process of engraving on metal

Engraving, or line engraving as it is sometimes called, is a process in which the engraver uses a sharp, pointed, hard steel tool called the graver or 'burin' to incise a design into a hard, flat metal plate, by applying pressure.

Earlier the plates were made of copper and it was only in the nineteenth century that Thomas Lupton developed a method to use steel. In the early stages, engraving text or images on metal as an art or trade was limited to goldsmiths, who were familiar with engraving, since they used the skill to decorate jewelry and other artifacts of precious metals.

Metal movable type printing

The precursor to modern system printing technology using movable types was first known to have been invented around 1040 AD in China, by Bi Sheng, a commoner, who made movable types out of baked clay. This made printing much faster and easier than printing with wooden or metal blocks.

Around the year 1450, the German inventor Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized printing technology by inventing a similar system in Europe. Nearly all methods of movable type printing today are derived from this system, which is regarded as the most important invention of the 2nd millennium.

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