Thursday, February 01, 2007

The Success of Print in Early Europe


Paul Starr mentioned a very significant issue regarding the success of print during the seventeenth and eighteenth century in his book called Creation of the Media. The paragraph states...

Both the economic and the religious forces in the growth of
printing hleped shaped the international map of print...the early centers of
publishing in Germany, italy, and Holland dominated the production of
texts in Latin that wwere originally the chief articles of international
exchange, while publishers in the periphery specialized in vernacular. England,
which fell on the periphery of European economy when William Caxton introduced
printing in 1476... Since continental printers could supply tomes in Latin more
cheaply, the first in England concentrated on legal and literary texts in
English." (Starr, Paul, Chapter 1 P.27)

This paragraph is signifant because it refers to success of print in Europe and how the ideas were exchangeed within the society. The first paragraph refers to the two influential aspects that contribute to the growth of the society. Economically, one can say that printing opened the door for many opportunities. For example, around the 1600s and 1700s, it was a time of technological advancements which led to many traders utilizing a printing source (the map) to travel to different c0untries and exchange goods for money and vice and versa. This increased an economic boom for the people within the society, especially entrepreneurs and traders. In addition, the paragraph mentions producing texts and distributing them internationally. This shows that diffusion of knowledge took place effectively and at a speedy level. The English texts were spread more and at a cheaper rate.

1 Comments:

At 12:30 PM, Blogger A. Mattson said...

A very good, substantive post. Nice map.

The printing of geographical information (maps, charts, travel books, etc.) helped to make commerce and further exploration possible. In this period Europe is going to begin to dominate the globe. The standardization of geographic knowledge helped Europe to expand its trade and power.

 

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