The Print Revolution

New illustrated and abridged edition surveys the communications revolution of the fifteenth century.

One of the most puzzling lapses in accounts of the rise of the West following the decline of the Roman Empire is the casual way historians have dealt with Gutenberg’s invention of printing. The cultural achievements that followed the fifteenth century, when the West moved from relative backwardness to remarkable, robust cultural achievement, would have been impossible without Gutenberg’s gift and its subsequent widespread adoption across most of the world. Richard Abel follows the radical cultural impact of the printing revolution from the eighth century to the Renaissance, addressing the viability of the new Christian/Classical culture. Although this culture proved too fragile to endure, those who salvaged it managed to preserve elements of the Classical substance together with the Bible and all the writings of the Church Fathers. The cultural upsurge of the Renaissance (fourteenth to seventeenth centuries), which resulted in part from Gutenberg’s invention, is a major focus of this book. Abel aims to delineate how the cultural revolution was shaped by the invention of printing. He evaluates its impact on the rapid reorientation and acceleration of the cultural evolution in the West. This book provides insight into the history of the printed word, the roots of modern-day mass book production, and the promise of the electronic revolution. It is an essential work in the history of ideas.

The sudden flurry of color and rapid spread of busy prints is the result of the new ease of computer printing in fabric design. Pioneered by Brazilian/British design duo Basso & Brooke, the hyper-real digital technique has spread not just among the small experimental studios, but also to household name design houses like Chanel and Armani, and has been featured on popular television shows such as Project Runway. Following a discussion of how the current techniques have revolutionized hundreds of years of screen-printing, The Print Revolution is organized by an A-Z of keynote designers operating at this cutting edge of fashion. Highlights include selections from Lee Alexander McQueens last full show, a look at Mary Katrantzous innovative and exciting designs, the elegant work of celebrity favorite Prabal Gurung, and Erdem Moralioglus feminine and romantic designs. Accompanied by fashion photography, catwalk imagery, and close-up details of prints and patterns, and crucially supplemented by the designers own notebooks, impressions, quotations and influences, the book is an invaluable reference as well as a visual delight of the inspirations and creations that have given rise to the current explosion of interest in textile design. Tamasin Doe began her career as deputy fashion editor at the Evening Standard. She later became the fashion director of InStyle magazine and coauthored Patrick Cox: Wit, Irony, and Footwear.

Printing and collecting the revolution : the rise and impact of Chicano graphics, 1965 to now / E. Carmen Ramos -- Aesthetics of the message : Chicana/o posters, 1965-1987 / Terezita Romo -- War at home : conceptual iconoclasm in American printmaking / Tatiana Reinoza -- Chicanx graphics in the digital age / Claudia E. Zapata.

This book is an introduction to the life and work of Johannes Gutenberg, the man who invented the printing press. Gutenberg has been called the "Man of the Millennium" by Time-Life Magazine and others. In the mid-15th century he developed the first practical system for making movable type. His invention allowed books to be mass produced for the first time in history. This book contains a wealth of information about Gutenberg and his invention. It has many fascinating photographs and illustrations, including a simplified schematic that shows how Gutenberg made his movable metal type. Today we take books for granted. But before Gutenberg's printing press, books were a luxury only the wealthy could afford. Gutenberg's invention changed our world forever. The ability to reproduce books efficiently and economically launched humanity into a new age of information, education and enlightenment for the masses. This is the story of a remarkable man and his magnificent machine.

A full-scale historical treatment of the advent of printing and its importance as an agent of change, first published in 1980.

Explains the role of printing in the French Revolution and the establishment of the revolutionary government