Very Short Answer Question s (VSA) 1 Mark

Question 1.
Give some examples of print around us.
Answer:
The examples of print around us are books, journals, newspapers, paintings, official circulars, calenders, diaries, advertisements, cinema posters etc.

Question 2.
What is calligraphy?
Answer:
Calligraphy is art of beautiful and stylised writing.

Question 3.
How books were printed in China since AD 594?
Answer:
Books were printed in China by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks.

Question 4.
When was hand-printing technology introduced in Japan and by whom?
Answer:
Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology in Japan around AD

Question 5.
Who was the major producer of printed material in China?
Answer:
The imperial state in China was the major producer of printed material.

Question 6.
By whom the textbooks for civil service examination were printed in China?
Answer:
Textbooks for the civil services examination were printed under the sponsorship of the imperial state.

Question 7.
When and how were the western printing techniques and mechanical presses imported in China?
Answer:
Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were imported in the late nineteenth century as western powers established their outposts in China.

Question 8.
Which city of China became the hub of new print culture ?
Answer:
Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture, catering to the western-style schools. From hand printing there was now a gradual shift to mechanical printing.

Question 9.
What was the ancient name of Tokyo ?
Answer:
Edo.

Question 10.
Which is the oldest printed book of Japan ?
Answer:
Diamond Sutra.

Question 11.
Who brought the knowledge of woodblock printing to Europe/Italy ?
Answer:
Marco Polo, a great explorer, returned to Italy after many years of exploration in China. He brought wood-block printing technology with him in 1295.

Question 12.
Answer:
Johann Gutenberg.

Question 13.
Which was the first book printed by Johann Gutenberg ? How many copies were printed in how many years ?
Answer:
The first book he printed was the Bible. About 180 copies were printed and it took three years to produce them.

Question 14.
What is platen ?
Answer:
In letter press printing, platen is a board which is pressed onto the back of the paper to j get the impression from the type. At one time it used to be wooden board, later it was made of steel.

Question 15.
Who is compositor ?
Answer:
The person who composes the text for printing is called compositor.

Question 16.
What is galley ?
Answer:
Galley is a metal frame in which types are laid and the text composed.

Question 17.
What is a ballad ?
Answer:
Ballad is a historical account or folk tale in verse, usually sung or recited.

Question 18.
What were taverns ?
Answer:
Taverns were places where people gathered to drink alcohol, to be served food and tomeet friends and exchange news.

Question 19.
What was written by Martin Luther in 1517 ?
Answer:
In 1517, the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote Ninety Five Theses criticising many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church.

Question 20.
What was Protestant Reformation ? 
Answer:
It was a sixteenth-century movement to reform the Catholic Church dominated by Rome. Martin Luther was one of the main Protestant reformers. Several traditions of anti-Catholic Christianity developed out of the movement.

Question 21.
Answer:
Martin Luther said, “Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the Greatest one.”

Question 22.
What was Inquisition ?
Answer:
Inquisition was a former Roman Catholic court for identifying and punishing heretics.

Question 23.
What do you understand by heretical ?
Answer:
Heretical means beliefs which do not follow the accepted teachings of the Church. In medieval times, heresy was seen as a threat to the right of the Church to decide on what should be believed and what should not. Heretical beliefs were severely punished.

Question 24.
Who was Erasmus ?
Answer:
Erasmus was a Latin scholar and a Catholic reformer, who criticised the excesses of Catholicism but kept distance from Luther, expressed a deep anxiety about printing.

Question 25.
State any one effect of high literacy rates by the end of the 18th century.
Answer:
There was a virtual reading mania and people wanted books to read and printers produced books in ever increasing numbers.

Question 26.
What was a chapbook ?
Answer:
Chapbook is a term used to describe pocket-size books that are sold by traveling pedlars called chap men.

Question 27.
What were ‘Biliotheque Bleue’ ?
Answer:
Biliotheque Bleue were books which were low priced small books printed on poor quality paper and bound in cheap blue covers.

Question 28.
Describe effects of development of press in 18th century. Mention any one.
Answer:
The ideas of scientists and philosophers became more accessible to common people.

Question 29.
Which books were especially meant for women ?
Answer:
Penny magazines.

Question 30.
What do you understand by Almanac ?
Answer:
It stands for an annual publication giving astronomical data, information about the movement of the sun and moon, timings of full tides and eclipses and much else that was of importance in the everyday life of people.

Question 31.
What did Mercier proclaim about the power of print in bringing enlightenment and destroying the basis of despotism ?
Answer:
Louise-Sebastien Mercier, a novelist in eighteenth-century France declared, “The printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away.”

Convinced of the power of print in bringing enlightenment and destroying the basis of despotism, he proclaimed, “Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world, Tremble before the virtual writer.

Question 32.
How far the print culture was responsible for the French Revolution ? State any one point.
Answer:
The print popularised the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers as their writings provided a critical commentary on tradition, superstition and despotism.

Question 33.
“The 19th century saw vast leaps in mass literacy in Europe bringing in large numbers of new readers among children, women and workers.” State any one reason.
Answer:
Primary education became compulsory from the late nineteenth century. As a result children became an important category of readers.

Question 34.
When was the Paperback edition of books intrpduced in Europe ?
Answer:
Paperback edition of books was introduced during the onset of the Great Depression.

Question 35.
Who perfected the power-driven cylindrical press and when ?
                                        Or
Mention one major contribution of Richard M. Hoe in developing printing press.
Answer:
By mid-nineteenth century, RicharcfM. Hoe of New York perfected the power-driven cylindrical press. This was capable of printing 8,000 sheets per hour. This press was particularly useful for printing newspapers.

Question 36.
In India why the circulation of hand written manuscripts remained limited before the age of print ? Give any one reason.
Answer:
Manuscripts were highly expensive and fragile.

Question 37.
Who brought the first printing press to India and when ?
Answer:
Portuguese missionaries in mid-16th century.

Question 38.
From 1780 who began to edit the Bengal Gazette ?
Answer:
James Augustus Hickey.

Question 39.
Who started publishing the Sambad Kaumudi and from when ?
Answer:
Raja Rammohan Roy started publishing the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821.

Question 40.
Who are Ulama ?
Answer:
Ulama are legal scholars of Islam and the sharia, a body of Islamic law.

Question 41.
What is fatwa ?
Answer:
A fatwa is a legal pronouncement on Islamic law usually given by a mufti (legal scholar) to clarify issues on which the law is uncertain.

Question 42.
From 1880s, which two presses published numerous religious texts in vernacular ?
Answer:
The Naval Kishore Press at Lucknow and the Shri Venkateshwar Press in Bombay.

Question 43.
Name some new forms of publication created by printing in India.
Answer:
Novels, lyrics, short stories, essays about social and political matters.

Question 44.
Give some examples of visual culture in India.
Answer:

1.     Visual images by Raja Ravi Verma.

2.     Cheap prints and calendars.

3.     Caricatures.

4.     Cartoons.

Question 45.
Who wrote Amar Jiban and when was it published ?
Answer:
Amar Jiban was written by Rashsundari Debi (East Bengal). It was published in 1876. It was the first full-length autobiography published in the Bengali language.

Question 46.
What type of books were written by Kailashbashini Debi ?
Answer:
Bengali writer, Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting the experiences of women – how women were imprisoned at home, kept in ignorance, forced to do hard domestic labour etc.

Question 47
What was the main theme of ‘Gulamgirv written by Jyotiba Phule ?
Answer:
Injustices of the caste system was the main theme of Gulamgiri.

Question 48.
Who published Istri Dharm Vichar and what was its object ?
Answer:
In Punjab, Ram Chaddha published Istri Dharm Vichar. Its object was to teach women how to be obedient wives.

Question 49.
Name one paper of Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
Answer:
Kesari.

Question 50.
Which book was written by Kashibaba and what was its theme ?
Answer:
Kashibaba a Kanpur mill worker, wrote and published Chote Aur Bade Ka Sawal in 1938 to show the links between caste and class exploitation.

Question 51.
What did the Grimm Brothers publish?
Answer:
The Grimm Brothers of Germany compiled traditional folktales gathered from peasants and published them in 1812.

Question 52.
Which was the first book written by Gutenberg?
Answer:
The bible was the first book written by Gutenberg.

Question 53.
Who brought the first printing press to India?
Answer:
Portuguese missionaries.

Question 54.
Who developed the first printing press?
Answer:
Johann Gutenberg

Question 55.
“The printing press is the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion is the force that will sweep despotism away.” Who said these words?
Answer:
Louise Sebastian Mercier

Question 56.
Which method of hand-printing was developed in China?

Answer:
From AD 594, books in China were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks.

 

Question 57.
How were Bibliotheque Bleue different from penny chapbooks?
Answer:
Penny chapbooks were carried by petty pedlars known as chapmen in England. These books were sold for a penny, so that even the poor could buy them. “Bibliotheque Bleue’, were low-priced small books printed in France. Both were low priced books printed on poor quality paper but the Biliotheque Bleue were bound in cheap blue covers.

Question 58.
What was Protestant Reformation?
Answer:
Protestant Reformation was a 16th Century movement to reform Catholic Church dominated by Rome. Martin Luther was one of the main Protestant reformers. He wrote Ninety Five Theses criticizing many practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. Several traditions of anti-Catholic Christianity developed out of the movement.

Question 59.
What kind of books were available in India before the introduction of print culture?
Answer:
Earlier, the books used to be handwritten either on palm leaves or handmade paper. India has a tradition of handwritten manuscripts in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian as well as in various vernacular languages. Pages were sometimes beautifully illustrated. They would either be pressed between wooden covers or sewn together to ensure preservation.

Question 60.
Why is Charles Metcalfe called the ‘Liberator of the Press’ in India?
Answer:
Charles Metcalfe was the Acting-Governor General of India in 1835. He distinguished himself by liberating the Press in India and was responsible for removing all the restrictions on the Press in India.

Question 61.
What kind of information did the periodical press and newspapers carry in the 18^th century?
Answer:
The periodical press and newspapers carried combined information about current affairs with entertainment. They also carried information about wars and trade as well as news of developments in other places.

Question 62.
Mention the contribution of Richard M. Hoes (New York) in print culture in the mid-nineteenth century.
Answer:
Richard M.Hoes had perfected the power-driven cylindrical press. This press was capable of printing 8,000 sheets per hour and was very useful for printing newspapers.

Question 63.
What were ‘penny chapbooks’?
Answer:
Penny chapbooks were pocket-sized books sold for a penny by pedlars known as chapmen.

Question 64.
Who was the first printing press was developed by?
Answer:
Johan Gutenberg

Question 65.
Why is Charles Metcalfe called the ‘Liberator of the Press’ in India.
Answer:
Charles Metcalfe was the Acting Governor General of India in 1835. He distinguished himself by liberating the Press in India and was responsible for removing all the restrictions on the press in India.

Short Answer Questions (SA) 3 Marks

Question 66.
Describe the woodblock printing. 
Answer:

1.     Woodblock printing was the earliest kind of print technology.

2.     It was developed in China, Japan and Korea.

3.     This was a system of hand-writing.

4.     From AD 594 onwards, under this system, books in China were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks.

5.     As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese ‘accordion book’ was folded and stitched at the side.

6.     Superbly skilled craftsmen could duplicate with remarkable accuracy the beauty of calligraphy.

Question 67.
Which Asian country was the major producer of printed material in the 16th century and why ?

Answer:
(1) The imperial state in China was the major producer of printed material for a long time.
(2) It was the major producer of printed material due to the following factors :

1.     China had a large bureaucratic system which recruited its personnel through civil service examinations.

2.     Textbooks for this examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state.

3.     From the sixteenth century, the number of examination candidates went up and that increased the volume of print.

Question 68.
“By the seventeenth century, as urban culture bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified.” Explain.
                                              Or
Describe the major uses of print culture in the seventeenth century in China. What were its effect ?
                                             Or
What were the reasons favouring shift from hand printing to mechanical printing in China ?
Answer:
(1) In the seventeenth century, many cities had come up in China. As the urban culture spread, the uses of print also increased. It was used in different fields as mentioned below :

1.     It was used by scholar officials.

2.     Merchants used it to collect trade information.

3.     Reading printed material became a leisure activity. So, people started reading fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary masterpieces, and romantic plays.

4.     Women began publishing their poetry and plays.

5.     Wives of scholar-officials published their works and courtesans wrote about their lives.

(2) The new reading culture had the following effects :

1.     It brought western printing techniques and mechanical presses into China.

2.     Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture.
Thus, there was natural change from hand-printing to mechanical printing.

Question 69.
How did the Buddhist missionaries from China introduce printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770 ? Explain. 
                           Or
Who introduced print culture to Japtu ? 
                          Or
Describe the development of print in Japan.
Answer:
The development of print in Japan took place as mentioned below :

1.     Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology in Japan around AD 768-770.

2.     The oldest Japanese book printed in AD 868 was the Buddhist Diamond Sutra. It contained six sheets of text and woodcut illustrations.

3.     Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money,

4.     In medieval Japan, the poets and prose writers regularly published their works.

5.     Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing practices. For example, in the late eighteenth century, at Edo (modern Tokyo) illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture, involving artists, courtesans, and teahouse gatherings.

6.     Libraries and bookstores were full with hand-printed material of various types such as books on women, cooking, famous places, musical instruments, calculations, tea ceremony and flower arrangements.

Question 70.
Write a short note on Ukiyo. 
Answer:

1.     Kitagawa Utamaro, born in Edo in 1753, widely known for his contributions to an art form called Ukiyo (pictures of the floating world) or depiction of ordinary human experiences, especially urban ones.

2.     These prints travelled to contemporary US and Europe and influenced artists like Manet, Monet and Van Gogh.

3.     Publishers like Tsutaya Juzaburo identified subjects and commissioned artists who drew the theme in outline.

4.     Then a skilled woodblock carver pasted the drawing on a woodblock and carved a printing block to reproduce the painter’s lines.

5.     In the process, the original drawing would be destroyed and only prints would survive.

Question 71.
How was the increase in demand for books met in Europe in the fourteenth century ?
Answer:
The expanded demand for books in Europe was met in the following ways :

1.     Booksellers all over Europe began exporting books to many different countries.

2.     Book fairs were held at different places.

3.     Production of handwritten manuscripts also continued to meet the expanded demand. Skilled handwriters were employed by booksellers. Sometimes more than 50 scribes were employed by one bookseller.

4.     Woodblock printing was widely used to meet the demand, i But in spite of the above efforts, there was still a great need for even quicker and cheaper reproduction of texts which was fulfilled by the development of the printing press by Johann
Gutenberg in the 1430s.

Question 72.
How did Gutenberg get the idea of a printing press and perfected it ? Which was his first printed book ? 
                         Or
Name the first book printed by Gutenberg press. 
Answer:
(1)

1.     Gutenberg was the son of a merchant and grew up on a large agricultural estate. From his childhood, he had seen wine and olive presses.

2.     Subsequently, he learnt the art of polishing stones, became a master goldsmith, and also acquired the expertise to create lead moulds used for making trinkets.

3.     Drawing on this knowledge, Gutenberg adapted existing technology to design his innovation.

4.     The olive press provided the model for the printing press.

5.     Moulds were used for casting the metal types for the letters of the alphabet.

6.     By 1448, Gutenberg perfected the system.

(2) The first book he printed was the Bible. About 180 copies were printed and it took three years to produce them. By the standards of the time this was the fast production.

Question 73.
What is a manuscript ? Why production of handwritten manuscripts could not satisfy the ever-increasing demand for books ?
                                  Or
Explain the limitations or short-comings of handwritten manuscripts.
Answer:
(1) Manuscript is a document or book written by hand.
(2) The production of handwritten documents could not satisfy the ever-increasing demand for books for the reasons as mentioned below :

1.     Copying was an expensive, laborious and time consuming business.

2.     Manuscripts were fragile, awkward to handle, and could not be carried around or read easily.
As a result of the above factors, the circulation of manuscripts remained limited and by the early 15th century, woodblocks were being widely used in Europe.

Question 74.
“The new technology did not entirely displace the existing art of producing books by hand.” Explain.
Answer:
It is true that the new technology did not displace the existing art of producing books by hand. At the same time Gutenberg personalise the printed books suiting to the tastes and requirement of others as mentioned below :

1.     The metal letters imitated the ornamental handwritten styles.

2.     Borders were illuminated by hand with foliage and other patterns, and illustrations were painted.

3.     In the books printed for the rich, space for decoration was kept blank on the printed page.

4.     Each purchaser could choose the design and decide on the painting school that would do the illustrations.

5.     No two copies of the first printed Bible were same and every copy could be claimed as unique, for no one else owned a copy that was exactly the same.

Question 75.
How were the printing presses setup in most of the countries of Europe between 1450 and 1550 ? What were its effects ?
                                            Or
‘The shift from handwriting to mechanical printing led to the print revolution.’ Explain.
Answer:
(1)

1.     In the hundred years between 1450 and 1550, printing presses were set up in most countries of Europe.

2.     Printers from Germany traveled to other countries-seeking work and helping start new presses.

(2) Effects :

1.     As the number of printing presses grew, book production boomed.

2.     The second half of the fifteenth century saw 20 million copies of printed books flooding the markets in Europe.

3.     The number of books went up in the 7-i-xteenth century to about 200 million copies.

4.     The above shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution.
It was a new way of producing books. It transformed the lives of people, changing their
relationship to information and knowledge and with institutions and authorities. It influenced ’ popular perceptions and opened up new ways of looking at things.

Question 76.
How did access to books create a new culture of reading ? Examine any three points.
                                                      Or
State reasons for increase in reading public by the end of 18th century in Europe.
                                                      Or
How did the print revolution create a new reading public and new culture of  reading ?
Answer:
(1) The print revolution created a new reading public as mentioned below :

1.     A new reading public emerged because printing reduced the cost of books,

2.     Books could be produced at a faster rate and were available in the market in large numbers.

3.     The books flooded the market, reaching out to an over-growing readership.

(2) Print revolution created a new culture of reading as mentioned below :

1.     Earlier books were read by the elites. Common people were illiterate and lived in a world of oral culture. They heard sacred texts read out, ballads recited and folk tales narrated.

2.     Knowledge was transferred orally. People collectively heard a story or saw a performance.

3.     Before the age of print, books were not only expensive but they could not be produced in sufficient numbers. Now books could reach out to wider sections of people. If earlier there was a hearing public, now a reading public came into being.

Question 77.
“The transition from a hearing public to reading public was not simple.” Explain. How the hearing public and reading public became intermingled ?
Answer:
The transition from a hearing public to reading public was not simple due to the reasons as mentioned below :

1.     Books could be read only by the literate people.

2.     Rates of literacy in most European countries were very low till the twentieth century.

3.      To reach and persuade the common people to welcome the printed books, publishers had to keep in mind the wider reach of the printed work so that even those who did not read could certainly enjoy listening to books being read out. So printers published popular ballads and folk tales and illustrated such books with pictures. These were then sung and recited at gatherings in villages and in taverns in towns. Oral culture thus entered print and printed material was orally transmitted. As a result of it, the hearing public and reading public intermingled.

Question 78.
How did print introduce a new world of debate and discussion ? What were its implications in the sphere of religion ?
Answer:
(1) Print introduced a new world of debate and discussion as mentioned below :

1.     Print created the possibility of wide circulation of ideas.

2.     Even those who disagreed with established authorities, could now print and circulate
their ideas. .

3.     Through the printed message, people could be persuaded to think differently, and move to action. This had significance in different spheres of life.

(2) Debates and discussions had effects on religion as mentioned below :

1.     Martin Luther’s Ninety Five These criticism many practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church led to a division within the Church and to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

2.     Several scholars think that print brought about a new intellectual atmosphere and helped spread the new ideas that led to the reformation.

3.     Print revolution led to distinctive interpretations of faith even among little-educated working people. For example, Manocchio, a miller in Italy, reinterpreted the Bible in his own way that enraged the Roman Catholic Church which imposed severe controls over publishers and booksellers and began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books from 1558.

Question 79.
Why was there fear of print among some people in Europe ? Explain.
Answer:

1.     The printed book was not welcomed by all. Even those who did it also had some fears about it.

2.     On the other hand, many were apprehensive of the effects that the easier access to the printed word and the wider circulation of books, could have on people’s minds.

3.     It was feared that if there was no control over what was printed and read then rebellious and irreligious thoughts might spread. If that happened the authority of ‘valuable’ literature would be destroyed. This fear or anxiety was the main basis of criticism of the new printed literature.

Question 80.
What was Reading Mania ? What was its impact on children and women ? 
                                              Or
Which factors led to reading mania in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe ?
                                              Or
Describe the causes for extreme enthusiasm for reading in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe.
Answer:
Causes were as given below :

1.     Rise in literacy rate : Literacy rates increased during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Churches all over Europe set up schools in villages, carrying literacy to peasants and artisans. In the eighteenth century, literacy rates were as high as 60 to 80 per cent, in some parts of Europe. As the literacy rate increased and schools spread, people wanted books to read and printers increased their production.

2.     New forms of popular literature : New forms of popular literature, such as almanacs or ritual calendars, folktales, chapbooks, Bilio the que Bleue, were printed. Booksellers employed pedlars for sale of this printed literature. Chapbooks were sold for a penny and the poor could buy such books easily. Books of various sizes, serving many different purposes and interests were published.

3.     Rise of periodical press : From the early eighteenth century, the periodical press printed information about current affairs with entertainment. Newspapers and journals wrote about wars and trade, and developments in other places.

4.     Ideas of scientists and philosophers : The ideas of scientists and philosophers were published with maps and scientific diagrams. It attracted people. For example, the discoveries of Isaac Newton influenced large number of people. The writings of thinkers such as Thomas Paine, Voltaire and Rousseau were widely printed and read.

Question 81.
Why did some people in eighteenth century Europe think that print culture would bring enlightenment and end despotism ?
Answer:
Some people in eighteenth century Europe thought that print culture would bring enlightenment and end despotism. Printing pr^ss was the most powerful engine of progress and public opinion was the force that would destroy the basis of despotism. Such were the views of Louise-Sebastien Mercier, a novelist in eighteenth century France. In many of Mercier’s novels, the heroes are transformed by acts of reading. They devour books, are lost in the world books create, and become enlightened in the process. He was convinced of the power of print and proclaimed : ‘Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer’.

Question 82.
“The print culture created the conditions within which the French Revolution occurred.” Give three arguments in favour of the statement. 
Answer:
It is correct to say that the print culture created the conditions within which the French Revolution occurred.
The following arguments are given in support of this view :

1.     Popularisation of ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers : It is stated that print culture popularised the writings of Rousseau, Voltaire and others. These thinkers were against the sacred authority of the Church and the despotic power of the state. Rousseau’s ideal of ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’became the motto of the revolutionaries. These ideas enlightened the masses.

2.     New culture and dialogue and debate : With the coming of print culture, people became aware of the power of reason. They started questioning the existing ideas and beliefs and authority of the Church. Within this public culture, new ideas of social revolution came into being.

3.     Criticism of royalty of their morality : New literature criticised royalty for their lavish life style at a time when people were suffering from hunger. Cartoons and caricatures showed that the monarchy was absorbed in sensual pleasures. The ordinary people i.e., peasants, artisans and workers, had a hard time while the nobility enjoyed life and oppressed the poor. Such writings led to the growth of hostile sentiments against the monarchy.It played a significant role by influencing the people to think in different ways and questioning the authority of the monarchs as well as the Church.However it may be added that print helped the spread of ideas but people read all types of literature. There was monarchical and Church propaganda. They were not influenced by one idea. They accepted some and rejected other ideas. So it can be said that the print did not directly shape their minds but it did open up the possibility of thinking differently.

Question 83.
What kind of material was printed for children and women during the nineteenth century that made them an important category of readers ?
Answer:
The following types of printed material was responsible for increase in readership of children and women in the 19th century :
(1) Children :

1.     Primary education became compulsory from the late 19th century.

2.     A children’s press set up in France in 1857 devoted to literature for children alone.

3.     Old fairy tales and folk tales were published.

4.     The Grimm Brothers in Germany compiled traditional folk tales gathered from peasants. A collection of stories was published in 1812.

5.     Anything that was considered unsuitable for children or would appear vulgar to the elites, was not included in the published version.Rural folk tales thus acquired a new form. In this way, print recorded old tales but also changed them.

(2) Women:

1.     Penny Magazine was published between 1832 and 1835 in England. It was aimed primarily at the working class and women.

2.     There were manuals teaching proper behaviour and house keeping.

3.     Novels were written in the nineteenth century by women like Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, George Eliot. Their writings became important in defining a new type of woman, a person with will, strength of personality, determination and the power to think.

Question 84.
Describe the role played by lending libraries in the growth of readers in the 19th century.
Answer:
Lending libraries became instruments for educating white-collar workers, artisans and lower-middle class people. In due course of time, when the working day was shortened from the mid-nineteenth century, workers had sometime for self-improvement and self-expression. They wrote political tracts and autobiographies in large numbers.

Question 85.
Explain any five innovations in print technology in Europe that took place after the 18th century.

Or
Mention one major contribution of Richard M. Hoe in developing printing press.
Answer:
The following innovations took place in printing technology in the nineteenth century :

1.     Power-driven cylindrical press by Richard M. Hoe of New York : This was capable of printing 8,000 sheets per hour. It was useful for printing newspapers.

2.     Offset Press : This could print up to six colours at a time.

3.     Electrically operated presses : These further accelerated printing operations.

4.     Other developments :

o    Methods of feeding paper improved.

o    The quality of plates became better.

o    Automatic paper reels and photo electric controls of the colour register were introduced.
All the above innovations transformed the appearance of printed texts.

Question 86.
Describe the strategies developed by the printers and publishers in the nineteenth century to sell their products.
Answer:
The printers and publishers developed the following strategies to sell their products :

1.     Periodicals serialised novels : Nineteenth century periodicals serialised important novels. This became popular among the people.

2.     Shilling series : In the 1920s in England, popular works were sold in cheap series, called the Shilling Series.

3.     Dust cover or the book jacket : It was also innovated and used in the 20th century.

4.     Paperback editions : During the Great Depression in the 1930s, publishers brought out cheap paperback editions in order to sustain buying and to avoid a decline in book purchases.

Question 87.
What is manuscript ? Mention any two limitations of it during 19th century.
                                                          Or
Why were manuscripts not widely used in everyday life ? Give three reasons. 
Answer:
(1)

1.     There were handwritten manuscripts in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and various vernacular languages.

2.     Manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or on handmade paper.

3.     There were illustrations on pages.

4.     To preserve them, these were either pressed between wooden covers or sewn together to ensure preservation.

(2)
The manuscripts were not widely used in everyday life due to their drawbacks/ limitations as mentioned below :

1.     Manuscripts were, however, highly expensive and fragile.

2.     They had to be handled carefully.

3.     They also could not be read easily as the script was written in different styles.
In view of the above, manuscripts were not widely used in everyday life. Their use remained limited. Even in schools, teachers used to dictate portions of texts to students. Many people, thus, became literate without ever actually reading any kind of texts.

Question 88.
Explain briefly the initial efforts made by foreigners to introduce printing press in India.
Answer:

1.     The printing press came to India with Portuguese missionaries in Goa in the mid-sixteenth century. Jesuit priests learnt Konkani and printed several tracts. By 1674, about 50 books had been printed in Konkani and Kanara languages.

2.     Books in different languages were printed as given below :

1.     In 1579 – First Tamil book was printed by Catholic priests at Cochin.

2.      In 1713 – Printing of first Malayalam book.

3.     By 1710 – Dutch Protestant missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts, many of them were translations from older works.

3.     English printing :

1.     From 1780, James Augustus Hickey began to edit the Bengal Gazette, a weakly magazine that described itself as ‘a commercial paper open to all but influenced by none’. It was a private enterprise, proud of its independence from colonial influence. It was the beginning of English printing in India.

2.     By the end of eighteenth century, a number of newspapers and journals were being printed.

3.     Indians too began to publish newspaper. Weekly Bengal Gazette was the first to be brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya.

Question 89.
How did print help connect communities and people in different parts of India ? Explain with examples.
                                                   Or
“Print did not only stimulate the publication of conflicting opinions amongst communities, but it also connected communities and people in different parts of India.” Support the statement with examples. 
Answer:
From the early nineteenth century, there were intense debates around religious issues. Different interpretations about the beliefs of different religions were given. Print culture published such ideas which resulted in more participation in public discussions. For example, there were controversies between social and religious reformers and Hindu orthodoxy over matters like widow immolation (sati system), monotheism, idolatry. The newspapers published these controversies in the spoken language of ordinary people.

In North India, The ulama were worried that the colonial rulers would encourage conversion and change the Muslim personal laws. They, therefore, started cheap lithographic presses. Islamic doctrines were explained. A number of Muslim sects appeared giving different interpretation of faith. In all these activities, Urdu print helped them conduct these battles in public.
Among Hindus, too, print encouraged the reading of religious texts in vernacular languages. For example, Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas was published from Calcutta in 1810.

Thus, religious texts reached a large number of people and encouraged them to take part in discussions, debates and controversies. It is, therefore, rightly said that print encouraged the publication of conflicting opinions among communities. ‘
However, newspapers conveyed news from one place to another, creating pan-Indian identities. It, therefore, connected communities and people in different parts of India.

Question 90.
Explain the visual culture (picture, calendar and cartoon etc.) in print developed in the 19th century.
Answer:
By the end of the 19th century, a new visual culture was taking place. It was as mentioned below :

1.     With the setting up an increasing number of printing presses, visual images could be easily reproduced in multiple copies. Painters like Raja Ravi Varma produced image for mass circulation. Poor wood engravers who made woodblocks setup shop near the letter presses and were employed by print shops.

2.     Cheap prints and calendars were easily available in the bazaar. These could be bought even by the poor to decorate the walls of their homes or places of work. These prints began shaping popular ideas about modernity and tradition, religion and politics and society and culture.

3.     By the 1870s, caricatures and cartoons were published in journals and newspapers, commenting on social and political issues. Some caricatures ridiculed the educated Indians’ fascination with the western tastes and clothes, while other expressed the fear of social change. There were imperial caricatures lampooning nationalists as well as nationalist cartoons criticising imperial rule.

Question 91.
Describe the attitude of liberal and conservative Indians towards women’s reading.
Answer:
See Textbook Question 3(a).

Question 92.
Write a short note on the folk literature written in Punjab in 20th century.
Answer:

1.     In Punjab, folk literature was widely printed from the early 20th century.

2.     Ram Chaddha published the best selling Istri Dharm Vichar to teach women how to be obedient wives.

3.     The Khalsa Tract Society published cheap booklets with a similar message as that of Istri Dharm Vichar.

4.     Most of the literature was in the form of dialogue about the qualities of a good woman.

Question 93.
Write a short note on the Batala publications.
Answer:

1.     In Bengal, an entire area in central Calcutta — The Battala — was devoted to the printing of popular books.

2.     Cheap editions of religious tracts and scriptures, as well as literature that was considered obscene and scandalous was available in Battala.

3.     By the late nineteenth century, a lot of these books were being profusely illustrated with woodcuts and coloured lithographs.

4.     Pedlars took the Battala publications to homes, enabling women to read them in their leisure time.

Question 94.
What was the effect of print on the poor in the 20th century ?
Answer:
With the coming of print, issues of caste discrimination etc. were raised in the late 19th century by Jyotiba Phule.

1.     In the twentieth century, B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in Madras, better known as Periyar, wrote on caste and their writings were read by people all over India.

2.     Local protest movements and sects also created a lot of popular journals and tracts criticising ancient scriptures and envisioning a new and just future.

3.     Workers in factories were too overworked and lacked education to write much about their experiences. But Kashibaba, a Kanpur mill-worken wrote and published Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal, in 1938 to show the link between caste and class exploitation.

4.      The poems of another mill-worker wTio wrote under the name of Sudarshan Chakr were published in a collection Sacchi Kavitayan.

5.     By the 1930s, Bangalore cotton millworkers setup libraries to educate themselves, following the example of Bombay workers. These were sponsored by social reformers who tried | to restrict excessive drinking among them, to bring literacy and, sometimes, to propagate the message of nationalism.

Question 95.
How did the Governor-General William Bentinck react to the petition Bled by the editors of English and Vernacular newspapers ?
Answer:

1.     Before 1798, the colonial state under the East India Company was not concerned with censorship. But its early measures to control printed matter were directed against English¬men in India who were critical of Company misrule and hated the actions of particular Company officers.

2.     The Company was worried that such criticisms might be used by its critics in England
to attack its trade monopoly in India.

3.     By the 1820s, the Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain regulations to control press
freedom and the Company began encouraging publication of newspapers that would celebrate British rule.

4.     In 1835 faced with urgent petitions by editors of English and vernacular newspapers, Governor-General Bentinck agreed to revise press laws.

5.     Thomas Macaulay, a liberal colonial official, formulated new rules that restored the earlier freedoms.

Question 96.
Critically examine the Vernacular Press Act of 1878.
                                     Or
What steps were taken by the British to curb the freedom of press ?
Answer:
See Textbook Question 2(c).

Question 97.
What was the contribution of print culture in the growth of nationalism in India ? How did the British attempt to check them ?
Answer:
(1) Nationalist newspapers grew in numbers in all parts of India. They reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities. Government’s attempts to censor nationalist criticism provoked militant protest. For example, when Punjab revolutionaries were deported in 1907, Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote with great sympathy about them in his Kesari. He was arrested and this provoked widespread nationalist protests. The vernacular press brought cases of misrule to the notice of the masses.

(2) After the revolt of 1857, the attitude to freedom of the press changed. Enraged Englishmen demanded a clamp down on the ‘native’ press. As vernacular newspapers became assertively nationalist, the British government passed the Vernacular Press Act in 1878. It was based on the Irish Press Laws. It provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press.

Question 98.
Explain any five reasons for bringing in large number of new readers among children, women and workers during the late 19^th century.
Answer:
The five reasons are

·         compulsory primary education;

·         women became important as readers;

·         lending libraries became instrumental for educating white collar workers, artisans and lower middle class people;

·         self educated working novelist were women who defined a new type of strong woman; and

·         best known novelist were who defined a new type of strong woman.

Question 99.
‘Print played a significant role in awakening sentiments of nationalism amongst the Indians’. Explain the statement with examples.
Answer:
There is no denying that print culture connected the different people and communities and stimulated among them a spirit of togetherness, oneness and nationalism. Both Indian press and literature played a vital role in the growth of nationalism in India. In the nineteenth century, a large quantity of national literature was created which brought about a great revolution in the minds of people and inspired them to fight against British imperialism.

The Indian press contributed in arousing national consciousness among the people of India. Many vernacular newspapers like the ‘Indian Mirror’, ‘Bombay Samachar’, ‘The Amrita Bazar Patrika’, ‘The Hindu/ ‘The Kesari’ and several others had a great influence on the political life of the country. A continuous flow of articles by national leaders and thinkers like Gandhiji, Tagore, Tilak, etc. passed on ideas of a new free India to the masses and prepared them for the national struggle.

Question 101.
How did the printers manage to attract the people, largely illiterate, towards printed books?
Answer:
The rate of literacy was very low in European countries till the twentieth century:

·         To attract the illiterate common people towards printed books, publishers realised the wider reach of printed work whereby even those who could not read could certainly enjoy listening to books being read out.

·         So printers began publishing popular ballads and folk tales. Such books would be profusely illustrated with pictures.

·         These were also sung and recited at gatherings in villages and in taverns in towns.

Question 102.
What were the new inventions that increased the circulation of printed materials?
Answer:
With the growing demand for books, woodblock printing gradually became more and more popular and was widely used in Europe to print textiles, playing cards, and religious pictures with simple, brief texts. The breakthrough in printing technology occurred when Johann Gutenberg developed the first printing press.

The Olive Press provided the model for the printing press, and moulds were used for casting the metal types for the letters and alphabet. The first book Gutenberg printed was Bible. As the number of printing press grew, book production boomed. The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution.

Question 103.
Give any three reasons favouring shift from hand printing to mechanical printing in China?
Answer:

1.    By the 17^th century, urban culture bloomed in China and the use of print diversified. It was important for a shift from hand printing to mechanical printing in China to take place. Print was no longer used just by scholar-officials. Merchants used print in their everyday life to collect trade information.

2.    Reading increasingly became a leisure activity. Rich women began to read and many women began publishing their poetry and plays.

3.    In the late 19th century as Western powers established their outposts in China, western printing techniques and mechanical presses were imported. Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture catering to Western-style schools.

Question 104.
Highlight any three circumstances that led to the intermingling of the hearing culture and the reading culture.
Answer:

·         With the printing press, a new reading public emerged. Printing reduced the cost of books. Access to books created a new culture of reading. Earlier reading was restricted to the elite.

·         Common people lived in a world of oral culture. They heard sacred texts read out, ballads recited and folk tales narrated. Knowledge was transferred orally.

·         Printers began publishing popular ballads and folk tales, illustrated with pictures. These were sung and recited at gatherings. Oral culture thus entered print and printed material was orally transmitted.

·         The line that separated oral and reading cultures diminished and the hearing and reading public intermingled.

Question 105.
Highlight any three innovations which have improved the printing technology from nineteenth century onwards.
Answer:
Three innovations which have improved the printing technology from nineteenth century onwards:

1.    Methods of feeding paper improved.

2.    The quality of printing plates became better.

3.    Automatic paper reels and photoelectric controls of the colour register were introduced.

4.    The accumulation of several individual mechanical improvements transformed the appearance of printed texts.

Question 106.
In which three ways did the printed books at first closely resemble the written manuscripts?
Answer:
The printed books at first closely resembled the written manuscripts in appearance and layout. The metal letters initiated the ornamental handwritten styles.

Borders were illuminated were by hand with foliage and patterns and illustrations painted.

In the books printed for the rich, space for decoration was kept blank on the printed page for the purchaser to choose the design and the painting school that would do the illustration.

Question 106.
How did new forms of popular literature appear in print targeting new audience in the Eighteenth century? Explain with examples.
Answer:
New forms of popular literature appeared in print targeting new audiences.
Book sellers employed pedlars who roamed around villages, carrying little books for sale. There were almanacs or ritual calendars, along with ballads and folktales.

In England, penny chapbooks were carried by petty pedlars known as chapmen and sold for a penny.
In France ‘Biliotheque Blue’, low priced small books printed on poor quality paper were bound in cheap blue covers. Romances and the ‘histories’ which were stories about the past were printed on four to six pages.

Books were of various sizes, serving many different purposes and interests.

Question 107.
What made the Englishmen, under colonial rule, demand a clamp down on the ‘native press’, after the revolt of 1857? How was it done?
Or, Why did the attitude of the colonial Government towards the freedom of the press change after the revolt of 1857? What repressive measures were adopted by them to control the freedom of press?
Answer:
The English Government wanted to suppress the native press because the vernacular newspapers had become assertively nationalist. They feared that if their freedom of Press is not curtailed, it might encourage the masses to rise again against the colonial rule.

In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed which provided the Government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press.

Then onwards, the government kept regular track of the vernacular newspapers published in different provinces. When a report was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned, and if the warning was ignored, the Press could be seized and the printing machinery confiscated.

Question 107.
Why was Martin Luther in favour of print? Explain three reasons.
Answer:
Martin Luther was in favour of print and spoke out in praise of it, because:

1.    He wrote ‘Ninety-Five Theses’ criticizing many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. His ideas were reproduced in print in vast numbers and reached a large section of people,

2.    According to him printing was the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one.

3.    His protests ultimately led to the division of Church and beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

Question 108.
Write a short note on Gutenberg Press.
Answer:
Gutenberg Press. A breakthrough in print technology occurred at Strasbourg, Germany where Johann Gutenberg developed the first known printing press in 1430s. Gutenberg developed metal types for each of the 26 characters of the Roman alphabet and devised a way of moving them around so as to compose different words of the text.

This came to be known as the moveable type printing machine, and it remained the basic print technology over the next 300 years. Books could now be produced much faster than was possible when each print block was prepared by carving a piece of wood by hand. The Gutenberg press could print 250 sheets on one side per hour. The first book printed by Gutenberg was the Bible and it took three years to print 180 copies.

Question 109.
Write a short note on Vernacular Press Act.
Answer:
The Vernacular Press Act.

·         In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed by the British Government in India to impose restrictions on vernacular press, which was responsible for spreading nationalist ideas in much of India.

·         The government started to keep a regular track of the vernacular newspapers published in different provinces and had extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press.

·         When a report was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned, and if the warning was ignored, the press was liable to be seized and the printing machinery confiscated.

·         The most discriminating aspect of the law was that though it put serious restrictions on the freedom of Indian language newspapers, yet it spared the English newspapers from its purview.

Question 110.
Why did some people in the eighteenth century Europe think that print culture would bring enlightenment and end despotism?
Answer:
By mid-eighteenth century, people started believing that books were a means of spreading progress and enlightenment. They believed books could change the world and liberate society from despotism and tyranny. Thinkers hoped that widespread use of books would help people to reason out and give them strength to fight despotism. The knowledge imparted in the books would help the masses to Question the rights of the rulers (or divine right theory). Louise Sebastien Mercier, a novelist staunchly believed that the power of print would spread enlightenment and destroy the very basis of despotism.

Question 111.
What do you understand by ‘visual culture’ and its role in printing in India?
Answer:

1.    By the end of 19th century, a new visual culture had started.

2.    Increasing number of printing presses helped in the production of visual images and reproduced them in multiple copies.

3.    Painters like Raja Ravi Varma helped in producing images for mass circulation.

4.    Cheap prints and calendars were easily available in markets and could be bought even by the poor to decorate the walls of their homes or workplaces. These prints helped in developing popular ideas about modernity and tradition, religion and politics and society and culture.

Question 112.
Evaluate the impact of print technology on the poor people in India.
Answer:
Impact of Print on the poor. Very cheap books were brought to markets in 19th century Madras towns and sold at crossroads, allowing poor people travelling to markets to buy them. Public libraries were set up from the early 20th century, expanding access to books.
From the late 19^th century, issues of caste discrimination began to be written about in many printed tracts and essays:

1.    Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of Tow caste’ protest movements, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri (1871). B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in Madras, better known as Periyar, wrote powerfully on caste and their writings were read by people all over India.

2.    A mill worker at Kanpur called Kashibaba, wrote and published Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal in 1930 to show the links between caste and class exploitation. Bangalore Cotton Mill workers set up libraries to educate themselves following the example of Bombay workers.

Question 113.
Why did the attitude of the colonial Government towards the freedom of the press change after the revolt of 1857? What repressive measures were adopted by them to control the freedom of press?
Answer:
Enraged English officials clamped down the native press:

1.    The English Government wanted to suppress the native press because the vernacular newspapers had become assertively nationalist. They feared that if their freedom of Press is not curtailed, it might encourage the masses to rise again against the colonial rule.

2.    In 1878, the Vernacular Press Act was passed which provided the Government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press.

3.    Then onwards, the government kept regular track of the vernacular newspapers published in different provinces. When a report was judged as seditious, the newspaper was warned, and if the warning was ignored, the Press could be seized and the printing machinery confiscated.

Long Answer Questions (LA) 5 Marks

Question 114.
Why did the British Government pass the Vernacular Press Act in 1878? What powers did it give to the Government?
Or
Critically examine the Vernacular Press Act of 1878.
Answer:
The British Government passed the Vernacular Press Act in 1878 because the Company was worried that their criticism in Indian media might be used by their critics in England to attack their trade monopoly in India.

After the Revolt of 1877, the criticism against the government grew in the Indian media. The Vernacular newspapers reported on colonial misrule and encouraged nationalist activities. So it became necessary for the administrators in India to suppress the local newspapers. It provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the Vernacular Press.

The government had the power to warn, seize and confiscate the printing machinery of the newspaper if it was judged as seditious. The most discriminating aspect was that it put severe restrictions on the Indian language newspapers while the English ones were spared from its purview.

Question 115.
What is a manuscript? List any four shortcomings of manuscripts.
Answer:
India had a very rich and old tradition of handwritten manuscripts—in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and other vernacular languages.
Manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or on handmade paper. Pages were sometimes beautifully . illustrated.
Shortcomings of manuscript:

1.    Manuscripts were highly expensive and fragile and could not be carried around easily.

2.    They could not be read easily as the script was written in different styles.

3.    Production of handwritten manuscripts could not satisfy the ever-increasing demand for books.

4.    Copying was an expensive, laborious and time-consuming business.

5.    Even though pre-colonial Bengal had developed an extensive network of village, primary schools, students very often did not read texts. They only learnt to write.

Question 116.
“Print not only stimulated the publication of conflicting opinions amongst communities, but it also connected communities and people in different parts of India.” Examine the statement.
Answer:

·         By the close of the eighteenth century, a number of newspapers and journals appeared in print. The first newspaper to come out was the weekly Bengal Gazette, brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya.

·         Printed tracts and newspapers not only spread new ideas, but they also shaped the nature of debate. A wider public could now participate in public discussions and express their views.

·         There were intense controversies between the social and religious reformers and Hindu orthodoxy over matters like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical priesthood and idolatry. So that these ideas and thoughts could reach a wider audience, newspapers were printed in the spoken language of ordinary people.

·         Rammohan Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 and the Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the Samachar Chandrika to oppose his opinions. Two Persian newspapers, Jam-i-Jahan Nama and Shamsul Akhbar were also published.

·         After the collapse of Muslim dynasties Ulama feared that colonial rulers would change the Muslim personal laws. To counter this they published Persian and Urdu translations of holy scriptures and printed religious newspapers and tracts.

·         Newspapers and journals not only helped the publication of conflicting opinions but also connected people and communities in different parts of India. Newspapers conveyed news from one place to another, creating Pan-Indian identities.

Question 117.
‘The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution in Europe/ Explain the statement with examples.
Answer:
Between 1450 and 1550, printing presses were set up in most countries of Europe. Printers from Germany travelled to other countries seeking work helping start new presses. As the number of printing presses grew, book production boomed.

The second half of the 15th century saw 20 million copies of printed books flooding the markets in Europe. The number increased to 200 million copies in 16th century. This shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution.
Printing became a revolutionary process and became the vehicle for reaching masses of readers quickly.

1.    The printed books at first closely resembled the written manuscripts in appearance and layout.

2.    The metal letters initiated the ornamental handwritten styles.

3.    Borders were illuminated by hand with foliage and other patterns, and illustrations were painted.

4.    In the books printed for the rich, space for decoration was kept blank on the printed page for the purchaser to choose the design and the painting school that would do the illustration.

Question 118.
“The new technology could not entirely displace the existing art of producing books by hand during 15^th century.” Support the statement.
Answer:

1.    The printed books at first closely resembled the written manuscripts in appearance and layout.

2.    The metal letters imitated the ornamental handwritten styles.

3.    Borders were illuminated by hand with foliage and other patterns and illustrations were painted.

4.    In the books printed for the rich, space for decoration was kept blank on the printed page. Each purchaser could choose the designs and decide on the painting school that would do the illustrations.
The new technology did not entirely displace the existing art of producing books by hand.

Question 119.
Explain any five effects of spreading of print culture on poor people in nineteenth century India.
Or
Evaluate the impact of print technology on the poor people in India.
Answer:
The effects of spread of print culture on poor people in 19th century India:
Very cheap books were brought to markets in 19th century Madras towns and sold at crossroads, allowing poor people travelling to markets to buy them. Public libraries were set up from the 20th century, expanding access to books.

From the late 19^th century, issues of caste discrimination began to be written about in many printed tracts and essays.

1.    Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of ‘low caste’ protest movements, wrote about the injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri (1871). B.R. Ambedkar in Maharashtra and E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker in Madras, better known as Periyar, wrote powerfully on caste and their writings were read by people all over India.

2.    A mill worker at Kanpur called Kashibaba, wrote and published Chhote Aur Bade ka Sawal in 1938 to show the links between caste and class exploitation. Bangalore Cotton Mill workers set up libraries to educate themselves following the example of Bombay workers.

Question 120.
Describe any five strategies developed by the printers and publishers in the 19th century to sell their products.
Answer:
Printers and publishers continuously developed new strategies to sell their products:

1.    Serialisation of important novels in nineteenth century periodicals. This gave birth to a particular way of writing.

2.    In the 1920s in England, popular works were sold in cheap series, called the ‘Shilling Series’.

3.    Publishers feared a decline in book purchases during the Great Depression in 1930s. They brought out cheap paperback editions of novels to sustain buying.

4.    Printers published new books.

5.    In the 20^th century, the dust cover or the book jacket was also introduced.

Question 121.
How far is it right to say that the print culture was responsible for the French Revolution? Explain.
Or
“Many historians argued that the conditions within which French Revolution occurred were created by the print culture”. Support this statement with three suitable arguments.
Answer:
Following are the arguments which were given in support of the above statement:

1.    Print popularised the ideas of enlightened thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau, and those who read these books, started Question ing everything and developed critical and rational thinking. These thinkers attacked the sacred authority of the Church and despotic power of the State.

2.    All existing values, norms and institutions, which were never Question ed earlier, were revalued through debates and discussions by the public in print.

3.    By 1780s, there was an outpour of literature that mocked royalty and criticised their morality. The existing social order was criticised. Through cartoons and caricatures, they made people aware that while common people were going through tremendous hardships, the monarchy remained absorbed in merry-making and did not care about sufferings of common people. This ultimately led to the growth of a hostile feeling against the monarchy.
In spite of these strong arguments, no one can claim that these were the only reasons for the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Question 122.
What did the spread of print culture mean to the women in 19^th century India.
Answer:
Women: The spread of print culture opened a new world of education and books for many Indian women who had remained confined to their households and families due to the traditional Indian social set-up.

1.    Women’s reading increased enormously in middle-class homes. Liberal husbands and fathers began educating their womenfolk at home and sent them to schools when women’s schools were set up in the cities and towns after the mid-nineteenth century.

2.    Even girls and women took initiative to get liberated and educated. One such example is of a girl in a conservative Muslim family of North India who had learnt to read and write Urdu. Her family wanted her to read only the Arabic Quran which she did not understand. So she insisted on learning to read a language that was her own.

3.    Another such example was: Rashsundari Debi, a young married girl in a very orthodox household who learnt to read in the secrecy of her kitchen. Later she wrote her autobiography Amur Jiban which was published in 1876.

4.    From 1860, a few Bengali women like Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting the experiences of women about how they were illtreated on the domestic front.

5.    Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote with passionate anger about the miserable lives of upper caste Hindu women, especially widows. A woman in a Tamil novel expressed what reading meant to women: ‘For various reasons, my world is small. More than half my life’s happiness has come from books.’

6.    In the early twentieth century, journals, written for and sometimes edited by women, became extremely popular and discussed issues like women’s education, widowhood, widow remarriage and the national movement.

7.    Pedlars took the Battala publications (Central Calcutta) to homes, enabling women to read them in their leisure time.

Question 123.
Explain the significance of newspapers and journals developed from the early 18^th century.
Answer:

1.    By the close of the eighteenth century, a number of newspapers and journals appeared in print.

2.    Not just the English people, the Indians too began to publish Indian newspapers.

3.    The first newspaper to come out was the weekly Bengal Gazette, brought out by Gangadhar Bhattacharya.

4.    Printed tracts and newspapers not only spread new ideas, but they also shaped the nature of debate. A wider public could now participate in public discussions and express their views.

5.    There were intense controversies between the social and religious reformers and Hindu orthodoxy over matters like widow immolation, monotheism, Brahmanical priesthood and idolatory. So that these ideas and thoughts could reach a wider audience, newspapers were printed in the spoken language of ordinary people.

6.    Rammohan Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi from 1821 and the Hindu orthodoxy commissioned the Samachar Chandrika to oppose his opinions.

7.    Two Persian newspapers, Jam-i-Jahan Nama and Shamsul Akhbar were also published.

Newspapers and journals not only helped the publication of conflicting opinions but also connected people and communities in different parts of India. Newspapers conveyed news from one place to another, creating Pan-Indian identities.