newspaper headline examples block printing

The oldest text containing a specific date of printing was discovered in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang in 1907 by Aurel Stein. They have been dated to the reign of Wu Zetian using character form recognition. The oldest extant evidence of woodblock prints created for the purpose of reading are portions of the Lotus Sutra discovered at Turpan in 1906. This coincides with the reign of Wu Zetian, under which the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra, which advocates the practice of printing apotropaic and merit making texts and images, was translated by Chinese monks. A similar piece, the Saddharma pundarika sutra, was also discovered and dated to 690 to 699. It is called the Great spell of unsullied pure light ( Wugou jingguang da tuoluoni jing 無垢淨光大陀羅尼經) and was printed using woodblock during the Tang dynasty, c. The earliest extant example of this type of printed matter is a fragment of a dhāraṇī (Buddhist spell) miniature scroll written in Sanskrit unearthed in a tomb in Xi'an. Instead they were buried in consecrated ground. These Buddhist texts were printed specifically as ritual items and were not widely circulated or meant for public consumption. As a consequence the idea of printing and its advantages in replicating texts quickly became apparent to Buddhists, who by the 7th century, were using woodblocks to create apotropaic documents. By copying and preserving these texts, Buddhists could accrue personal merit. According to Mahayana beliefs, religious texts hold intrinsic value for carrying the Buddha's word and act as talismanic objects containing sacred power capable of warding off evil spirits. The rise of printing was greatly influenced by Mahayana Buddhism. However woodblock print flower patterns applied to silk in three colours have been found dated from the Han dynasty (before AD 220). The semi-mythical record of him therefore describes his usage of the printing process to deliberately bewilder onlookers and create an image of mysticism around himself. Timothy Hugh Barrett postulates that Gong's magical jade block was actually a printing device, and Gong was one of the first, if not the first printer. Eventually he was dealt with by the governor's successor, who presumably executed Gong. Most European uses of the technique for printing images on paper are covered by the art term woodcut, except for the block books produced mainly in the 15th century.Ĭoloured woodcut Buddha, 10th century, China China Īccording to the Book of the Southern Qi, in the 480s, a man named Gong Xuanyi (龔玄宜) styled himself Gong the Sage and 'said that a supernatural being had given him a 'jade seal jade block writing,' which did not require a brush: one blew on the paper and characters formed.' He then used his powers to mystify a local governor. Ukiyo-e is the best-known type of Japanese woodblock art print. Woodblock printing existed in Tang China by the 7th century AD and remained the most common East Asian method of printing books and other texts, as well as images, until the 19th century. Carving the blocks is skilled and laborious work, but a large number of impressions can then be printed.Īs a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220 AD. Each page or image is created by carving a wooden block to leave only some areas and lines at the original level it is these that are inked and show in the print, in a relief printing process. Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. The intricate frontispiece of the Diamond Sutra from Tang dynasty China, the world's earliest printed text containing a date of production, AD 868 ( British Library)

Newspaper headline examples block printing