(a) The Gutenberg Press It was the first printing press of Europe. It was invented by Johann Gutenberg of Strasbourg. He grew up in a large agricultural estate and had knowledge and experience in operating olive and wine presses. The olive press provided him the model for the printing press and he used moulds for casting metal types for letters of the alphabet. He invented the printing press around the year 1448.
(b) Erasmus's Idea of the Printed Book Erasmus was a Latin scholar. He was not happy with printing of books because he was afraid that this would lead to circulation of books with rebellious ideas. He felt that although a few books may give useful information, the majority of books may be just useless or give stupid, scandalous or irreligious ideas which may lead to provoke rebellion. According o him such books devalue the valuable books.
(c) The Vernacular Press Act It was passed in 1878 by the British Government in India. This Act provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials in the vernacular press. If a vernacular paper published any seditious material, the paper was banned and its printing machinery was seized. This was a complete violation of the freedom of expression.

(a) Woodblock print only came to Europe after 1295 with the arrival of Marco Polo, the Iralian explorer. He learnt the technology of woodblock printing in China. In 1295, in Italy, he brought this knowledge and gradually, this knowledge spread from Italy to other parts of Europe.
(b) Martin Luther was in favour of printing and spoke out in praise of it because it was printing press through which he got a chance to criticise many of the corrupt practices of the Catholic Church. In 1517,Martin Luther, wrote 'Ninety Five Theses' pasted a printed copy of this on the church door in Wittenberg. Very soon, thousands of copies of Luther's theses were printed, spreading his ideas among people.
(c) In 1558, the Roman Church decided to maintain an Index of prohibited Book as print and popular literature encouraged many distinctive interpretations of religious faiths and ideas. For example, in the 16th century, Menocchio, a miller in Italy, began to read books available readily in his locality. He gave a new interpretation of the Bible and formulated a view of God and Creation which made the Roman Catholic Church angry. As a result, Menocchio was executed when the Roman Catholic Church began its inquisition to repress the heretical ideas.
(d) Mahatma Gandhi said these words in 1922 during the Non-cooperation Movement (1920-22) because according to him, without the liberty of speech. The liberty of press and freedom of association, no nation can even survive. If the country was to get free from foreign domination, then these liberties were quite important.
If there is no liberty of speech, liberty of press and freedom of association. Then there is no nationalism. Nationalism requires these three pre-requisites for its survival.
That is why, he said so, particularly about these three freedoms. To Gandhiji, Swaraj meant to achieve freedom of press before anything else.

The effects of the spread of print culture on poor people in 19th century India were as follows
(i) The literacy rate improved in India. Printed material, especially for entertainment, began to reach even the poor in the 19th century. Publishers started producing small and cheap books for the poor. These books were sold at crossroads. Public libraries were setup by Christian missionaries and rich people.
(ii) Enlightening essays were written against caste discrimination and its inherent injustices. These were read by people across the country.
(iii) On the encouragement and support of social reformers, overworked factory workers set up libraries for self-education. Some of them even published their own works, like Kashibaba published Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal.

(i) Print technology in the 6^th and 7^th century : From AD 594 onwards, books in Chine were printed by rubbing paper against the linked surface of woodblocks.
(iii) Gutenberg and the printing press : The major turning point in the growth of print technology came in 1448 when Johann Gutenberg invented the first printing press. The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print revolution.
 

(i) Those who could not read enjoyed listening to books read out. So Printers began publishing popular ballads and folk tales illustrated with pictures.
(ii) These books were then sung and recited at gathering in villages and in taverns in towns.
(iii) Indian writers like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay himself used to read his novels for illiterate gathering.

The people who feared the effect of easily available printed books were the ones who held some power, whether in terms of religion, caste, class or politics. The fear was that their power and authority would get eroded if ideas questioning their power and authority gained mass popularity. In Europe, for example, the Roman Catholic Church conveyed its sense of apprehension for the print medium by stating that the promotion of new "printed" readings of faith would lead to blasphemous questionings of faith and encourage heretical ideas. It considered itself to be the sole authority for interpreting religion. Hence, it set up the Index of Prohibited Books in 1558 to repress any published material that it felt corroded this authority. In India, apart from the colonial government which did its bit in regulating and suppressing newspapers and books that questioned and criticised colonial authority, the religious leaders and the upper castes also displayed their fear of the print medium. They understood that their religious and social superiority was in danger due to the easily accessible "printed" ideas contradicting their systems of beliefs. They knew that the popularisation of such ideas would incite people to rebellion.

Some people especially those from upper and powerful classes, feared the effect of easily-available printed books because not everyone welcomed printed books and those who did, also had fear about them. Many were of the opinion that printed words and the wider circulation of books, would have a negative impact on people's minds.
They feared that if there was no control over what was printed and read, then rebellious and irreligious thoughts might gain importance. There was also fear in the minds of scholars that the authority of 'valuable' literature would be destroyed. The new print medium was criticised by religious authorities and monarchs, as well as by writers and artists.
Example
In Europe, Martin Luther was a German monk, priest, professor and a church reformer. He wrote 'Ninety Five Theses' in 1517 and openly criticised many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church.
A printed copy of this was pasted on a church door in Wittenberg. It challenged the church to debate his ideas. Luther's writings were immediately copied in vast numbers and read widely. This led to a division within the church and led to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
In India, the British Government favoured censorship of the press and passed a law to hinder free circulation of newspapers and journals. Vernacular Press Act provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and editorials.