Bible Dictionary: Printed

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

(imp. & p. p.) of Print.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

PRINT; PRINTING; PRINTED

print, prin'-ting, prin'-ted: Printing is the art of multiplying records-the "art of writing with many pens" (Jewish Encyclopedia, XII, 295), or wholesale writing.

The art of making original records is writing. This, however, is a slow process. It involves tracing each letter and part of a letter through from beginning to end by the moving point of chisel, pen, or other instrument, and this process must be repeated with every copy. As soon, therefore, as occasion arose for frequently repeating the record, many ways were devised to save the labor of forming each symbol separately. All these ways involve making a character or a series of characters on a single surface and transferring as a whole to another surface. Neither "pressure," as some say, nor "ink," as others, is essential to the process, for printing from a photographic negative takes no pressure, and printing for the blind takes no ink. Any process which transfers a whole surface is printing.

The earliest use of printing seems to have been for painting the face or body with ownership, tribal, trophy, or ceremonial marks for worship, war, mourning, etc. This paint might be temporary or pricked in by the tattoo process. Tattooing itself is rather a writing than a printing process, but may be either, according as the color is laid on by drawing or by the "pintadera." The "pintadera" or "stamp used to impress patterns upon the skin" is best known from the Mexican and South American examples, but in recent years it has been found in deposits all over the Mediterranean region (North Italy, Austria, Hungary, Mycenae, Crete, Egypt) and in Borneo at least. Many of these specimens are from the Neolithic or Copper age. Both in South America and in Neolithic Liguria, some of these stamps were cylindrical and "were used like a printer's roller" (Mosso, The Dawn of Mediterranean Civilization, 254-61, with many illustrations, and Frobenius, Childhood of Man, figure 31, "Dayak block for painting the body").

The injunction of Leviticus 19:28, which is translated "print," is commonly, and probably rightly, in view of the Hebrew word, supposed to refer to the permanent marks of tattooing which may or may not have been made by this printing process. Job 13:27 the King James Version, which speaks of printing upon the heels or soles of the feet, has been quite changed in the Revised Version (British and American), and, if the idea is one of printing at all, it refers rather to branding than stamping with color.

The use of the inkhorn in setting the mark upon the forehead (Ezekiel 9:3, 4, 6) certainly points to marking with color rather than branding. See INK-HORN. This may, of course, have been drawing rather than printing, but, on the other hand, the sealing of the servants of God on their foreheads (Revelation 7:4; Revelation 9:4) necessarily means printing rather than drawing, and probably printing rather than branding, for the use of the seal with color had long been common. The marks of the beast upon the forehead and upon the hand in Revelation 13; Revelation 14; Revelation 14 15; 16; 19; 20, more likely refer to branding, as the Greek word points more or less in this direction, while the stigmata of Galatians 6:17 may also point to branding. Branding was at all events also a common method of printing characters on the flesh in Biblical times (Isaiah 3:24; perhaps Exodus 21:25; a branding on the forehead, Code of Hammurabi section 127; branding of a slave sections 226, 227). The reference in John 20:25 is, of course, to the clearly visible marks or scars left by the nails in the hands.

See MARK.

The use of seals is a true printing process, whether they are used with color, as they were both in Crete and Egypt almost from the beginning of history, or impressed on clay, wax, or other plastic substances. Mention of seals is frequent in the Bible (see SEAL). A new interest has been given to this aspect of the matter by the sealings discovered in Ahab's palace and other excavations throughout Palestine, which are forming one of the most useful classes of modern inscriptions.

Both stamp and seal were used throughout the Middle Ages, the latter abundantly, and the stamp at least occasionally, for stamping the capital letters in Biblical and other manuscripts, as well as for various other purposes.

Modern printing begins with the carving of whole pages and books on blocks of wood (xylography), or metal plates for printing (chalcography). This method was quite early practiced by the Chinese, and began to be common in Europe in the early 15th century, most of the books printed by it having to do with Biblical topics (Biblia pauperum, etc.).

It was only with the invention of movable type about the middle of the 15th century that the multiplying of books by writing began to come to an end. The printing with movable type is also closely associated with Biblical study, the Gutenberg Psalter and the Gutenberg Bible standing with most for the very beginning of modern printing.

For the printed editions of the Hebrew and Greek originals, and the various versions, see articles on TEXTUAL CRITICISM and allied topics in this encyclopedia, with their literature. The article on "Typography" in Jewish Encyclopedia is of unusual excellence, and the general literature of printing given in Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition), at the end of the first part of the article on "Typography," is full and good. Compare also Book in this encyclopedia and its literature, especially Hortzschansky, supplementing the bibliography of Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition). E. C. Richardson

Library

This Sermon was Originally Printed
... This sermon was originally printed. together with a pastoral letter from CHS
Comfort Proclaimed. A Sermon. (No.221). Delivered on Sabbath ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 4 1858/this sermon was originally printed.htm

A Bibliographical Index of the Printed Editions of the Canons of ...
... A Bibliographical Index of the Printed Editions of the Canons of the Apostles
and of the Councils in the Slavonic and Russian Languages. ...
/.../schaff/the seven ecumenical councils/a bibliographical index of the.htm

Printed Texts of the Septuagint.
... TRANSMISSION. CHAPTER VI. PRINTED TEXTS OF THE SEPTUAGINT. THE printed texts
of the Septuagint fall naturally into two classes, viz. (1 ...
/.../chapter vi printed texts of.htm

Books Printed for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge;
... BOOKS PRINTED FOR THE Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; SOLD AT
THE DEPOSITORIES, 77, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN ...
/.../murray/kalli the esquimaux christian /books printed for the society.htm

On Mutual Subjection {1} --(First Printed in 1744)
... ON MUTUAL SUBJECTION {1}"(First Printed in 1744). "Yea, all of you be
subject one to another.""I Peter v.5 The Apostle having ...
/.../swift/three sermons three prayers/on mutual subjection 1first printed.htm

The Publisher to the Reader.
... There are no sermons I know of any divine or pastor in this kingdom, that have been
more frequently printed, or more universally read and esteemed, than the ...
/.../binning/the works of the rev hugh binning/the publisher to the reader.htm

The Water of Life;
... 'And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'"Revelation 22:17. London:
Printed for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688. ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/the water of life.htm

Note to the Following Treatise 1. The Following Letter
... Duchesne had spoken of these two writers in his notes to Abaelard, but the
Treatises of both of them were lately printed in Vol. iv. ...
/.../note to the following treatise.htm

To the Rev. J. Jowett
... in a Russian ream, and I suppose that our book will consist of seven parts, each
containing about the same number of sheets as the printed Mandchou Gospel of St ...
/.../borrow/letters of george borrow/to the rev j jowett 10.htm

To the Rev. J. Jowett
... consulted me. If the work be printed on as thin paper as that of the original,
it can only be printed on one side. Now supposing ...
/.../borrow/letters of george borrow/to the rev j jowett 9.htm

Thesaurus

Printed (2 Occurrences)
... (imp. & pp) of Print. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. PRINT; PRINTING; PRINTED. ...
EC Richardson. Multi-Version Concordance Printed (2 Occurrences). ...
/p/printed.htm - 13k

Print (3 Occurrences)
... 11. (n.) Printed letters; the impression taken from type, as to excellence, form,
size, etc.; as, small print; large print; this line is in print. 12. ...
/p/print.htm - 15k

Printing
... act of producing photographic prints. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. PRINT;
PRINTING; PRINTED. print, prin'-ting, prin'-ted: Printing ...
/p/printing.htm - 13k

Slavonic
... The first printed Bible was produced in the ancient alphabet in Moscow in 1743 and
has never been reprinted, but other edd, perhaps only of the New Testament ...
/s/slavonic.htm - 13k

Georgian
... The first printed Bible was produced in the ancient alphabet in Moscow in 1743 and
has never been reprinted, but other edd, perhaps only of the New Testament ...
/g/georgian.htm - 13k

Armenian
... I. ANCIENT ARMENIAN 1. Circumstances under Which Made 2. The Translators Apocrypha
Omitted 3. Revision 4. Results of Circulation 5. Printed Editions II. ...
/a/armenian.htm - 18k

Gothic
... The first printed Bible was produced in the ancient alphabet in Moscow in 1743 and
has never been reprinted, but other edd, perhaps only of the New Testament ...
/g/gothic.htm - 13k

Token (24 Occurrences)
... 6. (n.) Ten and a half quires, or, commonly, 250 sheets, of paper printed on both
sides; also, in some cases, the same number of sheets printed on one side, or ...
/t/token.htm - 16k

Paper (5 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary. 1. (n.) A substance in the form of thin sheets or leaves
intended to be written or printed on, or to be used in wrapping. ...
/p/paper.htm - 10k

Jehovah (20094 Occurrences)
... name "Jehovah" is generally translated in the Authorized Version (and the Revised
Version has not departed from this rule) by the word LORD printed in small ...
/j/jehovah.htm - 38k

Bible Concordance

Printed (2 Occurrences)

Leviticus 19:28 You may not make cuts in your flesh in respect for the dead, or have marks printed on your bodies: I am the Lord.
(BBE)

Job 19:23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
(KJV WBS)

Subtopics

Printed

Related Terms

Print (3 Occurrences)