Bible Dictionary: Printing

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Print.

2. (n.) The act, art, or practice of impressing letters, characters, or figures on paper, cloth, or other material; the business of a printer, including typesetting and presswork, with their adjuncts; typography; also, the act of producing photographic prints.

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

To the Rev. J. Jowett
... First, respecting the most important point, the expense of printing the New
Testament in Mandchou. ... Thus for composition and printing 30R.60c. ...
/.../borrow/letters of george borrow/to the rev j jowett 9.htm

The Christian View of the Old Testament
... First Edition Printed September, 1912 Second Printing, June, 1913 Third Printing,
May, 1916 Fourth Printing, November, 1917 Fifth Printing, September, 1921 ...
/.../eiselen/the christian view of the old testament/title page.htm

To the Rev. A. Brandram
... I asked him if it were his opinion that I might venture to commence printing the
Scriptures without an application to the present Government, as the law is ...
/.../borrow/letters of george borrow/to the rev a brandram 19.htm

Germantown, Pennsylvania.
... As early as 1538, J. Cromberger established a printing-office in the City
of Mexico, from which he issued numerous books. From 1528 ...
//christianbookshelf.org/bente/american lutheranism/germantown pennsylvania.htm

Nicolas V and Pius ii (Ad 1447-1464)
... For it was not until this very time that printing was invented, and formerly all
books were written by hand, which is a slow and costly kind of work, as ...
/.../chapter xxvii nicolas v and.htm

To the Rev. J. Jowett
... if any of them have, my learned friend Baron Schilling, who is in possession of
a small fount of Mandchou types for the convenience of printing trifles in that ...
/.../borrow/letters of george borrow/to the rev j jowett 8.htm

Wesley's Debt of 1236
... It is now about eighteen years since I began writing and printing books;
and how much in that time have I gained by printing? Why ...
/.../wesley/the journal of john wesley/wesleys debt of f 1236.htm

American Board of Foreign Missions.
... There were fifteen printing establishments, twenty-nine presses, five
type-founderies, and fifty founts of type in the native languages. ...
/.../hayward/the book of religions/american board of foreign missions.htm

The Secondary Division or Teen Age Boys' Crusade
... State clearly the objective of the Conference and Crusade, then appoint the following
sub-committees: Program, Printing and Advertising, Banquet, Registration ...
/.../alexander/the boy and the sunday school/xiv the secondary division or.htm

To the Rev. J. Jowett
... I have been working in the printing-office, as a common compositor, between ten
and thirteen hours every day during that period; the result of this is that St. ...
/.../borrow/letters of george borrow/to the rev j jowett 12.htm

Thesaurus

Printing
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. PRINT; PRINTING; PRINTED. print,
prin'-ting, prin'-ted: Printing is the art of multiplying records ...
/p/printing.htm - 13k

Printed (2 Occurrences)
... Noah Webster's Dictionary (imp. & pp) of Print. Int. Standard Bible
Encyclopedia. PRINT; PRINTING; PRINTED. print, prin'-ting, prin ...
/p/printed.htm - 13k

Print (3 Occurrences)
... 12. (n.) That which is produced by printing. 13. ... 17. (n.) A core print. See under
Core. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. PRINT; PRINTING; PRINTED. ...
/p/print.htm - 15k

Chapel (1 Occurrence)
... 8. (n.) A printing office, said to be so called because printing was first
carried on in England in a chapel near Westminster Abbey. ...
/c/chapel.htm - 8k

Type (12 Occurrences)
... 8. (n.) A raised letter, figure, accent, or other character, cast in metal
or cut in wood, used in printing. 9. (n.) Such letters ...
/t/type.htm - 23k

Register (14 Occurrences)
... 12. (n.) The correspondence or adjustment of the several impressions in a design
which is printed in parts, as in chromolithographic printing, or in the ...
/r/register.htm - 13k

Press (57 Occurrences)
... 17. (n.) Specifically, a printing press. 18. (n.) The art or business of
printing and publishing; hence, printed publications, taken ...
/p/press.htm - 46k

English
... America, India, and other countries. 5. (n.) A kind of printing type, in size
between Pica and Great Primer. See Type. 6. (n.) A twist ...
/e/english.htm - 38k

Prior (6 Occurrences)

/p/prior.htm - 8k

Text (5 Occurrences)
... topic; theme. 5. (n.) A style of writing in large characters; text-hand also,
a kind of type used in printing; as, German text. 6. (vt ...
/t/text.htm - 73k

Subtopics

Printing

Related Terms

Printed (2 Occurrences)

Print (3 Occurrences)

Chapel (1 Occurrence)

Type (12 Occurrences)

Press (57 Occurrences)

English

Prior (6 Occurrences)

Text (5 Occurrences)

Vulgate