PRINT CULTURE AND THE MODERN WORLD

PREVIOUS YEARS’ QUESTIONS

2016
Very Short Answers Type Questions [1 Mark]

1. Which place (city) had the breakthrough of

first printing press?
Ans. Strasbourg. Germany had the breakthrough
of the first printing press.

2. Mention the technique adopted to educate

white- collar workers in Europe during the 19th
century.
Ans. The technique of lending libraries was
adopted to educate the white collar workers in
Europe during the 19th century.

3. Mention any one technique of preserving the

manuscript in India.
Ans. The manuscripts in India were preserved by
pressing them between wooden covers or being
sewn together.

4. Who brought the print-culture to Japan?

Ans. Buddhist missionaries from China
introduced print culture into Japan around
768-770 AD.

Short Answer Type Question [3 Marks]

5.Why couldn’t the production of handwritten

manuscripts satisfy the ever increasing demand
for book? Give any three reasons.
Ans. The ever increasing demand for books could
not be satisfied by the production of
handwritten manuscripts because of the
following reasons.
a.Production of handwritten manuscripts was a
tiresome work. Copying was time consuming,
high prices and painful.
b. Manuscripts were delicate and difficult6 to
handle.
c. It was not easy to carry the manuscripts
everywhere.

6.Explain any three features of handwritten

manuscripts before the age of print in India.
Ans. The following were the features of the
handwritten manuscripts before the age of
print in India.
a.They were very popular and were produced in
various vernacular languages.
b. They were produced on palm leaves or on
handmade paper which were beautifully
illustrated.
c. They were pressed between wooden covers or
sewn together so that they can be preserved
for long.
7.Explain any three factors responsible for the
invention of new printing techniques.
Ans. Factors responsible for the development of
print technology were as follows.
a.The production of handwritten manuscripts
could not satisfy the ever increasing demand
for books.
b. Copying was an expensive, laborious and time
consuming exercise.
c. Manuscripts were fragile, difficult to handle
and could not be cared for or read easily.
d. Wood-block printing was popular but there
was a need for quicker and cheaper
reproduction of texts.

8.How were magazines different from novels?

Write any three differences.
Ans. Magazines were different from the novels in
the following ways.
a.Magazines had several stories along with
varied contents. Novels presented just one
story.
b. Magazines were published periodically but
the novels were published only once.
c. The written of the magazines could be several.
Novel was written by one author.
d. Magazines contained advertisements as
compared to novels.
e.Magazines had written as well as pictorial
representations while novels had only written
content.

Long Answer Type Questions [5 Marks]

9.How did the knowledge of wood-block printing

come to Europe? Explain.
Ans. The knowledge of wood block printing came
to Europe in the following ways.
a.Paper reached Europe in the 11th century from
China through Silk Route. This made possible
the production of manuscripts.
b. China already possessed the technology of
wood-block printing. Travelers like Marco Polo
brought this knowledge to Italy.
c. Now Italians began to produce books with this
technology.
d. This increased the demand for books.
e.Soon it spread to other parts of Europe.

10. “Printing press played a major role in shaping

the Indian society of the 19th century.” Analyse
the statement.
Ans. The printing press played the following role
in shaping the Indian society of the 19 th
century.
a.Print media opened an era of debates and
discussions on various socio-religious issues. It
spread many new ideas. All the ideas were
accepted only after logical thinking rather than
accepting blindly.
b. Socio-religious reformers are able to spread
their ideas against several evil religious
 customs such as sati, female infanticide etc.
example: Gulamgiri of Jyotiba Phule.
c. In north India the Muslim saints, the Ulemas,
used cheap lithographic presses to print the
religious newspapers. They wrote against
British policy of religious conversion and
changing of the Muslim personal laws.
d. Among Hindus, it encouraged the reading of
religious texts.
e.It connected communities and people in
different parts of India.
f. By converging news from one place to another,
newspapers created pan-Indian identities.

2015
Very Short Answer Type Question [1 Marks]

11. Name the Chinese traditional book, which

was folded and stitched at the side.
Ans. The Chinese traditional book, which was
folded and stitched at the side, was knows was
accordion book.

12. Mention any one characteristic feature of the

off-set press.
Ans. One characteristic of the off-set press was
that it could print up to six colours at the time.

Short Answer Type Question [3 Marks]

13. In what three ways did the printed books at

first closely resemble the written manuscripts?
Ans. The printed books closely resembled the
written manuscripts in the following ways.
a.Both printed books and manuscripts looked
similar because metal letters imitated the
ornamental handwritten style.
b. Like written manuscripts, the borders of
printed books were also illuminated by hand
with foliage and patterns were painted.
c. Both in written manuscripts and printed book,
space for decoration was kept blank so that
the buyer could choose their designs.

14. How did print bring the reading public and

hearing public close?
Ans. Print brought the reading public and
hearing public close in the following ways.
a.Printing reduced the cost of books and
multiple copies could now be produced easily.
Books flooded in the market and led to be
increase of reading public.
b. The literacy rate of Europeans was very low.
Publishers reached out to people by making
them listen to books being read out by a
literate person. People gathered around the
reader and listened.
c. To keep the hearing public intact. Publishers
popular ballads and folktales. Oral culture thus
found route into print. Printed material was
 orally, transmitted, which blurred the line
separating reading and hearing public.

15. Describe woodblock printing.

Ans. woodblock printing was a popular form of
printing before the printing press was
invented.
a.Books were printed books in China as early as
594 AD by rubbing paper against the inked
surfaced of woodblocks.
b. Marco Polo brought this art to Europe, where
it became very popular.
c. By the fifteenth century, woodblock printing
was being used extensively in making textiles,
cards, etc.

16. What was Protestant Reformation?

Ans.
a.Protestant Reformation was a movement
dedicated to reform the Roman Catholic
 Church in the sixteenth century. Martin Luther
was its chief preacher.
b. He wrote Ninety Five Theses criticizing many
of the practices and rituals of the Roman
Catholic Church in 1517 in which he challenged
the Church to debate his ideas.
c. This led to division of church and beginning of
the Protestant Reformation.

Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]

17. What was the attitude of liberal and

conservative Indians towards woman’s
reading? How did woman like Kailashbhashini
Debi respond to this in their writings?
Ans. The following points sum up the attitude of
liberal and conservative Indians towards
women’s reading.
a.Liberal husbands and fathers began educating
their women folk at home.
b. They sent them to schools when women’s
schools were set up in the cities and towns
after the mid-nineteenth century.
c. While conservative Hindus believed that a
literate girl would be widowed, muslims feared
that reading Urdu romances would corrupt
Muslim woman.
Woman like Kailashbhashini Debi responded to
this in their writings in the following ways.
a.Lives and feelings of women began to be
written in particularly vivid and intense ways.
From the 1860s, a few Bengali women like
Kailashbhashini Debi wrote books highlighting
the experiences of women.
b. Kailashbhashini wrote about how women
were imprisoned at home. Kept in ignorance,
forced to do hard domestic labour and treated
unjustly by the very people they served.

18. Explain with examples the role of print

culture in the bringing of French Revolution.
Ans. The following points show the role of print
culture in the bringing of French Revolution.
a.Print popularized the ideas of the
enlightenment thinkers. The writings of
Voltaire and Rousseau were read widely.
b. These thinkers argued for the rule reason
rather than custom and demanded that
everything should be judged through the
application of reason and rationality.
c. Print created a new culture of dialogue and
debate. All values, norms and institutions were
re-evaluated and discussed by a public that
had become aware of the power of reason and
recognized the need to question existing ideas
and beliefs.
d. By the 1780s, there was an outpouring of
literature that mocked the royalty and
criticised their morality. In the process, it
raised question about the existing social order.
e.Print did not directly shape their minds, but it
did open up the possibility of thinking
differently.

2014
Very Short Answer Type Question [1 Marks]
19. Name the first edition of the Indian religious
text published in vernacular.
Ans. This first edition of the Indian religious text
published in vernacular was the
Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas.

20. Name the oldest Japanese book.

Ans. The oldest Japanese book, printed in 868
AD, is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra.

Short Answer Type Question [3 marks]

21. Explain any three reasons which created a

large number of new readers in the nineteenth
century.
Ans. The following were the three reasons which
created a large number of new readers in the
nineteenth century.
a.Primary education become compulsory from
the late-nineteenth century and it made
children an important category of readers.
Production of school textbooks become an
imperative for the publishing industry.
b. Reading and women. These were manuals
teaching proper behaviour and housekeeping
which attracted women folk.
c. Lending libraries in England become
instruments for educating white-collar
workers, artisans and lower-middle class
people. Self-educated working class people
wrote for themselves too.

22. What were the limitations of written

manuscripts in India? Explain.
Ans. The following were the limitations of
written manuscripts in India.
a.Manuscripts were very expensive and fragile.
They had to be treated carefully and they were
difficult to read as the script was written in
different styles.
b. Manuscripts were not widely used in
everyday life of the common populace. Even
though pre-colonial Bengal had developed a
vast network of village primary schools,
students usually did not read texts.
c. Students only learnt to write. Teachers read
out part of texts from memory and students
wrote them down on paper. Students thus
become literate without ever actu8ally reading
any kinds of texts.

23. Explain any three features of handwritten

manuscripts before the age of print in India.
Ans. The following were the three features of
handwritten manuscripts before the age of
print in India.
a.Manuscripts were copied on palm leaves or on
handmade paper.
b. Pages were sometimes beautifully illustrated.
c. They would be either pressed between
wooden covers or sewn together to ensure
preservation.
d. Manuscripts, however, were highly expensive
and fragile. The had to be handled carefully
and could not be read easily as the script was
written in different styles.
e.They were written in different styles using
vernacular language.

Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]

24. How did the earliest printing technology

developed in the world? Explain with
examples.
Ans.The following points show the development
of the earliest printing technology in the
world.
a.The earliest kind of printing technology
developed in China, Japan and Korea. This was
a system of hand printing.
b. From AD 594 onwards, books in China were
printed by rubbing paper against the inked
surface of woodblocks. As both sides of the
thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the
traditional Chinese accordion book was folded
and stitched at the side.
c. The imperial state bin China was, for a very
long time, the major producer of printer
material. China possessed a huge bureaucratic
system which recruited its personnel through
civil services examination.
d. Textbooks of the examination were printed in
vast numbers under the sponsorship of the
imperial state. From the sixteenth century, the
number of examination candidates went up
and that increased the volume of print.
e.By the seventeenth century, as urban culture
bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified.
25. What was the attitude of liberal and
conservative Indians towards women’s
reading? How did the women like
Kailashbashini Devi respond to this in their
writings?
Ans. Refer to answer 17

26. Examine the role of missionaries in the

growth of press in India.
Ans. The following point sum up the role of
missionaries in the growth of press in India.
a.The printing press first came to Goa with
Portuguese missionaries in the mid-sixteenth
century. Jesuit priests learnt Knokani and
printed printed several tracts.
b. By 1674, about 50 books had been printed in
the Konkani and in Kanara languages. Catholic
priests printed the first Tamil book in 1579 at
Cochin and in 1713 the first Malayalam book
was printed by them.
c. By 1710, Dutch Protestant missionaries had
printed 32 Tamil texts; many of them
translated from older works.

Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]

27. Martin Luther remarked, “Printing is the

ultimate gift of God and the greatest one.”
Explain his remarks in the light of religious
reforms that took place in Europe.
Ans. Religious reforms that took place in Europe
were as follows.
a.Martin Luther wrote Ninety Five Theses
criticizing the practices and rituals of the
Roman Catholic Church. These were
reproduced in large numbers and read by a
large number of people.
b. This led to be division within the church into
Catholics and Protestants.
c. This print brought about a new intellectual
atmosphere, which helped in the spread of
 new ideas. This also paved the way for the
reformation in the practices of the church.
d. The message in the Bible began to be
reinterpreted.
e.Print encouraged people to think reasonably
and question the customs followed in the
Church, which enraged the Roman Catholics.

28. “Printing technology gave woman a chance to

share their feelings with the world outside.”
Support the statement with any five suitable
examples.
Ans. Printing technology gave woman a chance
to share their feelings with the world outside.
The following are the example supporting the
statement.
a.Rashundari Devi, a young married girl in a very
orthodox household, learnt to read in the
secrecy of her kitchen. Later she wrote her
autobiography Amar Jiban which was
 published in 1876. It was the first full length
autobiography in Bengali.
b. Many other women writes, like
Kailashbhashini Debi, highlighted experiences
of women like their imprisonment at home,
ignorance and unjust treatment in their
writings.
c. Tarabai Shinde and Panmdita Ramabai
narrated the plight of upper cast Hindu
women, especially the widows.
d. Tamil writers expressed the poor status of
women.
e.By the early twentieth century, journals
written by women become popular, which
highlighted issues like women’s education,
widowhood and widow. Remarriage. Some of
them highlighted fashion lessons to women
and entertainment through short storing and
serialized novels.

2012
 Short Answer Type Question [3 Marks]

29. How did new form of popular literature

appear in print targeting new audience in the
18th century? Explain with examples.
Ans. New forms of popular literature like
almanacs, newspapers journals, appeared in
print targeting new audiences in the
eighteenth century in the following ways.
a.Books could reach a wider population. Even
those who disagreed with existing customers
could express themselves through print.
b. Journals carrying views of women writes
explained why women should be educated.
c. Novels carried themes related to women’s life
and emotions. Such journals were often
written and edited by women themselves.
d. With the expansion of compulsory education,
children became important published old fairy
compiling folk tales. All that was considered
unsuitable was not included.
e.Fictional narratives poetry, autobioquaplies,
anthologies and romantic plays were preferred
by new readers.

2011
Short Answer Type Question [3 Marks]

30. How did print introduce debate and

discussions? Explain any three points.
Ans. Print introduced diverse reading material to
masses, which they interpreted in their own
way and developed their own thoughts. This
gave rise to debate and discussion in the
following ways.
a.Varied opinions: People developed reasoning
and hence began to debate on religious, social
and economic issues. They developed different
opinions. Social reformers offered a variety of
interpretations of various beliefs and practices.
b. Shaped opinions: Published matter not only
spread new deas and views but also shaped
 the nature of debate. A wider section of
people could now participate in public
discussion and express their views. New ideas
emerged due to clash of opinions.
c. Social reforms: This was a time of intense
controversies between social and religious
reforms and orthodoxy over social customs
and polities. People began to reason and
discus critically the established social and
religious norms. Samachar Chandrika opposed
the opinions of Raja Rammohan Roy, which
were published in Sambad Kaumudi in 1821.

Long Answer Type Question [5 Marks]

31. “By the end of 19th century a new visual

culture was taking shape.” Explain.
Ans. The nineteenth century saw the new visual
culture taking shape. It was because of
following developments.
a.Along with the printed material, visual image
could also be published and reproduced easily
in multiple copies.
b. Painters like Raja Ravi Varma used print
culture to produce image for mass circulation,
Wood improvers began to be employed in
print houses for making woodblocks.
c. People good at funny sketching developed
cartoons and caricatures commenting on social
and political issues, Some openly criticized
imperial rule, western tastes and clothes which
attracted large masses.
d. Mass production of visual images reduced the
cost of production. Cheap prints and calendars
were available in market and even the poor
could buy to decorate the walls of their homes.
e.The new visual culture acquired distinctively
Indian from and style, as artists began to
depict scenes from Hindu religious mythology.

2010
 Short Answer Type Question [3 Marks]

32. Explain any three features of handwritten

manuscript before the age of print in India.
Ans. Refer to answer 13

33. Explain the effects of print culture in the

religious sphere in early modern Europe.
Ans.The following were the effects of print
culture in the religious sphere in early modern
Europe.
a.It was apprehended that easier access to the
printed and winder circulation of books could
pollute people’s mind. People could turn
rebellious and irreligious through would
spread.
b. After reading the literature people developed
the attitude towards reasoning, debate and
discussion and began to challenge the exiting
norms of religious and society.
c. Because of criticizing practices and rituals of
Roman Catholic Church, there was a division
ion religion ---- Catholics and Protestants.
d. Severe controls were imposed over
publishers and booksellers for circulating
heretical ideas.

2009
Short Answer Type Question [3 Marks]

34. Who invented the printing press? How did he

develop the printing technology?
Ans. Johan Gutenberg, a German goldsmith, is
credited with the invention of printing press.
Having spent most of his childhood on a large
agricultural estate, Gutenderg saw wine and
olive press. By and large, he learnt the art of
polishing stones and acquired expertise in
creating lead moulds. Using this knowledge, he
adopted the existing technology to design his
innovation. The olive press become the base
model for the printing press and moulds were
used for casting metal types for alphabet. By
1448, he had perfected this system, which led to
the development of printing technology.

35. How did a new reading public emerge with

the printing press? Explain.
Ans.
a.With the advent of printing press, a new
reading public emerged. The books become
cheaper as printing technology reduced the
cost of production.
b. As books flooded the market, readership
increased and books now reached to larger
number of people.
c. Access to books created a new reading culture.
Earlier reading was restricted to the elite only
—common people lived in world of world
culture who heard sacred text read out to
them or ballads recited or folk tales narrated.
d. Now a reading public came into being. But
book could be read by literate people, keeping
this point of view, printers published popular
ballads and folk tales with a lot of pictures,
which could be read to illiterate public.
These ballads and tales could then be sung or
read out to those who could not read.
e.Thus, printed material could be orally
transmitted at gatherings and taverns. Reading
public and hearing public thus got
intermingled.