Western Movable Type Myopia

Observed whilst perusing the very nicely designed web site of an eminent US design school1 was the following statement:

"Design was never quite the same after Gutenberg invented movable type."

Oops. Sorry to be a stickler for detail, but this is incorrect and symptomatic of a very Western-centric worldview...

The common perception of some designers/historians (and a whole lot of people in general) is that Mr G invented movable type in 1456. This is not so. He was possibly the first person to do so in Europe (although some believe a Dutchman pre-dated Gutenberg by a dozen years or so)2 – but he was certainly not the first person on the planet to do so. That distinction goes to Pi Sheng, a Chinese alchemist. His movable type, constructed out of baked clay and glue dates (held together in a metal form) dates back to 1041AD. That's around 400 years before Gutenberg's movable metal type emerged.

(One could even say, from today's perspective, that the Chinese clay and glue model certainly seems more enviro-friendly than the quite toxic mix of lead and antimony used to create metal type).

The myth of Gutenberg being 'Mr Movable Type' is still perpetuated today – which is really quite extraordinary. It's strange how myopic we Westerners (well, some of us) can be.3 Many significant discoveries and inventions originated in places other than the West (paper being another – also developed by the Chinese).

In 1313 (again in China), Wang Chen had 60,000 characters carved out of wooden blocks. These blocks were also kept within a compartmentalised case for ease of handling and reference (the origins of the type-case). Movable type was also developed further in Korea with movable metal type being used in 1234 to print Kogum Sangjong Yemun, a ritual code. That's movable metal type being used over 200 years before Gutenberg! Two other complete metal fonts were devised in Korea in 1420 and 1434.

All the above clearly predates Gutenberg. So, next time 'the inventor of movable type' enters the discussion – make sure it's Mr Sheng (with his clay type) and the Koreans from the Goryeo Dynasty (with their metal type) that get their due credit.

Notes

1. This institution shall remain nameless. But you can visit their web site here.

Designed by Funny Garbage (yes, that's their real name, and they do great work).

2. Read The Legend of Koster for more details.

3. Here's an interesting paper (PDF format) on the subject of Western-centricism as applied to paper and printing – an interesting read.

4. There is another semantic-based angle to all this too: the Asian printing processes were manual (I believe) and created single-sided sheets of printed paper, with Gutenberg using a mechanised printing process that created double-sided sheets. So one could say Mr G invented mechanised movable type-based printing perhaps.

Comments

[Fred Showker]

This is a most interesting discussion and study -- I wish to thank Michael Choi for referring me to this page -- writing in response to my article "Famous Names in Typography"
http://www.graphic-design.com/Type/typography.html

I think it would be most rewarding to attempt to track this legend to an authoritative account of whether the Chinese actually used "moveable type" in a printing process, rather than the carved, movable blocks they were first known to use sometime around 270 AD.

An article by an unknown author,
http://www.printersmark.com/Pages/Hist1.html
relates the story of Pi Sheng's use of individual characters employed in printing. (11th century), and Wang Chen who ordered the carving of some 60,000 characters into moveable wooden blocks. However neither of the "inventions" were continued nor further developed in China. Further reading in this article suggests that the concept of using individual characters in an array to impress ink to paper; to be used again and again, did in fact evolve before Gutenberg.

The story is further told at:
http://www.computersmiths.com/chineseinvention/blockprint.htm
computersmiths.com and even shows pictures of the block letters..

http://www.computersmiths.com/chineseinvention/images/movabletype.jpg

This reference from Honco shows Wang Chen's rotary typecase which allowed to set type sitting down.
http://www.honco.net/japanese/01/caption/caption-3-02.html
See:
http://www.honco.net/japanese/01/img/3-02.jpg
... which is part of a most interesting read called "Type in Asia" by Muro Kenji (Editor in Chief, The Book & The Computer Online Journal)
See: http://www.honco.net/japanese/01/index.html

The fact remains that Gutenberg's moveable type made "typography" a feasible mechanical process in the manufacture of mass produced printing which the world would embrace.

[aria]

Does anyone know what Gutenberg's type was made of? Could this composition be compared to others to determine if it was a descendant of earlier efforts? I am a novice to this discussion but wondered....