Wood Print Blocks

Movable Type Bi Sheng and technical characteristics of the development of interpretation - movable type printing, Sheng - Printing sector BI
Printing workers in ancient China, after a long practice and study of the invention.
Since the invention of paper, after the Han dynasty, writing material than in the past with the bones, bamboo slips and silk, metal and stone to light, more economy, but the copy books is still very fresh workers, far can not meet the needs of the community. By end of Eastern Han Dynasty in Xiping period (AD 172 ~ 178 years), there was a paper copy, and the approach of stone rubbing. Around 600 AD, before and after the Sui Dynasty, people are inspired embossed seal, the first in the history of mankind has invented woodblock printing.

block printing is a certain thickness of the board until smooth and copied the manuscript clean, thin, almost transparent paper writing tables with the positive and paste, the word has become anti-body, features clear and legible. Workers with an engraving is not written some of the pages trimmed away and the sun was projecting text font, font and back burn monumental different. When printed, painted in ink on the raised fonts, and remove the protective paper on top of it, carefully remove the back of paper, writing paper to stay in it. By the Song Dynasty, the development of woodblock printing industry in its heyday. Printing on the spread of culture has played a major role, but there are obvious shortcomings. First, the stereotype that a lot of time and material costs, and second, a large number of books are kept cons, third, and spelling is not easy to fix.

Song inventor Bi Sheng invented civil movable type, printing burning to improve these shortcomings. Bi Sheng of Song Dynasty Northern intellectuals of ordinary civilians, was known as a commoner. He summarized the ancient block printing wealth of practical experience, through trial and error, the calendar year during Renzong Qing (AD 1041 ~ 1048) was a type of clay, the implementation of print layout, made a major revolution in the history of printing.

Typography approach Bi Sheng Bi Sheng is the following: with the same specifications clay creates a rough, anti-body at one end of the engraved words, the word means the height protruding from the thick portion of the play itself, hard burnt a type of clay alone. To meet the needs of the membership, common words with a few tens or even to prepare the time to repeat the same edition. Met less frequently used rare words, if it is not ready, you can use with the system with. To facilitate the typewriter, the classification of types of clay on the wooden box per meter Yun, paste paper said. When you call a piece of iron with a box at the end of care, with the top layer of resin deposited on parchment and wax burns the mixture of pharmaceutical products and must then choose a type of clay were washed into box. Restricted to a version of a box on, then the cooking fire, pharmaceutical ovens and other small, literally with a piece of plate for flattening, solidification pharmaceutical cooling, resulting in a type of publication. When printing, as long as the version on the brush on the type of ink, paper, covered, add a little pressure on the line. To enable continuous printing, the use of two iron, a version of the brush more, another version of the composition, the version with two used interchangeably. India ended after the roast with the Pharmacy of the torches, gently powerful film, type can be detached from the iron down, then returned to rhyme Gerry timber, to prepare for the next reuse. Bi Sheng was also tested wooden printing Movable Type, because of the unequal density of the texture of wood, carved problems, deformation of the type of wood after cleaning the bathroom, and stick together and not easy separate mens and other pharmaceuticals.