If you were asked to name the single most pivotal invention in the history of books, what would come to mind? For many, the answer is synonymous with Johannes Gutenberg and his groundbreaking printing press. Indeed, the Gutenberg Bible is often heralded as the first mass-produced book and a cornerstone of Western civilization. Books like Margaret Leslie Davis’s The Lost Gutenberg perpetuate this narrative, emphasizing Gutenberg’s transformative impact and echoing Mark Twain’s sentiment that the world, for better or worse, owes its current state to Gutenberg’s innovation.
This widely accepted view positions Gutenberg as the singular genius who ushered in an era of mass communication, sparking the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the scientific revolution. However, this narrative, while compelling, presents an incomplete picture. The truth is that the story of the printing press is far richer and more globally interconnected than commonly acknowledged. While Gutenberg’s contribution to printing in Europe was undeniably significant, attributing the invention solely to him overlooks crucial, earlier advancements in printing technology that originated centuries before in East Asia.
The conventional narrative of Gutenberg’s invention centers around movable type: individual metal characters that could be arranged, inked, and pressed onto paper to create a page. This innovation, traditionally dated to around 1440 AD in Mainz, Germany, revolutionized book production in Europe. Before Gutenberg, books were painstakingly handwritten, making them rare and primarily accessible to the elite clergy. The advent of the printing press democratized knowledge, fostering literacy and transforming European society. Twain’s famous quote, celebrating Gutenberg’s impact, encapsulates this Eurocentric perspective.
However, a closer examination of history reveals that the concept of printing with movable type, and even printing itself, was not born in 15th-century Germany. As even The Lost Gutenberg briefly acknowledges, the fundamental principles of movable type printing had been explored and implemented in Asia centuries prior to Gutenberg’s birth. This crucial detail, often relegated to a footnote in Western accounts, unveils a far more intricate and geographically diverse history of the printing press.
Long before Gutenberg’s press began rolling in Europe, innovative printing techniques were taking shape in China as early as the 9th century AD. These early methods involved woodblock printing, a process where entire pages of text and illustrations were meticulously carved into wooden blocks. The block was then inked, and paper was pressed against it to create a printed page. This technique, while laborious, enabled the mass production of texts, particularly Buddhist scriptures and other important documents. A monumental example of early woodblock printing is the Chinese Tripitaka, a vast Buddhist canon printed in the 10th century using an astonishing 130,000 individual woodblocks, each carved for a single page. While not movable type, woodblock printing represented a significant leap forward in information dissemination and laid crucial groundwork for future innovations.
The story of printing takes another pivotal turn in Korea during the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392). Facing invasions and seeking to preserve their cultural and religious heritage, the Koreans became pioneers in the development of movable metal type. In the 11th century, the Khitan invasion spurred the Goryeo government to produce their own Tripitaka using woodblock printing, aiming to safeguard Korean Buddhist identity. This act of cultural preservation proved prescient, as Korea would face further invasions that underscored the need for efficient text reproduction.
The Mongol invasions of the 13th century proved to be a catalyst for even greater innovation. After Mongol forces destroyed the Korean Tripitaka in 1232, the Goryeo dynasty embarked on an ambitious project to recreate it. This endeavor, conceived not only as a prayer for national protection but also as a means of preserving Korean culture, was slated for completion in 1251. Amidst this monumental undertaking, a Korean civil minister named Choe Yun-ui made a groundbreaking advancement in 1234. Tasked with printing The Prescribed Ritual Text of the Past and Present (Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun), Choe recognized that the sheer volume of woodblocks required would be impractical. Drawing inspiration from bronze coin minting techniques and building upon earlier, less successful Chinese attempts at movable type, Choe innovated a method of casting individual characters from metal.
Choe Yun-ui’s ingenious invention involved casting three-dimensional characters in metal, which could then be arranged in a frame, inked, and used to print pages. Crucially, after printing, these metal characters could be rearranged and reused, eliminating the need to carve new blocks for each page. This was movable metal type printing, and Choe Yun-ui achieved this remarkable feat by 1250 – a full two centuries before Gutenberg. The book Baegun Hwasang Chorok Buljo Jikji Simche Yojeol (commonly known as Jikji), printed in Korea in 1377 using movable metal type, stands as the oldest extant book printed with this technology, predating any European examples by decades. Perhaps, considering this historical precedence, it should be Choe Yun-ui, not Gutenberg, whose name is primarily associated with the invention of movable type printing.
While Choe Yun-ui’s innovation was revolutionary, its impact and dissemination differed significantly from Gutenberg’s later success. Korea, facing ongoing invasions, was limited in its capacity to broadly distribute this technology. Furthermore, the complexity of Korean writing, then based on Chinese characters, which involved thousands of unique symbols, made the creation and manipulation of metal type a considerably more intricate and time-consuming process compared to alphabetic scripts. Additionally, printing in Goryeo Korea was largely intended for the nobility and official purposes, limiting its wider societal impact.
However, the story doesn’t end in Korea. The vast Mongol Empire, which stretched across Asia and into Europe, may have played an instrumental role in the potential transfer of printing technology from East to West. Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, who established himself in Beijing, had access to both Korean and Chinese printing technologies. It is plausible that this knowledge was transmitted westward through the Mongol network, possibly reaching Hulegu, another grandson ruling the Persian part of the empire. As historian David Robinson of Colgate University suggests, the Mongols were known for disseminating technologies across their vast empire, often integrating them into local cultures.
The Silk Road, a major artery of trade and cultural exchange, connected East Asia to Persia and Europe. The Uyghur people, a Turkic group integrated into the Mongol army, resided along this route and were highly regarded for their literacy and learning in the 13th century. Scholar Tsien Tsuen-Hsien proposed that the Uyghurs, familiar with both woodblock and movable type printing, could have been pivotal in introducing this technology to the West. Significantly, the Uyghurs possessed an alphabet, a simpler writing system compared to Chinese characters, which may have made movable type printing more readily adaptable.
While evidence of widespread printing in the Western Mongol Empire is scarce, movable-type Uyghur-language prints have been discovered, suggesting the technology was indeed present. Furthermore, the Mongol incursions into Europe from the 11th to 15th centuries, which brought Turkic loanwords like “horde” into European languages, could have also facilitated the transfer of technological knowledge, including printing techniques. As Christopher Atwood, a professor of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, notes, it’s difficult to imagine technology moving from East Asia to the West during this period without Mongol involvement.
Ultimately, while the precise pathways of technological transmission remain debated, the narrative that solely credits Gutenberg with inventing the printing press is demonstrably incomplete. European entrepreneurs, recognizing the potential of movable type technology – likely similar to that innovated by Choe Yun-ui – and combining it with European innovations like the screw press from winemaking, propelled Gutenberg’s printing press to commercial success in Europe. Gutenberg’s genius lay in refining and adapting existing concepts within a European context ripe for its adoption. His business venture, though fraught with financial struggles and lawsuits, ultimately revolutionized European society and beyond.
The story of the printing press is a complex tapestry woven across continents and centuries. While Gutenberg’s contribution to European printing is undeniable and historically significant, it is crucial to acknowledge the earlier, groundbreaking innovations that emerged from East Asia. Choe Yun-ui’s invention of movable metal type in 13th-century Korea represents a pivotal moment in the history of printing, predating Gutenberg by two centuries. The Korean Jikji, the oldest extant book printed with movable metal type, serves as a powerful testament to East Asia’s pioneering role in this transformative technology. Moving forward, a more globally inclusive and accurate understanding of the history of the printing press is essential, one that recognizes and celebrates the contributions of innovators across cultures and continents, extending far beyond the traditional Gutenberg narrative.
