Print Culture and the Modern World – important questions for Boards 2027

CBSE Class 10 Social Science

1. VSA · 1 mark

   From where and when did Buddhist missionaries introduce hand-printing technology into Japan?

   Answer

   Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770.

2. SA · 2 marks

   Explain how Gutenberg’s earlier skills and existing technologies helped him develop the printing press and metal type.

   Answer

   Gutenberg had seen wine and olive presses, learnt stone-polishing and became a master goldsmith. His expertise in making lead moulds helped him cast metal types, while the olive press provided the model for his printing press.

3. MA · 3 marks

   Explain how printing helped create a new reading public from a society in which knowledge had largely been shared orally.

   Answer

   1. Printing reduced the cost of books and the time and labour required to produce them; multiple copies could be made easily, and books reached an ever-growing readership. 2. Earlier, reading was restricted to elites, while common people received knowledge orally through sacred texts, ballads, folk tales and performances. Printed books reaching wider sections transformed the hearing public into a reading public.

4. LA · 4 marks

   Explain how early printed books retained features of handwritten manuscripts. Also describe how the spread of printing presses across Europe affected book production.

   Answer

   Early printed books combined mechanical printing with the appearance and decoration of handwritten manuscripts. 1. At first, printed books closely resembled handwritten manuscripts in their appearance and layout. Metal letters imitated ornamental handwritten styles. 2. Borders were illuminated by hand with foliage and other patterns, while illustrations were painted, preserving the decorative features of manuscripts. 3. In books printed for the rich, space for decoration was left blank. Each purchaser could choose the design and the painting school for the illustrations. 4. Between 1450 and 1550, printing presses were set up in most European countries. Printers from Germany travelled abroad, helping establish new presses; book production boomed as their numbers grew. The spread of presses greatly increased the availability and production of printed books across Europe.

5. LA · 5 marks

   Explain three ways in which print culture helped create conditions for the French Revolution.

   Answer

   Print helped create a questioning public and hostile sentiments against the monarchy before the French Revolution. 1. Print popularised the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire and Rousseau. Their writings criticised tradition, superstition and despotism, upheld reason over custom, and challenged the authority of the Church and the state. 2. Print created a culture of dialogue and debate. The public re-evaluated and discussed values, norms and institutions, and new ideas of social revolution emerged. 3. By the 1780s, literature mocked royalty and criticised their morality. Cartoons depicted the monarchy enjoying sensual pleasures while ordinary people suffered; this literature circulated underground and fostered hostile sentiments. Print opened up the possibility of thinking differently and helped create conditions for revolution.

6. VSA · 1 mark

   State two features of book publishing in medieval Japan.

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7. SA · 2 marks

   What change in book production is described as the print revolution?

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8. MA · 3 marks

   How did publishers make printed books accessible to people with low literacy, and how did this bring print and oral culture together?

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9. LA · 4 marks

   Explain why the colonial government passed the Vernacular Press Act in 1878 and describe the powers it gave the government. How did nationalist writing in Kesari lead to further repression and protest in 1908?

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10. LA · 5 marks

    Describe Richard M. Hoe’s power-driven cylindrical press and explain its capacity and main use.

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