A Brief History:     The relief print has it's roots in antiquity, with one of the earliest known precursors being stamp seals which have been found in what is now northern Iraq dating from the 5th millenium B.C. Through the years, the Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians and Hittites among others of the region, all made stamp seals of one form or another centuries before any known written language emerged.     Although stamp seals were not true relief prints as we know them today, they illustrate that the cutting or incising of ideograms and cuneiforms onto a smooth surface for the dissemination of images and ideas was well understood early on, as evidenced by the Egyptian cylinder seals of the 3rd century B.C. depicting prayers to the gods. Seals of this type were rolled onto soft clay tablets where the carved design became impressed into the surface of the clay, a form of blind-printing. In this way several tablets could be made and passed on to any number of people. Another form of early relief was the signet ring, which was not only used to identify the wearer but also to validate documents, akin to the Notary Public's stamp of today. Seals from the Schoyen Collection Seal - 5th Century B.C. Seal - 4th Century B.C. Seal - 3rd Century B.C.     The relief print as we know it made it's initial appearance in China, several hundred years after the invention of paper made from the fibers of bark, hemp, and bamboo early in the 1st century A.D. Before this time all writing had been done on papyrus and parchment. The earliest known woodblock print being the Dharani Scroll printed in the 7th century and found in Korea. By the end of the 10th century printing from woodblocks and the art of making paper had travelled from China westward throughout all of Islam. The Moors took it to Spain in the 12th century, then to southern France, from there it spread quickly to the rest of Europe. In the 1400's it is in Korea again, that the first recorded evidence of cast bronze moveable type appears, predating Johann Guttenberg's independently arrived at approach, by as little as 20 years. In the Western World, Guttenberg is credited with both the pioneering of metal moveable type and inventing the printing press. Although perhaps not the first with cast metal type, it is recorded that he did come up with the idea to use an altered cider press to print text and woodblocks, which made printing much faster and the printed pages more consistent in quality. Moveable type made from clay had been in use in China for several centuries and individual letters of the alphabet carved from wood since the 10th century, but these did not hold up very well in large printings and were not always the same size, as they were cut by different carvers and had to be recut each time they became useless. Guttenberg's bringing together of cast metal moveable type from standard dies and a mechanical method of printing brought forth what may be called the beginning of the first information age. More to come in this section later: << PREVIOUS NEXT PAGE >> e-mail me Tell a friend about my prints Copyright © 1998 Georges B. Bishop dba as BishopsPress. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the BishopsPress user agreement. The BishopsPress name and BishopsPress logo are proprietary trademarks belonging to BishopsPress and may not be used or duplicated in any print or electronic manner. Links back to my site appreciated! Top of Page Dealer Inquiries Welcome