The History of Print and Magazines

Woodblock Printing

The first record of printing, is woodblock printing. This is a technique for printing text, images, or patterns. It originated in China as a mehtod of printing terxtiles, and later paper; though was widely used throughout Asia. Examples of this survive from 220 A.D, and other examples from Roman Egypt date back to the fourth century. 

Movable Type

The is the system of printing and typography through the use of movable  pieces of metal type, produced by casting from matrices struck by letter punches. Compared to woodblock printing, this method is much more flexible. The first known type of this method was created in China from Porcelain around 1040, then moving to a more durable material, wood, in 1298. At the beginning of the twelfth century, Copper movable type printing was invented in China, and was used in large scale printing of paper money issued by the Northern Song dynasty. 


The Print Press

In approximately 1436, Johannes Gutenburg partnered with Andreas Dritzehen and Andreas Heilmann, thus beginning the work on the print press. This method was faster and much more durable; the metal type pieces were sturdier and the lettering more uniform, leading to typography and fonts. It established superiority over movable type printing, rapidly spreading across Europe, leading up to the renaissance, and later all around the world. In this era, practically all movable type effectively derives from Gutenberg's innovations to movable type printing, oftenr egarded as the most important invention of the second millenium. 

Modern Printing Technology

Over 45 trillion pages across the world are printed annually, and in 2006 there were approximately 30,700 printing companies in the US, accounting for £112 billion. Making up 12.5% of the total US printing market last year, are print jobs. 

Offset Press

This is a widely used printing technique where the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a film of water, keeping the non-printing areas ink-free.

Magazine Timeline

• 1663 The world's first magazine – Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (translation: Edifying Monthly Discussions) – is published in Germany.
• 1731 The first modern general-interest magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine, is published in England as entertainment with essays, stories, poems and political commentary.
• 1739 The Scots Magazine begins and today remains the oldest consumer magazine in print.
• 1741 Benjamin Franklin intends to publish America's first magazine, General Magazine, but is scooped when American Magazine comes out three days earlier.
• 1770 The first women's magazine, The Lady's Magazine, starts with literary and fashion content plus embroidery patterns.
• 1843 The Economist begins examining news, politics, business, science and the arts.
• 1857 The Atlantic magazine arrives.
• 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States, sponsored by Kristoffer Wright.
• 1895 Collier's weekly magazine starts and is published until 1957.
• 1895 An American magazine, The Bookman, lists "Books in Demand" originating the idea of a bestseller list.
• 1896 The first pulp fiction magazines are printed on cheap wood pulp paper with ragged untrimmed edges.
• 1897 The old Saturday Evening Post is revived by Cyrus Curtis to become the most widely circulated weekly magazine.
• 1899 National Geographic appears.
• 1902 McClure's Magazine inaugurates the muckraking era with the article "Tweed Days in St. Louis" by C.H. Wetmore and Lincoln Steffens.
• 1912 Photoplay is the first magazine for movie fans.
• 1922 Reader's Digest begins publishing.
• 1925 New Yorker magazine arrives.
• 1923 Time, the first U.S. newsmagazine, is started by Henry Luce.
• 1933 Newsweek begins publication.
• 1933 Esquire is the first men's magazine.
• 1936 Life, a weekly photojournalism news magazine, is started by Henry Luce and continues to 1972.
• 1937 Look, a bi-weekly, general-interest and photojournalism magazine, starts and continues to 1971.
• 1944 Seventeen is the first magazine devoted to adolescents.
• 1953 TV Guide starts.
• 1953 Playboy opens with Marilyn Monroe on the cover.
• 1954 Sports Illustrated is started by Time magazine owner Henry Luce. Two other magazines with that name had been started in the 1930s and 1940s, but both had failed.
• 1967 Rolling Stone demonstrates the popularity of special-interest magazines.
• 1967 New York magazine appears as a regional magazine.
• 1972 Feminist Gloria Steinem brings out Ms. magazine.
• 1974 People debuts with Mia Farrow on the cover.
• 1990 Entertainment Weekly starts.
• 1993 Wired magazine arrives with a voracious curiosity about everything under the Sun.
• 1992- First SMS text message sent to a mobile. Newspaper and magazine archives published on CD-Rom. "Economist" makes reference to the world wide web. 
• 1993- Mosaic is the first graphical web browser. Association of Publishing Agencies founded in UK.
• 1994- "Daily Telegraph" claims to be the first national newspaper on the web. First banner advertising on the web for "Wired" magazine (US). December issue of "Vogue" carries half-page advertisement for www.condenast.co.uk
• 2000- Microsoft forecasts that the sales of e-books and e-magazines will top over $1 billion.
• 2001- Conde Nast launches "Glamour" in innovative handbag-sized A5 format with a £4 million marketing campaign.
• 2003- Emap sets up an actual "FHM Pub" manned by models behind the bad and professional darts players as part of a mobile phone marketing event programme. "Sunday Times" newspaper launches "The Month" a CD-Rom previewing arts and entertainment events in the weeks ahead.
• 2009- Recession leads to Conde Nast closing "Portfolio" in US and weekly "Vanity Fair" in Germany. While "Wired" loses almost 60% of it's US advertising pages in a year. Yet the launch of the UK version still goes ahead.
• 2011- Rupert Murdoch announces the closure of the 200-year-old Sunday newspaper "News of the World" after phone hacking scandal. "Dazed and Confused" exhibition at Somerset House celebrating 20 years of the magazine.