Every Day Is Special: printmaking

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May 11 - First Printed Book (Possibly?)

Posted on May 11, 2022

This is an update of my post published on May 11, 2011:

Sometimes people wonder when the first book was printed. They might vaguely remember something about the Gutenberg Bible, which was first printed around 1450. But there were printed books earlier than that in Asia.

The problem is, not only is the question tricky because we have to define the word printed, but it is also almost certainly impossible to answer. We have some very old books that have survived until modern times—but isn't it possible that the very FIRST printed book has fallen into ruin or otherwise been destroyed? Not only is it possible, it seems incredibly probable. Another problem is that we have some very, very old books that may be older than the first book that is dated—but those very old books are not dated, so we don't know which is oldest.

So, today's anniversary is of the first surviving, dated printed book. The honor goes to the Diamond Sutra, which was made with a 16-foot scroll with six large “pages” or sheets of text, plus one picture, and it was printed from laboriously carved wood blocks. The sheets measured 12 inches by 30 inches!

The scroll was dated “the fifteenth of the fourth moon of the ninth year of Xian Long” – which is the equivalent of May 11, 868 CE (or AD)--almost 600 years before the Gutenberg Bible!

The Diamond Sutra is a Buddhist scripture. Even though Buddhism started in India, this scripture is written in Chinese and was discovered in a cave in Northern China. By the way, the discovery was made by a Hungarian archeologist, and the scroll is now located in the British Museum!

If you are wondering about the picture, it is thought to be an illustration of the Buddha surrounded by his disciples and two cats.

Make Prints!

Printmaking is a very interesting art form. For little kids, try string block printing or roller printing.

Kinder Art has a variety of fascinating projects in printmaking! It would be fun to try several and compare.

Also on this date:

Twilight Zone Day

Physicist Richard Feynman's birthday

Choreographer Martha Graham's birthday

Birthday of the first known “Siamese twins”

Minnesota's Statehood Day

Eat What You Want Day

Hostess Cupcake Day

Birthday of artist Salvador Dalí

Assassination attempt on Czar-in-training Nicholas II

Birthday of voice actor Kaitlyn Dias

Birthday of musician / composer Irving Berlin

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

March 19 – Happy Birthday, Betty Goodwin

Posted on March 19, 2014

One day this Romanian-French Canadian artist walked into her printmaking studio and picked up her work gloves. Instead of pulling them onto her hands before she started inking her printing plate, as we would expect, as she had done every other day, she placed the gloves onto the plate and ran them through the press!

The gloves themselves became the design! Her prints of her work gloves turned out to look almost like x-rays of the gloves.

So she did it again. This time with a vest.

A pair of shorts.

A shirt.

Goodwin's prints were created in the 1960s, but this artist created a variety of works, using a variety of media, in a career that spanned decades. Born in Betty Roodish in Montreal on this date in 1923, Goodwin did collages and assemblages. She sculpted, she drew, she painted. She did printmaking and etching. She also did some installation art, which is when artists create three-dimensional works that are site-specific, such as installing huge forms viewers must walk among in a museum gallery.

Be inspired by Goodwin...

I read that Goodwin's ideas came from clusters of photographs, objects, and drawings she put up on the walls of her studio. We can all benefit from this idea; start collecting pictures and objects that speak to you, that intrigue you, and draw from them (literally and figuratively).

Experiment with printmaking.

Or try your hand at sculpture, collage, and assemblage.

Also on this date:

Saint Joseph's Day in Valencia, Spain

Battle of March 19 in the Dominican Republic

Swallows Day at Mission San Juan Capistrano

Anniversary of the discovery of electric eels

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

May 11, 2011 -- First Printed Book (?)

– 868 CE

The problem is, not only is the question tricky because we have to define the word printed, but it is also almost certainly impossible to answer. We have some very old books that have survived until modern times—but isn't it possible that the very FIRST printed book has fallen into ruin or otherwise been destroyed? Not only is it possible, it seems incredibly probably. Another problem is that we have some very, very old books that may be older than the first book that is dated—but those very old books are not dated, so we don't know which is oldest.

The scroll was dated “the fifteenth of the fourth moon of the ninth year of Xian Long” – which is the equivalent of May 11, 868 CE (or AD)--almost 600 years before the Gutenberg Bible!

If you are wondering about the picture, it is thought to be an illustration of the Buddha surrounded by his disciples and two cats.

Make Prints!

Printmaking is a very interesting art form. For little kids, try string block printing or roller printing.

Kinder Art has a variety of fascinating projects in printmaking! It would be fun to try several and compare.