Pi Sheng, the Chinese Caxton (litho)

Pi Sheng, the Chinese Caxton. The Sung Dynasty is famous for a prodigious development in both literature and art. The efficient cause in the former was the art of printing, which first began to play an important part in the tenth century, though the principle of taking impressions from carved wooden blocks had been already widely known under the T'ang Dynasty. Printing with movable types was invented in 1043, but did not appeal to the artistic sense of the Chinese. Illustration for Hutchinson's History of the Nations (Hutchinson, c.1920). Note: Image has been digitally enhanced to facilitate repro.