Talk:Printing

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Probable historic printing in the Indus Valley Civilization

A paper by Vasant Shinde and Rick Wallis about (what is possibly) the oldest known proof of copper-plate printing from the Indus Valley Civilization. I am not sure about the validity of the journal (Ancient Asia Journal), but the author, Vasant Shinde, is reputable, and the link to his paper is given here. Should it be added, or should we wait for other papers on the topic? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.16.113.76 (talk) 05:25, 20 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

How reliable is Cunningham?

I have repeatedly cited

Cunningham, James (2021). The Chinese Invent Printing. New York: Rosen Publishing. ISBN 9781499469233.

because it is the only source I can find online. I only have access to a limited Google preview so I don't know if he cites his sources. The style is popular "easy reading" so may not be 100% reliable. The other source I found (at History of printing in East Asia)

Suarez, Michael F.; Woudhuysen, H. R., eds. (2013). The Book: A Global History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 574–576. ISBN 9780191668746.

doesn't confirm (or deny) it. Can anyone do any better? Specifically,

Tsien, Tsuen-Hsuin (1985). Paper and Printing. Needham, Joseph Science and Civilization in China. Vol. 5 part 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-08690-6.

which appears to be the most authoritative source - does anyone have [access to] it? My particular item of concern is the 220 CE date for first use. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 15:38, 23 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I think other sources don't really know whether India or China printed on textiles first - parts of China are much better for preserving buried bits of cloth, so China may have the earliest surviving scraps. Needham is scholarly, but very very pro-Chinese, working in conjunction with his Chinese wife and other Chinese academics, and some Western scholars treat some of his claims with a certain suspicion. Johnbod (talk) 18:52, 23 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]