Question

What is a novel? Mention any two features of the novel.
OR
What were the three defects in copying manuscripts? Mention any two uses of the printing press.

Answer 1

Hint: Manuscripts are handwritten text, hard to carry, read, are very fragile. Printing Press reduced this pressure, it is a machine to the same task with great ease.

Complete Answer:
Any document that is written by hand is known as a manuscript. The word manuscript is derived from two Latin words, manu which means hand and scriptus means to write.
The following are the defects or limitations of manuscripts:-
1. As these the documents which are handwritten and the ever-increasing demand for books can't be satisfied by the slow production of the manuscripts.
2. The production of manuscripts was never an easy task, it was very expensive, was a time-consuming business, and required a huge amount of labour force.
3. Manuscripts were delicate or fragile, very difficult to handle, also very difficult to carry, and it was very difficult to decipher or read the content.
A machine used to print books, newspapers, magazines, etc is known as Printing Press. With the coming of a new technology of printing, the demand for manuscripts reduced.
The following are the uses of Printing Press:-
1. The Printing Press was used to print books. With the help of advancement in technology, the requirement of labour and time came down. Through this machine, numerous copies could be produced easily.
2. The Printing Press can be used as an important tool to educate. For example, this technology was used in the French Revolution to popularize the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers.

Note: The son of a merchant, Johann Gutenberg perfected the Printing machine by 1448. The first book he printed was the Bible. It took almost three to produce 180 copies of his first book.