18 February 2021 press release

Flyers and daily newspapers – a virtual exhibition “On the History of Newspaper Printing”

“On the History of Newspaper Printing” is the name of the new virtual exhibition curated by the German National Library’s German Museum of Books and Writing. It is the online version of the current exhibition “370 Years of Newspaper Printing in Leipzig” and is accessible worldwide. As a virtual exhibition, it is yet another enhancement to the ever-increasing range of digital services offered by the German Museum of Books and Writing. “On the History of Newspaper Printing” is being realised in cooperation with the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library, DDB) on their platform.

What was it like when we weren’t yet able to follow world events by live ticker, and when the numbers of people infected by plague and pandemics could not yet be displayed on the computer for everyone to comment on? The virtual exhibition “On the History of Newspaper Printing” spans the period from the newspaper’s predecessors – the flyers of early modern times – to the digital methods used to produce the daily newspapers we read today. It covers the era from the world’s first daily newspaper, published in 1650 by Thomas Ritzsch in Leipzig, to the innovative print technology of the industrial age.

The online presentation makes full use of the German Museum of Books and Writing’s newspaper history collections. Gutenberg’s invention of movable type made it possible to publish large quantities of proclamations – albeit sporadically – in the form of broadsides. The expansion of the postal network created the conditions necessary for the regular distribution of news. As it developed, this daily mass medium became able to serve an ever-growing readership with a wide variety of interests. The virtual exhibition traces the historical development of newspaper printing and provides insights into technical innovations and the history of censorship. This subject is still a topic of conversation even today: print or digital – what future awaits the daily newspaper?

Flyers and daily newspapers – a virtual exhibition “On the History of Newspaper Printing”
https://ausstellungen.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/zeitungsdruck

Informationen about the foyer exhibition in Leipzig
https://www.dnb.de/zeitungsdruck
Press release "370 years of Newspaper printing in Leipzig“

Contact person

Dr. Stephanie Jacobs
Tel.: +49 341 2271-575
s.jacobs@dnb.de

Background

The book has shaped our culture and civilisation like no other medium. For centuries our knowledge about the world and its peoples has been stored in books. The task of the German Book and Writing Museum of the German National Library is to collect, exhibit and process evidence of book and media history. Founded in 1884 in Leipzig as the Deutsches Buchgewerbemuseum (German Book Trade Museum), it is the oldest museum in the world in the field of book culture, and also one of the most important with regard to the scope and quality of its holdings.

Images for editorial use

Press image material is only available in German.