Printing is a process for reproducing text and

Printing is a process for reproducing text and images, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.

The earliest form of printing was woodblock printing, with existing examples from China dating to before 220 A. D. and Egypt to the fourth century. Later developments in printing include the movable type, first developed by Bi Sheng in China, and the printing press, a more efficient printing process for western languages with their more limited alphabets, developed by Johannes Gutenberg in the fifteenth century

William Caxton (1415– 1492) was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. He is thought to be the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England. He was also the first English retailer of printed books (his London contemporaries in the same trade were all Flemish, German or French).

He was making trips to Bruges by 1450 at the latest and had settled there by 1453, when he may have taken his Liberty of the Mercers' Company. There he was successful in business and became governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London. His trade brought him into contact with Burgundy and it was thus that he became a member of the household of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, the third wife of Charles the Bold and sister of two Kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III.

This led to more continental travel, including travel to Cologne, in the course of which he observed the new printing industry, and was significantly influenced by German printing. He wasted no time in setting up a printing press in Bruges, in collaboration with a Fleming, Colard Mansion, and the first book to be printed in English was produced in 1473: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a translation by Caxton himself

His translation had become popular in the Burgundian court and requests for copies of it were the stimulus for him to set up a press. Bringing the knowledge back to England, he set up a press at Westminster in 1476 and the first book known to have been produced there was an edition of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

Another early title was Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres (Sayings of the Philosophers), first printed on 18 November 1477, translated by Earl Rivers, the king's brother-in-law. Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend, published in 1483, and The Book of the Knight in the Tower, published in 1484, contain perhaps the earliest verses of the Bible to be printed in English.

Caxton produced chivalric romances (such as Fierabras), the most important of which was Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, classical works and English and Roman histories. These books appealed to the English upper classes in the late fifteenth century. Caxton was supported by, but not dependent on, members of the nobility and gentry.

In the early nineteenth century, newspapers circulations were small. The leading newspaper at the start of the century was the Morning Post, which sold around 4, 000 copies per day, twice the sales of its nearest rival. As production methods improved, print runs increased, and newspapers were sold at lower prices. By 1828, the Morning Herald was selling the most copies, but it was soon overtaken by The Times.

The press was changed by the introduction of halfpenny papers. The first national halfpenny paper was the Daily Mail, followed by the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror, which became the first weekday paper to sell one million copies in around 1911. Circulation continued to increase, reaching a peak in the mid 1950 s; sales of the News of the World reached a peak of more than 8, 000 in 1950. Since the 1950 s, there has been a gradual decline in newspaper sales.

The press was changed by the introduction of halfpenny papers. The first national halfpenny paper was the Daily Mail, [1] followed by the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror, which became the first weekday paper to sell one million copies in around 1911. Circulation continued to increase, reaching a peak in the mid-1950 s; sales of the News of the World reached a peak of more than 8, 000 in 1950. Since the 1950 s, there has been a gradual decline in newspaper sales.

Public houses would typically take in one or two papers for their customers to read, and through this method, by the 1850 s the newspaper of the licensed trade, the Morning Advertiser, had the second highest circulation. Sales of The Times were around 40, 000, and it had around 80% of the entire daily newspaper market, but Sunday papers were more popular, some boasting sales of more than 100, 000. Later in the century, the Daily News came to prominence, selling 150, 000 copies a day in the 1870 s, while by 1890, the Daily Telegraph had a circulation of 300, 000. Sunday newspaper sales also grew rapidly, with Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper being the first to sell one million copies an issue.

Traditionally, UK newspapers could be split into more seriousminded newspapers, usually referred to as the broadsheets due to their large size, and sometimes known collectively as "the quality press", and less serious newspapers, generally known as tabloids, and collectively as "the popular press", which have tended to focus more on celebrity coverage and human interest stories rather than political reporting or overseas news. The tabloids in turn have been divided into the more sensationalist mass market titles, or "red tops", such as The Sun and The Mirror, and the middle-market papers, The Daily Express and The Daily Mail.

Both The Independent and The Times have changed in recent years to a compact format, not much bigger than that used by the tabloids. The Guardian moved in September 2005 to what is described as a "Berliner" format, slightly larger than a compact. Its Sunday stablemate The Observerhas since followed suit.

Other Sunday broadsheets, including The Sunday Times, which tend to have a large amount of supplementary sections, have kept their larger sized format. The national Sunday titles usually have a different layout and style to their weekly sister papers, and are produced by separate journalistic and editorial staff.

All the major UK newspapers currently have websites, some of which provide free access. The Times and The Sunday Times have a paywall requiring payment on a per-day or per-month basis for nonsubscribers. The Financial Times business daily also has limited access for non-subscribers.