While taking pictures of this movable type zinc pieces for a pro bono piece of stationery promised to a friend of mine, I was thinking about Western Movable Type Myopia post on one+one=three:

« The common perception of some designers/historians (and a whole lot of people in general) is that Mr G invented movable type in 1456. This is not so. He was possibly the first person to do so in Europe (although some believe a Dutchman pre-dated Gutenberg by a dozen years or so) – but he was certainly not the first person on the planet to do so. That distinction goes to Pi Sheng, a Chinese alchemist. His movable type, constructed out of baked clay and glue dates back to 1041AD. That's around 400 years before Gutenberg's movable metal type emerged. »

Googling a bit on the subject, brings up plenty of details. In the article Type in Asia: A Long History, the short synopsis warns us straight from the beginning that "Long before Gutenberg, the world's first movable type appeared in China and Korea. But typesetting never caught on in Asia until it was reintroduced -- from Europe -- 500 years later" and we are thought quite a bit of type history:

« The world's oldest surviving printed document of verifiable age, the Hyakumanto Darani, a Buddhist incantation, was created in Japan in the late 760s and stored at the Horyuji temple near Nara. The technology used to produce this text probably came from China. We can assume this because China developed printing techniques earlier than any other country in East Asia. The impetus for Chinese efforts in this area stemmed from the customary use of rubbings and name seals, processes that are technically much like woodblock printing.

By the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Chinese were using woodblocks to publish Buddhist scriptures, calendars, and divination books. During the Sung Dynasty (960-1279), the classical examination system for civil service positions prompted the publication of numerous examination reference books. The invention of the first movable type came in the mid-11th century, when Pi Sheng made ceramic typefaces out of a mix of clay and glue.

Late in the 13th century, Wang Chen manufactured a set of movable wooden type which he described, along with a rotary type case of his own design, in his Nong Shu, a treatise on agriculture published in 1313. Pi Sheng's method was later adapted to the manufacture of copper type during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). This type was used during and after the reign of the Manchu emperor Kangxi (1661-1722) to print China's greatest encyclopedia, the Gujin Tushu Jicheng (Collection of Writings Past and Present). The type itself was stored inside the imperial palace, but as the years passed much of the set was stolen by the palace eunuchs. To avoid blame for the loss, the bureaucrats in charge eventually melted the type down. »

When holding this pieces, one could not help noticing their miniature beauty -- even if now they're an industrial product -- and go open the books on graphic design history and look at the pages of old printed documents. Many of them are so incredibly beautiful and so confidently creative I may ask if we – graphic designers today – are not a pale, lifeless imitation of our ancestors.