How did books create new culture of reading? Explain with three examples.
Access of books created a new culture of reading habits. The following examples state the same
(i) Earlier reading was restricted to the aristocrat class only. Common people heard sacred texts read out, ballads recited and folk tales narrated. Now books reached a large section of people, so ‘reading public’ increased instead of‘hearing public’.
(ii) Printers began publishing popular ballads and folk tales with beautiful illustrations. These could be sung or recited at gatherings.
(iii) With the expansion of printing technology, the line between oral and reading cultures became blurred, thus the hearing public and reading public became intermingled.