Printing in the Mutul

A photography of one of the first printed documents in the Mutul. Conserved in the Royal Museum of Kalak'Muul.

Mechanical woodblock printing on paper started in the Mutul during the Ilok'tab dynasty in 1325 CE by the priest Uh Chichij. While it only at first used woodblock, use of metal movable parts was pioneered during the 16th century. The invention of printing happened concomitantly to the Religious Reforms of the 14th century and participated to the many cultural changes that shook the Mutul.

Chronology

Before Uh Chichij's invention

Printing methods existed in the Mutul. In 300 CE, textiles workers in the region of Chaam started to use woodblock printing to add paterns to their clothes. The method, however, barely spread outside the region and was only used for textile purposes.

Apparently the most common form of printing was Rubbing. In this method, The block is placed face side up on a table, with the paper or fabric on top. The back of the paper or fabric is rubbed with a "hard pad, a flat piece of wood, a burnisher, or a leather frotton". In addition, for dyeing textiles, an upper and a lower block is made, with carved out compartments opening to the back, fitted with plugs. The cloth, usually folded a number of times, is inserted and clamped between the two blocks. By unplugging the different compartments and filling them with dyes of different colours, a multi-coloured pattern can be printed over quite a large area of folded cloth. The method is not strictly printing however, as the pattern is not caused by pressure against the block.

Uh Chichij

Uh Chichij (1290-1352) was a Mutulese priest in the Chumchuluk Temple, around the north-western coast of the country. He became Aj hun (keeper of the books) the 11.4.7.2.15 / 13 Ceh / 12 Men (May 11, 1310) and started his work as a bibliothecary. In 1320, the Chumchuluk Temple, like every Temples in the Mutul, received the order from the K'uhul Ajaw of the time -Tecuman II "The Wise"- to record and compile every legends and myths present in their regions. Because of their functions, the Aj Hunob played an important role in the creation of these religious records, and Uh Chichij was no exception.

However, to facilitate his task and inspired by a visist to a clothes maker's workshop, Uh Chichij commmissioned numerous glyphic stamps made out of stone. This first method allowed him to compile the Temple's recording in 1324 and to send them to the K'uhul Ajaw.

Through his work and cooperation with scribes and stone cutters, Uh Chichij managed to create a new set of stamps representing basic characters, that could be used to form bigger glyphs, themselves put together to create a page. In 1326, Tecuman II "The Wise", interested by the Aj hun's work, visited the Temple and Uh Chichij made a demonstration of his invention. He was then brought back to the capital were, under the K'uhul Ajaw's supervision, he continued to improve his system, especially with the participation of metal workers. This led to the creation of the first Metal Movable type Printing press jealously kept in the capital by the royal administration. The first recorded use of the press was when Tecuman II sent to every Temples and governors in the Divine Kingdom a copy of the new Holy book of the Mutul and the list of all beliefs and creeds considered orthodox.

In 1340 Uh Chichij was allowed to return to his Temple, covered in prestige and gifts from the K'uhul Ajaw, while the Chumchuluk Temple was allowed to possess one printing press and to use it, a privilege shared only with the Royal Palace and the High Temple of Kalak'Muul at the time.

Invention of Color printing

Following the invention of the press, the royal administration started to make extensive use of it for administration purpose. A famous example of this is, at the start of the 15th century, to pay for the The Kalinagos War, the K'uhul Ajaw Siyah Kak produced Tokens of divine gratitude, sheets of paper that could be exchanged for goods at marketsplaces or for artisans, with the value of said paper and the seal of the Divine King printed on them. This is considered to be the ancestor of money in the Mutul, as prior to this, the Divine Kingdom didn't produced coins and used cocoa beans or precious metals to do trade.

Meanwhile, having obtained the right to possess and use a printing press, the Temple of Chumchuluk started to use the invention of artistic purposes. Through works on the ink, the paper, and the process itself, Chumchuluko priests discovered rudimentary Color printing in 1361. Expanding on it, they gave birth to a new form of art, and the Temple became famous for its printed decorations that were sometime sold as offerings to the gods or just to be kept as works of art.

Democratisation of Literacy

Royal Decrees started to be printed in the second half of the 14th century and distributed to the Yajawob and the High priests. The relative low-price of the production of printed texts created a demand from the Administration for more literate people able to understand and transmit said texts. To answer this demand, the K'uhul Ajaw allowed schools for the middle class to teach how to read and write, breaking the monopole the aristocrats and the clergy had on Literature.