Historical study of book publishing in the kotte era

Abstract

The basic elements of writing and paper printing led the world to book publishing. Although these three things have become the basic elements of the publishing industry today, it is clear when examining the facts about broadcasting in the publishing industry that it took a long time for each of those elements to become the present state. Book publishing is the result of all the work, from writing a manuscript to publishing it. Although in the early days, it was operated without a purely commercial objective, now it is accepted that it is operated purely with a commercial objective. The main purpose of this research is to analyse the historical situation of book publication in the Kotte era. Data was collected with the help of secondary sources and analysed using the historical analysis method. The conclusions obtained after analysing the data can be presented as follows. The importance of the publishing industry in the Kotte era is the emergence of a group of scholars who had an incredible ability to write literature in the Kotte era. Among them, the academic service of Vidagama Maithri Thero can be highlighted. Also, the fact that the chief ruler of the country, the king, was also aware and understanding of literature and engaged in book publishing led to the development of book publishing during this era. Through research findings, it can be testified that there were daily copyists apart from the authors. They served as clerks, and their work was invisible and tremendous. This research confirmed the basic process inherent in publishing, copywriting and distributing in this era