A GU TEN CHAPTER 1 A WORLD WITHOUT PRINT D ne evening in the 1440s so the legend goes Johann Gutenberg and his assistants nervously crowded around one of the printing presses in his shop in Mainz Germany Lines of inked metal type were fastened on the bed of the press A sheet of damp paper was set into position directly above the type Gutenberg told an assistant to turn the screw of the press The top plate of the press came down slowly touched the paper and pressed it against the type The assistant reversed the
AINZ Turning the crank brings down the plate onto the paper in this replica of a Gutenberg press At
Gutenberg carefully lifted the paper from the type He proudly looked at the crisp clean lines of ink on the paper He had unlocked the secrets of printing with movable type The world would be forever changed Much of the knowledge the human race has gathered history science philosophy politics religion art and architecture and more is preserved and shared through the printed word Books magazines newspapers posters maps and other forms of printed material educate and entertain us daily Although many of us take the printed word for granted especially in the digital age it is still almost impossible to imagine a world without print Yet at one time printing did not exist Before the Printed Word Books existed long before the invention of the printing press in the mid 1400s Many of the world's greatest works of literature were written long before printing appeared The ancient Egyptians Greeks and Romans produced classic works that are still read to this day Medieval English writers produced many dramas and stories that are considered masterpieces of world literature Throughout Europe Latin translations of the Bible and other religious texts were available Various forms of literature accounts of daily life and histories appeared in many parts of Asia and the New World 8
Before printing books were copied by hand one by one Scribes labored in royal courts universities and monasteries and abbeys They painstakingly copied texts while artists created illustrations to adorn their work In France as many as 10 000 scribes worked to meet the needs of churches courts and universities the beginning at of the 1400s England's chancery responsible for producing official government documents employed 60 copyists A scribe s labor was tedious and it frequently took months to PREHISTORIC COMMUNICATION From the time the earliest humans roamed Earth people have had a strong desire to communicate with their fellow beings Thousands of years before writing appeared humans created primitive drawings and paintings Some of the earliest examples of prehistoric art are the cave paintings in Lascaux France The more than 15 000 figures depict animals humans and abstract signs that researchers date back 17 000 years Petroglyphs or rock carvings have been found in all parts of the world Archaeologists have estimated some petroglyphs found in Western Australia are up to 30 000 years old produce a single copy of a text Even the most highly skilled scribes made errors omitting or adding words to the text Some scribes used their own system of abbreviations which often made readings of the text inaccurate Translating text from Latin into another language such as German or English also increased the likelihood of
