The quick dissemination of news helped propel Europe into the modern era Who Was Gutenberg Very few details are known about the early life of Johann Gutenberg It is certain he was born in Mainz but the exact date of his birth is unknown Much of what we know about his later life comes from the records of court cases in which he was involved By the late 1430s accounts of Gutenberg's life indicate that he had begun work on some form of mechanical means that could reproduce texts in large quantities Witness testimony from a lawsuit brought against him in 1439
shows he was already engaged in developing some kind of a printing process Eventually with years of hard work marked by lawsuits and business failures Gutenberg devised a printing machine and a printing process A Force of Change Printing spread across Europe like wildfire By the end of the 1400s less than 50 years after Gutenberg's creation first appeared 236 towns had printing presses More than 35 000 editions of books s had been published amounting to 15 to 20 million copies The printing press became the primary technology for communication and the printed word became a powerful force for change Knowledge spread quickly across Europe through all forms of print books pamphlets maps charts and diagrams The availability of printed material improved the education process as more and more people learned to read Printed contracts and business Engineers at Google estimate 129 million different printed books have been published since the invention of the printing press 550 years ago documents made commerce and trade easier The printing press also made it easier to spread knowledge accurately Errors introduced into texts by scribes became a thing of the past Now it was 13
Printing helped a culture of literacy spread possible for identical copies of a book to be sold in France England or any other country Printers kept lists of errata or errors discovered in books after they were printed The next time the book was printed the errors were fixed and the corrected information appeared in the book The technology of the printing press increased literacy by cutting the cost of book production and making the printed word available to a wider audience New ideas affected how people thought about themselves their societies and the world New attitudes led to changes in society Printing changed the world 14
MELINE THE PRINTING PRESS c 1475 C 1041 1440s ca 3200 BCE 105 CE Writing begins in Egypt and Mesopotamia William Caxton prints the first book in England which begins standardizing the English language Chinese inventor Pi Sheng makes movable type from hardened clay Court official Tsai Lun invents paper in China Johann Gutenberg uses movable type in Mainz Germany c 1638 1796 1812 1543 1844 First works by Copernicus and Vesalius are published The first printing press is established in North America in Massachusetts German playwright Alois Senefelder invents lithography Friedrich Koenig invents a steam powered cylinder press Richard Hoe invents a rotary printing press 1980s present 1904 in c 1940s 1960s Computers provide electronic typesetting and electronic book production Ottmar Mergenthaler invents the Linotype machine Ira Rubel develops the process of offset printing The Xerox Corporation develops the copier Desktop publishing ushers in a new era of digital
