Invention of the Printing Press

Fascinating facts about the invention of the=20 Printing Press
by = Johannes=20 Gutenberg=20 in 1450. =20

PRINTING=20 = PRESS

Basically, printing=20 is the process of making multiple copies of a document by = the use of=20 movable characters or letters. The process was developed=20 independently in China and Europe. Before the invention of = printing,=20 multiple copies of a manuscript had to be made by hand, a = laborious=20 task that could take many years. Printing made it possible = to=20 produce more copies in a few weeks than formerly could have = been=20 produced in a lifetime by hand. = Invented by Johann Gutenberg in c1450, = the=20 printing press made the mass publication and circulation of=20 literature possible. Derived from the presses farmers used = to make=20 olive oil, the first printing press used a heavy screw to = force a=20 printing block against the paper below.

An operator = worked a=20 lever to increase and decrease the pressure of the block = against the=20 paper. The invention of the printing press, in turn, set off = a=20 social revolution that is still in progress. The German = printing=20 pioneer Johannes Gutenberg solved the problem of molding = movable=20 type. Once developed, printing spread rapidly and began to = replace=20 hand-printed texts for a wider audience.

Thus,=20 intellectual life soon was no longer the exclusive domain of = church=20 and court, and literacy became a necessity of urban = existence. The=20 printing press stoked intellectual fires at the end of the = Middle=20 Ages, helping usher in an era of enlightenment. This great = cultural=20 rebirth was inspired by widespread access to and = appreciation for=20 classical art and literature, and these translated into a = renewed=20 passion for artistic expression. Without the development of = the=20 printing press, the Renaissance may never have happened. = Without=20 inexpensive printing to make books available to a large = portion of=20 society, the son of John Shakespeare, a minor government = official in=20 rural England in the mid-1500s, may never have been inspired = to=20 write what are now recognized as some of history's greatest = plays.=20 What civilization gained from Gutenberg's invention is = incalculable.=20

To Learn = More

RELATED=20 INVENTION:
Johann= es=20 Gutenberg, Inventor Profile=20 from=20 The Great Idea Finder
History of the Gutenberg Bible=20 from=20 The Great Idea Finder

ON THE=20 BOOKSHELF:
100 Inventions That Shaped World History=20
by Bill Yenne, Morton, Dr. Grosser (Editor) = /=20 Paperback - 112 pages (1983) = / Bluewood Books
This book contains = inventions from=20 all around the world from microchips to fire. This is a = really good=20 book if you are going to do research on inventions.=20
Popular Patents
by=20 Travis Brown / Paperback - 224 pages / Scarecrow Press = (September 1,=20 2000)
Eighty stories of America's first inventions. Each = includes=20 a sketch of the invention, a profile of the inventor and a = glimpse=20 of how the invention has found its way into American=20 culture.
The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading = in an=20 Electronic Age
Sven P. Birkerts / Paperback / Fawcett = Books=20 -1985
Birkerts, a renowned critic, examines the practice = of=20 reading with an eye to what the future will bring. Fine Print : A Story About Johann=20 Gutenberg
Joann Johnson Burch / Paperback - 64 pages = /=20 Carolrhoda Books - 1992
This interesting book about = Gutenberg's=20 struggles to complete and perfect his printing
process = gives a=20 vivid picture of life in the Middle = Ages.
The Gutenberg Bible : Landmark in = Learning
by=20 James E. Thorpe / Hardcover - 48 pages 2nd edition (1997) / = H E=20 Huntington Library & Art
The Huntington Library holds = one of=20 the three vellum copies of the Gutenberg Bible in the United = States.=20 Details the early history of printing and how the Gutenberg = Bible=20 was printed. .
Gutenberg (Limited = availability.)
Leonard=20 Everett Fisher / Library Binding - 28 pages / Simon & = Schuster -=20 1993
Fisher's biography of Johann = Gutenberg, the=20 creator of movable type and the printer of the Gutenberg = Bible, is=20 marked by careful research, clear writing, and striking=20 illustrations.

ON THE = WEB:
Landmark Inventions of the Millennium = by Herb Brody
The = last 1,000=20 years have produced an incredible number and variety of = scientific=20 and technological breakthroughs=BEbut which of these were = the most=20 important?
(URL:=20 encarta.msn.com/EncartaHome.asp)
Johannes Gutenberg and The Printed=20 Book
The printing press had developed from = the wine=20 press in the Rhine Valley. It was there in 1440 that = Johannes=20 Gutenberg (c.1397-1468) began using the printing press in=20 conjunction with a series of blocks each bearing a single = letter on=20 its face.
(URL:=20 www.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0228.html)
Invention of the Printing=20 Press
Printing has an illustrious history = starting=20 when Gutenberg built the first press in = 1436.
(URL: www.dotprint.com/fgen/history1.htm)
Project Gutenberg
Fine Literature = Digitally=20 Re-Published
(URL: www.gutenberg.net)
Johannes Gutenberg Biography
=A2The = Bible=A2=20 published by Fust is still known as Gutenberg's Bible and = for the=20 sake of
posterity, he has been hailed as the inventor of = the=20 printing press.
(URL: top-biography.com/9122-Gutenberg/ataglance.htm)
The=20 Catholic Encyclopedia
Detail on the Gutenberg bible. = Henne=20 G=E4nsfleisch zur Laden, commonly called=20 Gutenberg
(URL:=20 www.newadvent.org/cathen/07090a.htm)
Gutenberg College
Its "great books" = curriculum=20 emphasizes the development of basic learning skills = (reading,=20 writing, mathematics, and critical thinking) and the = application of=20 these skills to profound writings of the=20 past.
(URL: = www.mckenziestudycenter.org/guten/)
Johannes Gutenberg - "Man of the = Millennium"
In=20 honor of his invention, Gutenberg was recently chosen by an=20 international panel of scientists as the "most outstanding=20 personality of the millennium."
(URL: www.germany-tourism.de/e/1586.html)
History of the Gutenberg Bible
The = Gutenberg=20 Bible, may have been finished and perfected by Johann Fust, = a=20 wealthy financier who gained Gutenberg's share of the = business in a=20 lawsuit.
(URL:=20 orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/books/medbook2.html)
History of Printing
Printing has an = illustrious=20 history starting when Gutenberg built the first press in = 1436,=20 PIERRE DE LA MARE begins a series on the history of=20 print.
(URL:=20 www.dotprint.com/fgen/history1.htm)
History of Printed Books
Medieval and = Renaissance Book Production - Printed Books
(URL:=20 orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/books/medbook2.html)
Gutenberg Apprentice Speaks
Peter = Schoeffer,=20 once an apprentice to Gutenberg and now partner in his own = business.=20 explains what fueled the invention of the printing press. = School=20 project.
(URL:www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/Renaissance/guildhall/pr= inter/printingguild.html)

Reference = Sources in=20 BOLD Type

This page = revised=20 August 15th,=20 = 2002.


	HISTORY > = INVENTION FACTS=20 AND MYTHS