The Gutenberg Press and its Implications

In the 1440s, Johannes Gutenberg developed the movable printing press. Prior to its advent, books and pamphlets were written out by hand which was tedious, time consuming work. Vellum was a popular material to write books on, but this presented a problem because vellum was pricey and not readily available in mass quantities. To solve this, the papermaking industry was created in Europe to lower costs and to have an inventory.

The Gutenberg Bible is the most widely known text produced by the printing press. The following is a description of the bible:

“The Bible, printed at Mainz, probably required several years of work; it began in 1452 and was completed not later than 1455 and printed in an edition of about 200 copies. The text of the Bible is Latin. Colored initials and other illuminations were hand drawn after the pages were printed. The pages of the book are folio, each page is in two columns and, with few exceptions, each column has 42 lines. The Gutenberg Bible lacks many print features that modern readers are accustomed to, such as pagination, word spacing, indentations, and paragraph breaks.”

The printing press has clearly evolved since the 1400s. The press was mechanized to run on its own shortly after it was invented. Steam power was introduced in the early 1800s by Friedrich Koenig. The addition of steam power helped increase the productivity of the machine. Later in the 1800s typesetting was developed, which is similar to the typewriter. From there, intaglio (etching and engraving), lithography, and screen process (silk screening, for example) were created.

Xerography (commonly referred to as Xerox copies), laser printing, and ink-jet printing are all examples of the technological innovations that came from the original printing press. The printing process of today has advanced to be operated completely with electricity which allows for even more output and since the presses are not physically operated by a person, they can be left unattended.

The implications of printing press’ development are numerous. When it was first invented communication was, as mentioned, hand written and time consuming. Now that more books and pamphlets were being produced, the quicker information could be sent out to the masses. Additionally, as the process relied less on manpower, the cost of production significantly decreased and the average citizen was exposed to a plethora of information. Access to information that was once kept from the public was now widely available. Eventually the Bible was translated to English from Latin and mass produced. The advent of the movable printing press paved the way for people like Martin Luther to get their message out and lead to, in Luther’s case religious, revolution.



Websites Consulted:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/printing.aspx
http://blue.wths.net/faculty/skidmore/printing_press.htm