The printing press sparked the first information age. Johannes Gutenberg, German craftsman and inventor who originated a method of printing from movable type. Thanks to Gutenberg’s printing press, the global population had access to written material. Truth is that there’s a lot more to the story than I mentioned.
By the 1200s, rag paper had spread up through the Muslim world and into Europe, by which time block printing was invented. The printing press wasn’t the first method of printing, but it may have had more of an impact on civilization than any other type of printing. Printing could and did spread new ideas quickly and with greater impact. Unique to his invention were a durable type-metal alloy, an oil-based ink that adhered well to metal type and transferred well to vellum or paper, and a press for applying firm even pressure to printing … In the past, we've even joked about those "poor monks" put out of the scribe business by the printing press. No longer was literature reserved for monks and clergymen.
Printing also facilitated the dissemination and preservation of knowledge in standardized form -- this was most important in the advance of science, technology and scholarship.
” and we briefly touched the topic of the printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg. The printing press certainly initiated an "information revolution" on par with the Internet today. But what we didn't realize was there actually was just such a concern at the time.
The invention of the printing press had a huge impact on the past and continues to impact our lives today. The real reason for the printing press’s slow spread was twofold: First, the thousands of calligraphers made hand-copied books so cheap that printing presses were not needed. The printing press would not have been possible without the rise of trade in Western Europe beginning around the 1200s.
The printing press is often said to have been created by Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany, around 1440 AD, and it began taking root in Europe in the 1450s with the printing of the aforementioned Bible. Rag paper was a Chinese invention; it was given to the Arabs by a few skilled Chinese workers who had been kidnapped during a battle.
Printing allowed ideas to curiculate quickly and cheaply.
In a previous post, we answered the question “ Why is Printing Important? Books themselves had been present in Europe long before then, of course, but only in hand-copied volumes that were accessible mainly to members of the clergy.