Printing Press

Alisha Nutt
Throughout history, changes in technology have had a great influence on society. The development of Gutenberg’s printing press had a major impact on specific societies and the world. Before Gutenberg invented the printing press books were wrote by hand and they took several years to finish.
The monks wrote the bible by hand and it took a long time to finish the books. During the Middle Ages manuscript books were produced by monks who worked with pen and ink in a copying room known as a scriptorium. (Doc 1). The cost of the prices went up so that means that only the rich could afford the bible, only the rich were educated. When the printing press was invented the written works went up so the cost of the bible went down so that everyone could afford It., the literacy rate then went up. By 1500 an estimated half million printed books were in circulation: religious works, Greek and roman classics, scientific texts, Columbus’s report from the new world. An acceleration of the renaissance was only the first by-product of the Gutenberg press. With ought it the protestant movement might have been still born as well as the political industrial revolutions. Gutenberg however got none of the glory. His brainchild bankrupted him; the year his bible was published a creator took over his business. Little more is known of the inventor- in part because he never put his name into print. (Doc 3).In the 700s the Chinese started printing with woodblocks, in the 1200s the Koreans began experimenting with movable type, in 1456 Gutenberg’s 42 line bible was finished , in 1500 more than 1,00 printers are active in Europe, in the late 1800s more efficient printing presses are developed, including self-inking capabilities and some motorization, in 1868 the monotype machine is patented. It combines a typewriter- like keyboard with a type casting unit to create individual letters at the stroke of a finger, in the 1980s computerized typesetting is created at video screens, storing text and illustrations on a computer disk.(doc2)
The society challenges the power of the church because they were printing scientific pamphlets for example lathers 95 thesis. They also challenged the political power the mass produce Machiavelli’s the prince. Only the rich could afford the books until the printing press is invented then written works went down so that everyone could afford it and the literacy rate went up because more people could learn to read cause the price of books went down to where the poor could buy books not just the rich. The printing press helped more people be allowed to read. In conclusion the Gutenberg printing press and many major impacts on the world and on the rich and poor people. The printing press also changed all the old technology s that they could make new. Before the printing press was invented the monks had to write everything by hand and it took the several years to finish but when the printing press was invented it took less time to finish and the prices of the written work went down so that everyone could afford it.