Middle Class Constructs As A Result Of The Print Revolution

The Transformation of Middle Class Constructs as a Result of the Print Revolution

Jazzlynn Skye Volmar

Design in Words

Sandy Gourlay

December 1, 2015

The invention of the printing press revolutionized fifteenth century era European communication. With the progression of technology the translation of information moved from spoken word to written word, and then to print. Separate experiences and mentalities developed depending on their reliance on spoken verses written word. Spoken word was unreliable and didn’t transport information quickly or safely enough. Written word often took months to transcribe and were hand-written which is difficult to comprehend and facilitate. Print became the method of choice, producing books

far more efficiently than it’s predecessors. The first printing press was established between 1446 and 1450 in Mainz, Germany. Throughout the next century it only identifiably spread in cities in the western hemisphere of Europe. Diffusion was concentrated around Germany but extended to modern day Italy, Czech Republic, The Nether Lands, and Belgium. Furthermore, established print cities were founded elsewhere in France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Austria, and Hungary. See Appendix A, which graphically illustrates the diffusion of print throughout cities. Gutenburg’s moveable-type printing press was developed and manufactured to adopt principals of printing and further improve the machinery. Prior to the invention of the printing press, books weren’t as culturally relevant. Those who owned books belonged to the upper class. Only they could afford hand written manuscripts, which were often commissioned by private individuals. These people belonged to royal and noble classes, or clerics and wealthy scholars. It is important to delineate the expense of early print books because the diminution of price was significant in supporting the spread of information. An early edition of Vergil, for example, cost two ducats, when skilled workers earned three ducats a month, therefore; books were truly a luxurious item (often listed individually in wills) during the early fifteenth century. In 1952 Gilmore boldly reported that the printing press drove, “the most radical transformation in the conditions of intellectual life.” It is the printing press’s cultural, rather than political, impact that made its transformation of European life from the mid-fifteenth to seventeenth century revolutionary. The spread of literacy beyond the clergy, scholars and professionals affected the emerging middle class. Its literal potency was successful amongst the mi