Everyday people read newspapers and books, but where did printing begin? The movable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg made this all possible. Johannes first conceived of this idea of the printing press in the 15th century in order to speed up the slow process of producing books (Bantwal). The movable type printing press, the first real technology of its kind, helped to solve problems, but in turn also caused problems. This technology did influence many areas of life in its lifespan. This includes challenging the church and poisoning people with the increased toxins from mass products of materials. Depending on one’s point of view, this invention could be the best or worst thing to happen during the 15th century. Regardless of that, the printing press’s influence was widespread and therefore, was a great invention for the machine’s time. Despite the negative repercussions of Gutenberg’s movable printing press, the machine is a positive technology.
Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press in the year 1452. Four other technologies that were more or less common to different parts of the world, made the printing press possible. The first technology was a wine/olive in the screw-press, which areas of Asia and Europe used to obtain oils and create wines. The second invention was block-print technology that Marco Polo originally brought to Europe. A third technology is oil-based ink that was invented in the eleven hundreds. Since this ink smears on vellum, printing did not use this ink. Vellum was costly, but durable so books that took awhile to make utilized this material. Finally, the fourth material was paper, which many process make different forms of all over the globe (Bantwal). Gutenberg used these old technologies ...
... middle of paper ...
...to thank. Everyone should know the origins of many of the technologies in the world and many of those do lead straight back to the printing press. Without this invention, the world would have stayed in the dark ages for generations. People, as a species would not be anywhere close to what we have achieved.
Works Cited
Bantwal, Natasha. "History of the Printing Pres." Buzzle.com: Intelligent Life on the Web. Buzzle.com. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
Beach, Justin. "Pros of the Printing Press." EHow. Demand Media, 08 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
Jensen, Carolyn. "Jensen Review." Rev. of The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe. Lore. San Diego State University. Web. 24 Apr. 2012.
"Printing Press." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.
Ross, Tiffany. "Negative Effects of the Printing Press." EHow. Demand Media, 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
Books today are everywhere. We find them in many households, libraries and schools all around the globe. We find many different types of books; from stories to educational textbooks, we regard them today as sources of knowledge and amusement. But it wasn’t the case before 1455. That year, one of the greatest inventions in human history was revealed to the world; Gutenberg’s printing press. This press allowed printing in massive quantity, spreading books all around Europe and the rest of the world at a fast rate. The printing press had many positive consequences on society. At first, it standardized grammar and spelling, and then introduced the mass production of books. It finally inspired future printing technologies around the world.
(Hook) Throughout the history of man, there has been numerous achievements in human communication that have changed lives greatly. (Bridge) One of the milestones in communication was the printing press. (Background Info) In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in Germany. By 1600, more than 200 million books had come off the presses. Therefore, an average person living in Europe at the time could own a book, such as a copy of the Bible. As the number of books being produced increased, the literacy rate increased as well. As a result, people started to read and explore topics such as science, religion, and geography. The printing press led to a major price drop in books, more knowledge learned, and many significant events in history, such as the Age of Exploration and the Reformation. (Thesis) I believe that the most crucial consequence of the printing press was the Age of Exploration.
To begin, Johannes Gutenberg was born 1395, in Mainz, Germany. He started experimenting with printing by 1438. He obtained backing in 1450 from the financier Johann Fust, whose impatience and other factors led to Gutenberg's loss of his establishment to Fust in 1455. Gutenberg's masterpiece, and the first book ever printed from movable type, is the “Forty-Two-Line” Bible, completed no later than 1455" (http://www.biography.com)". The first most important consequence of the printing press is that it chang...
Before the invention of the printing press, any writing done, whether it was a book, or drawing, or copies of the Bible had to be completed painstakingly by the hand. Every letter, every word, every sentence, had to be written down by hand. It took almost over an entire year to write a single book. In addition to the large amount of time spent, people often made mistakes delaying the publishing of the book. The effects of these scarce, handwritten copies were that education and learning was very limited. Desperate for fame and money, German Johannes Gutenberg changed all of that. In 1450, Gutenberg created the first ever printing press, built and improved existing printing methods. Soon, by the 1500’s printing shops were located everywhere in the major cities of Europe. People had a better way of spreading ideas and findings of new lands during the Age of Exploration, the period of time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of new discoveries, trade routes, and goods found in other countries. The Age of Exploration was affected by the printing press more than the Protestant Reformation was, because it helped publicize recent findings, inspiring and
This new technology is not without its shortcomings. First, the printing press used limited materials. Next, as Mumford notes, the advent of print led calligraphers and manuscript copyists out of work. Furthermore, as Graff finds, it created “typographical fixity”—material once printed cannot be changed. Finally, mass production was dependent and limited to large markets (Mumford, 95)....
Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. 258-68. The 'Secondary' of Print
The first printing press was created to make books (Mostly bibles in the day) cheaper and more accessible. At this time only nobles and scribes new how to read and write. In result of this press, written pieces became commonplace making the common people needing to know how to read and write. This literacy spread and spread as the printing press became more common and caused the majority of the world’s people to be as literate as it is today which helped to revolutionize the work
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Boston: Little, Brown, 1966. 369-372. Print. The.
without the invention of the printing press would we still possess the knowledge we have today? Yes Gutenberg did play a big part in advancing human knowledge. However, knowledge is not just ink on paper. The printing press only made copying content easier. You also might be wondering… If Gutenberg didn’t create the printing press would someone have invented it otherwise? Possibly. However, movable type printing was around in China during the 11th century and movable metal typing soon after. Books were produced by hand. They were written on surfaces of clay, papyrus, wax, and parchment. So to be honest, Gutenberg didn’t create books. He only create and easier way to produce
Literature has changed over time. “The “death of print” has been much heralded over the past decade, precipitated by the rising accessibility of devices like tablets and smartphones that have made the electronic medium cheaper and more universal (1).” Literature has evolved
The printing press was the invention of moveable metal type paper and was able to print books, newspapers, bibles and much more. It was the start of something new and evolving throughout the entire world. Gutenberg’s creation is known to be the most significant invention in history. It is the most prompted creation that people could ever ask for, and for many extraordinary reasons. The reason why the printing press was so useful than just any other invention is because it spread everywhere.
PRINTING PRESS AND STANDARDISATION In 1476, William Caxton introduced England to the printing press. This significant introduction to one of the world’s greatest technological innovations, at the time, helped to increase the spread of literacy and knowledge amongst the British people as the mass production of books became cheaper and more commonly available. According to Mastin (2011), the first book ever printed, although Caxton’s own interpretation was ‘The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye’ in 1473. Furthermore, Mastin (2011) states that in the following 150 years after the introduction of printing, up to 20000 books were printed.
The proponents of technology have always believed that technology is a product of independent creation and thus follows its own pace. They say that technology is forceful and society does not have a choice but to adapt to the changes that it imposes on the people. The members of any particular society may not be actually happy with the change but eventually they learn to accept it, as a result of which the process of change comes a full circle. This idea however is debatable because many critics point out that technology is in fact a planned phenomenon. Not only this but also they point out that there are certain forces that control and introduce technology into the society and that the expected changes from such an introduction is said to be a deliberate attempt at transforming the society. Marshall McLuhan wrote extensively about this subject in his book The Gutenberg Galaxy. The book is basically about the changes that were imposed in the European society as a result of the creation of the printing press in the fifteenth century. It was this printing press that was responsible for a number of changes in the society, which include the social, political and economic forces that were present at the time. The printing press was primarily responsible for the Protestant Reformation because a large number of bibles were available for everyone to read which meant, “Every man can be a priest.” The following essay will thus attempt to discuss McLuhan’s ideas in the light of the phenomenon of technology and discuss whether it is relevant to the current revolution in electronic publishing. The initial Gutenberg revolution discussed by McLuhan is just an introduction of other things to come. He is more interested in finding out about the...
The controversy started with the invention of the printing press. When the printing press was invented in the mid 15th century by Johannes Gutenburg, it became possible to create copies of written and drawn works with less time and one of the earliest patents known in history came with it. This patent was a five year monopoly given to him in 1469 by the Venetian Republic2.
Human beings are creative species. They have come up with great ideas and invented some wonderful tools since they have been on earth. From the time that someone threw a rock in the ground to make the first tool, to the introduction of the wheel, to the development of electricity and the Internet. These alterations, and many more have been made to provide us the modern life we are living today. There are many inventions that have changed the world dramatically. Historians suggest that the printing press was one of the most revolutionary inventions in the human history. The printing press was invented over five-hundred years ago and was the first step in transforming societal literacy. Around 1440, the printing press was invented by the German Johannes Gutenberg, who was the first to design a technique that has the ability to transform the ink from the movable type to paper. Basic development of the printing press was, the hand mold which is the process that enabled the production of metal movable types. Printing presses with this movable type mechanism increased the rates at which copies of books