
As a book lover, it’s hard to imagine a world where books weren’t available at every corner, ready for eager readers to dive into and explore. Granted, people living in the Dark Ages had bigger things to worry about, like not catching the plague or being accused of heresy.
But after the invention of the modern printing press in the mid-15th century, books finally became available on a mass scale for the first time, and the global implications were far-reaching.
Gutenberg’s Groundbreaking Invention
Around 1436, German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg gifted the world with his revolutionary printing press, which made it possible to mass-produce books inexpensively and essentially pulled Europe out of the Dark Ages.
His invention utilized small, individual metal letters that would be set up by a compositor to form the desired lines of text. Several lines could be arranged at once, before being placed in a wooden frame, or “chase.” Ink was applied to the text evenly to create prints, much like a stamp.
Here’s a video demonstrating the process:
Prior to Gutenberg’s printing press, woodblock printing was the primary method for printing and reproducing texts, with the only alternative being to copy manuscripts by hand. Both options were extremely labor intensive, which made books expensive and therefore inaccessible to most people.
Unfortunately, Gutenberg didn’t live to see the most impressive impacts of his invention. In fact, he died penniless, with his presses being impounded by debtors. The only achievement he witnessed himself was the printing of 200 Latin Bibles over the span of three years.
Let’s look at some of the vast accomplishments we wish Gutenberg could have seen.
6 Ways the Printing Press Changed the World
Below are 6 key ways the printing press changed the world and revolutionized books.
1. It made access to the news an expectation.
One reason that Gutenberg’s invention wasn’t initially profitable is that there had been no established distribution network for books (since up until that point, few people could own them).
Other German printers realized this and moved to Venice, as this was a central shipping hub in the late fifteenth century. Ships would leave Venice carrying literature, religious texts, and breaking news from across the (known) world. Printers in the city would sell news pamphlets to sailors, and when their ships arrived at their respective ports, riders would deliver copied pamphlets to local towns.
But since literacy rates were still low, it was common for a paid reader to deliver the news aloud each day at a local pub. This marks the beginning of a major shift in our consumption of the news, as it became commonplace to check the news every day.
2. It advanced the Renaissance.
Although the Italian Renaissance started almost a century before the advent of Gutenberg’s printing press, the reprinting of classic texts that scholars from this era so valued was made much more practical thanks to moveable type.
The works of Plato, Aristotle, and other classic thinkers that were making their way back into the spotlight could now be reproduced and distributed much more quickly and cheaply. Prior to the printing press, one book in the 14th century cost as much as a house!
The reduced costs led to more libraries popping up across towns, which meant more people could study and appreciate the subjects of the Renaissance.
3. The first best-selling author emerged.
Centuries before there was the New York Times bestseller list, Martin Luther became the world’s first “best-selling” author.
We’ve all heard the story of how Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses” to a church door in Wittenberg back in 1517. But just several weeks after that very public show of rebellion, copies were being printed in London.
Luther continued to write, and developed a mutually beneficial relationship with the printing press. In his book Brand Luther, Andrew Pettegree explains how Luther recognized the untapped potential of the printing press, which until that point had been a useful but very expensive tool, used mostly by elite academics.
Luther used the printing press to broadcast his message to average readers across German states, even choosing to write in German, rather than Latin. His translation of the New Testament sold 5,000 copies in only two weeks, making him the world’s first best-selling author.
In fact, between 1518 and 1525, Luther’s authored one third of all books sold in Germany!
4. Science could advance faster.
Imagine copying lengthy formulas full of complicated symbols by hand, over and over again! There’s a good chance some errors will crop up here and there, which means some readers will get formulas that don’t quite make sense. (Must be how my high school Pre-Calc book was printed.)
But the ability to make mass copies and distribute them quickly helped support the Scientific Revolution, and the scholars who read them could rest assured that they were getting accurate data.
5. New ideas and ways of thinking spread quickly.
Obviously, Martin Luther is famous for much more than becoming the first best-selling author. He’s considered the father of the Reformation, a revolutionary movement that questioned papal authority and the power of the Catholic Church.
Prior to the printing press, such a revolution would have been much easier to quell, often as simple as killing the perceived troublemaker and destroying their notebooks.
But now that new ideas could be printed and distributed quickly and easily, new ideas were much harder to contain. And like today, the more controversial a book is, the more people want to read it, which means the new printing business was all too happy to keep up with their demands.
6. The job market landscape evolved.
While most traditional scribes would soon find themselves unemployed, the printing press also created greater demand for new kinds of jobs.
Printers rose through the labor structure as new artisans, while proofreading and book design (layout) became new, in-demand professions, and of course publishing houses began to emerge as the industry quickly developed.
Who Invented the Printing Press Before Gutenberg?
Gutenberg hardly invented printing itself; he simply found a brilliant way to mechanize the process so it could be performed on a mass scale.
Before Gutenberg’s adaptation of moveable type, Chinese printers had been working with woodblock printing for nearly a thousand years.
And in Korea in 1250, a civil minister, Choe Yun-ui, built on previous attempts by the Chinese to create moveable type. He successfully created small metal pieces with raised, backward letters that could be arranged in a frame, painted with ink, and pressed onto a piece of paper—essentially, what Gutenberg would do nearly 200 years later.
However, Gutenberg did perfect the process by using a wine press and finding the right combination of metals that would melt at a low temperature and harden quickly. In addition, Gutenberg’s alphabet was more practical for casting letters compared with the Korean alphabet, which was not phonetic at the time.
More Printing History
If you’re as crazy as we are about books, nutty about history, or especially both, then you’ll want to check out our post on the history of books, which traces their evolution all the way from ancient scrolls to modern ebooks.
For more modern options, compare and contrast the benefits of listening to audiobooks vs. reading ebooks.
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- A Brief History of Books: From Ancient Scrolls to Digital Publishing
- 11 Best Books about History: Fascinating Reads for History Buffs
- What Is an eBook? 8 eReader Benefits
- Book Burning: A Brief History of Bibliocide
As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.
when was this published?
Hey Grace, this post was published on May 25, 2021
https://youtu.be/OuRMunlMULI
one of my homemade tutorials . . .
BTW – the set type (job) is placed in a chase – the galley is the metal tray the type is held in before locking up. https://youtu.be/OuRMunlMULI
Hi – I’m a letterpress journeyman printer – Started doing it as an apprentice in 1976 – still do it now. It is laborious, slow, dirty and there’s a whole lot of lead to play with. I love how these days you can put paper in one end of a 9digital) press and a book comes out the other end. Utterly amazing that letterpress lasted commercially ’till the 90’s – youngsters look at my type and ink etc and laugh . .. and laugh. It is now an art form. I have 2 ARAB presses and 130 trays of type. Loved your doco.
Hi Rob, that’s so cool! Thank you for sharing your experience and the videos! It’s absolutely an art form and I’m glad people like you are keeping it up :) and thanks for the correction on the term galley, I’ve updated the post :)
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Hi Jamiaya, sorry you’re not a fan. What don’t you like about it?
You
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