NOTE: To change the image on this slide, select the picture and delete it. Then click the Pictures icon in the placeholder to insert your own image. THE PRINTING PRESS A Media Technology and Communications Channel Stephanie Ficca

Existing Methods of Reproducing the Written Word  Paper money and playing cards existed in China in the early 13 th century  Letters, characters, and pictures were carved into a wooden block, inked, and transferred onto paper  Expensive, time-consuming, and not durable  Block printing was also used for religious purposes to print images on cloths

Johannes Gutenberg (c )  The first person to perfect the technique of practically printing with movable metal types  A German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher from a noble family in Mainz  In approximately 1436, Gutenberg began working with Andreas Dritzehn (a former gem cutter) and Andreas Heilmann (a paper mill owner)  His printing press was the first that contained precise molding of new type blocks from a uniform template  This allowed for the creation of high-quality printed books

Gutenberg Bible  The first book printed in the West using movable type was the Bible  Gutenberg made two hundred copies of the two-volume Gutenberg Bible which were uniquely beautiful and extremely expensive  They were sold ad the 1455 Frankfurt Book Fair and cost the equivalent of 3 years' pay for the average clerk  About 50 still exist today

Immediate Effects Scientific Revolution Scientists were easily able to communicate their discoveries Scholarly journals were created Authorship Writing books became profitable and meaningful Authors had the ability to become “best-sellers” Reading The process of reading shifted from public/oral reading to silently/private reading Literacy The adult literacy rate drastically increased

Mass Communication Across Europe  By 1480, there were active printers in 110 different places in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Bohemia and Poland.  By 1500, the printing presses in Western Europe produced over twenty million copies of books  The printing press introduced an era of mass communication, altering the structure of society  The unrestricted circulation of information changed Europe dramatically by allowing ideas and revolutions to pass through borders  It threatened the religious and political authorities of the time by no longer making literacy a luxury of the elite and educated  It bolstered the middle classes’ level of education and self- awareness  Lead to the flourishing of vernacular languages  Lead to the rise in Proto-Nationalism  Accelerated the Renaissance and culture

Printing on a Gutenberg Press

Sources: history/textbooks/boundless-world-history-i-ancient textbook/early-modern-europe-12/the-renaissance-58/the- printing-revolution / history/textbooks/boundless-world-history-i-ancient textbook/early-modern-europe-12/the-renaissance-58/the- printing-revolution /