Printing Press and its Impact

The concept of printing was first founded in the eighth century and later refined in the eleventh century.
Gutenberg's printing press was created in Western Europe during the mid-fifteenth century.

The printing press is one of the most important inventions of all time.
Its development ended the hegemonic control of information in Europe and changed history forever.
The printing press allowed huge amounts of information to be shared quickly and in massive quantities.
This fostered the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance period, the Scientific Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution.

All writings and drawings had to be meticulously done by hand.
Materials used included clay, papyrus, wax, or parchment.
Manually transcribing written works was usually done by scribes who lived and worked in monasteries.
Monasteries had a special room called the scriptorium where scribes worked.
Scribes measured and traced page layouts and carefully copied text from other books.
During the Middle Ages, books were usually the exclusive property of monasteries, educational institutions, or extremely wealthy people.
Most books were religious; some families owned a copy of the Holy Bible.

Paper making, ink development, and woodcut printing were earlier technologies that enabled the invention of the printing press.
Woodcut printing existed in China during the Tang dynasty in the seventh century and continued to be the most common method in East Asia until the nineteenth century.
In the 13th-14th centuries, people developed a rudimentary form of printing using letters or pictures cut out of wooden blocks, dipped in ink, and used to stamp paper.

Johann Gutenberg sought a way to make money.
Gutenberg realized he could use letter blocks inside a machine to make the printing process faster and reproduce texts in large numbers.
Gutenberg's press mechanized the transfer of ink to paper.
He adapted the screw mechanism used in wine, paper, and linen presses to develop a system suited to printing.
His device enabled an initial assembly line production for printed text.
This made it possible to mass produce books at a much cheaper cost than contemporary methods.
Newfound ability to mass produce books at low cost on every subject imaginable, revolutionary ideas and invaluable ancient knowledge reached the hands of every literary European whose numbers doubled every century.
Science flourished as scientists could report discoveries and studies in writing and collaborate across Europe.
Gutenberg died poor and did not witness the full impact of his invention.
His greatest achievement was the first printing of the bible in Latin.
It took three years to print about 200 copies.

Literacy rates were low in the 1490s, so residents gathered in bars or squares to listen to a paid reader who would share the latest printed news, including mood scandals or war reports.
Printing technology spread rapidly throughout Europe and played a key role in the success of the Protestant Reformation.
Martin Luther's message spread to thousands via the printed word.
Martin Luther was not the first religion to question the Catholic church, but he was the first to widely publish his new religious ideology.

Modern world would be very different without Wittenberg and his printing press.
Today, the industry is in the digital age, with online printing companies and home printers.

Martin Luther King Junior's father was inspired by the Protestant leader Martin Luther.