Gutenberg's printing press
Books become a hundred times cheaper in fifty years
See it on the timeline →In depth
The innovation was not printing itself but the system: a hand mould for casting type in alloy, oil-based ink, and a press adapted to paper. By 1500 an estimated 20 million books had been printed in Europe. The effect was explosive and uncontrollable: the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution and eventually vernacular languages and a public sphere all rest on text spreading faster than authorities could suppress it. Elizabeth Eisenstein called it an "unacknowledged revolution".
For children
Before, every book had to be copied by hand, which took months. Gutenberg made loose metal letters that could be assembled into pages and printed over and over. Suddenly ordinary people could own books — and learn to read.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org