Gutenberg Printing Press

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Gutenberg Printing Press

• Emily Strauss

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• Prior to the invention of the Gutenberg printing
  press, the most common method of printing was the
  use of the woodblock. The printing trade was
  dominated by the use of the woodblock method, in
  which a piece of cloth or paper was put on top of
  a woodblock covered in ink and an image or
  impression would be formed by rubbing the cloth
  or paper. This was tedious, time-consuming, and
  impractical for widespread use. Prior to the use
  of the Gutenberg printing press, water-based inks
  were used. Gutenberg introduced the use of oil
  based inks, which more easily transferred from
  metal to paper.

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• The Gutenberg printing press was novel in that it
  split the text into individual parts, such as
  punctuation marks, spaces, and upper and lower
  case letters. They were then pressed and
  assembled to form words, lines, and pages. The
  instrument allowed the printer to quickly cast a
  large mix of letters. It was a huge leap in terms
  of speed and efficiency.

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• The effects of the printing press were huge.
  First, it led to the widespread production of the
  Gutenberg bible. It also increased the production
  of books and therefore cut the cost of them. It
  led to a spread of information throughout society
  and allowed libraries to hold a greater amount of
  information at a much lower cost, also educating
  the populace. This also improved progress in
  scholarship and science.

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• The invention of the printing press introduced a
  new mode of mass communication. This weakened the
  power of religious institutions, as they no
  longer held a monopoly on information. It led to
  an increase in literacy and increased the size of
  the middle class, as information, books, and
  education no longer belonged only to the elite.
  It also led to a rise in nationalism, as the
  spread of information and culture led to a
  growing awareness of culture. It also led to a
  decrease in the use of Latin, as other European
  languages increased in use.

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• The invention of the printing press also greatly
  influenced the Reformation, as the power of
  religious institutions such as the church were no
  longer sole authorities on information. In
  addition, political authorities no longer held
  sole power over information, as the spread of
  information was relatively unrestricted by
  borders, and it transcended national boundaries.

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• It is said that Gutenbergs invention of the
  printing press is matched only by the invention
  of the internet, as this new mode of spreading
  information and print very much resembles it. It
  also helped to bring on a surge in the scientific
  revolution. It also brought in a new idea of
  tables of contents and indices, as page numbering
  became more exact.

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Bibliography

• "The Gutenberg Press." Treasures of the McDonald
  Collection. Special Collections Archives
  Research Center, Oregon State University
  Libraries, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
• "Renaissance -- Printing and Thinking."
  Renaissance -- Printing and Thinking. Annenberg
  Center, 2014. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
• Giges, Nancy. "Johannes Gutenberg." ASME. ASME,
  n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.