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The global spread of the printing press began with the invention of the printing press with movable type by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany c. 1439. [1] Western printing technology was adopted in all world regions by the end of the 19th century, displacing the manuscript and block printing .
The invention of the printing press revolutionized communication and book production, leading to the spread of knowledge. [106] Printing was rapidly spread from Germany by emigrating German printers, but also by foreign apprentices returning home. A printing press was built in Venice in 1469, and by 1500 the city had 417 printers.
The high quality and relatively low price of the Gutenberg Bible (1455) established the superiority of movable type in Europe and the use of printing presses spread rapidly. The printing press may be regarded as one of the key factors fostering the Renaissance [10] and, due to its effectiveness, its use spread around the globe.
The printing press, some may argue, is not a part of print culture, but had a substantial impact upon the development of print culture through the times. The printing press brought uniform copies and efficiency in print. It allowed a person to make a living from writing. Most importantly, it spread print throughout society.
Printing is considered one of the Four Great Inventions of China that spread throughout the world. [3] [11]According to the Book of the Southern Qi, in the 480s, a man named Gong Xuanyi (龔玄宜) styled himself Gong the Sage and "said that a supernatural being had given him a 'jade seal jade block writing,' which did not require a brush: one blew on the paper and characters formed."
The Islamic civilization helped spread paper and paper-making into the Middle East after the 8th-century. [36] By 981, paper had spread to Armenian and Georgian monasteries in the Caucasus. [38] It arrived into Europe centuries later, and then to many other parts of the world.
The art of printing goes back to around A. D. 175, where it was employed by the Chinese, who cut impressions into blocks of wood, applied ink, laid paper over the block and pressed the two together, leaving the inked impression on the paper. This crude method of printing took root in other parts of the world, but didn't change much until the 1100s.
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg [a] (c. 1393–1406 – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and craftsman who invented the movable-type printing press.Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's invention of the printing press [2] enabled a much faster rate of printing.