Illuminated Manuscripts: beautiful but oh so time consuming… 1

The printing press was invented by Johann Gutenberg Gutenberg was from Mainz, Germany He introduced a mechanical way of producing books that surpassed any existing technology His first books were printed in 1454-1455 Before Gutenberg, every book in Europe had to be copied by hand. 2

The Chinese printed books even before the Europeans. The Chinese used movable type, but it was made of wood. The Chinese did not have a press. 3

Gutenberg’s Improvements the printer's ink the making of type the use of a press the production process itself 4

The Ink It was not really ink at all, more like an oil paint It is unlike writing-ink, which was water- based Water-based ink would have run off the metal types. Instead the thick, oil-based varnish stuck to them. 5

The Types Types = Letters, Punctuation marks, and other signs Gutenberg invented a way of mass-producing them They were made out of metal They could be put together to form words, sentences, and pages After printing the page, the types could then be reused 6

The Press One of Gutenberg's most radical ideas was to use a press for printing. Presses had been around for a long time, but were used for other purposes, notably wine-making. 7

The Press 8

The Production Process 9

The Gutenberg Bible The text of the Bible is in Latin. The Gutenberg Bible lacks many print features that modern readers are accustomed to, such as word spacing, indentations, and paragraph breaks. The Bible has over 1280 pages, and the text was laid out in two columns. The Bible was also printed in English, French, and German. 10

Gutenberg’s Impact Gutenberg's invention did not make him rich It made books easier to produce, cheaper, and widely disseminated. Resulted in the mass-production of books, newspapers and pamphlets. Ideas spread rapidly. People were able to debate and discuss matters that concerned them; the outcome was the growth of literacy. There were more attempts at censorship, as those in authority felt threatened by the new abundance of information. Influenced many religious revolutions. Allowed the common man to posses a Bible for his own interpretation. http://www.history.com/topics/italian-renaissance/videos#the-book-that-changed-the-world 11