How did the ideas of the Renaissance spread? The Printing Press!
Before the Renaissance… Book-making was slow, expensive, and done by hand It took 4-5 months to copy 200 pages Few people could read or write Mostly clergy (religious figures) Mostly in Latin The Church owned most books
Illuminated Manuscripts: Beautiful but oh so time consuming… http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html
Johann Gutenberg Gutenberg was from Mainz, Germany He invented a mechanical way of producing books that surpassed any existing technology His first book was printed between 1450 and 1455
Chinese Print Technology Movable Type had existed in China starting in the 1000s Woodblock Print and the tools used to make it
Gutenberg’s Improvements Gutenberg's main innovations were the printer's ink the making of type the use of a press the production process itself
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.
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.
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
The Press The type The Ink
The Scriptorium A leaf from Catholic Church. Book of Hours. Rouen, France, ca. 1490.
The Production Process
The Gutenberg Bible How does this compare to the medieval text we looked at earlier?
Gutenberg’s Impact Gutenberg's invention did not make him rich It made books easier to produce and cheaper to buy Books, newspapers and pamphlets became mass-produced Materials were published in the vernacular, or common language of the people Literacy rates increased, and ideas spread rapidly. People were able to debate and discuss matters that concerned them. There were more attempts at censorship, as those in authority felt threatened by the new abundance of information Sparked many religious revolutions. Allowed the common man to posses a Bible for his own interpretation.
What ideas will be spread? Artistic Innovations and Techniques Science and Technology Knowledge about new lands Political Theories Humanism