On the other hand, communication via such media was incredibly difficult. Think, for example, of the distributional problems the Postal Service would have today if the medium of correspondence were 100lb rocks. They have enough troubles with 1/2-oz letters. A medium of communication that was lightweight and portable was needed. The first successful medium was papyrus (sheets made from the papyrus plant and glued together to form a roll sometimes 20 to 40 ft long, fastened to a wooden roller), which came into use about 2000 B.C. In 190 B.C., parchment (made from animal skins) came into use. The Greeks assembled large libraries in Ephesus and Pergamum (in what is now Turkey) and in Alexandria. According to Plutarch, the library in Pergamum contained 2,00,000 volumes in 40 B.C. (Tuchman, 1980). In 105 A.D. the Chinese invented paper, the modern medium of communication. However, because there was no effective way of duplicating communication, scholarly knowledge could not be widely disseminated. Perhaps the greatest single invention in the intellectual history of the human race was the printing press. Although movable type was invented in China in about 1100 A.D. (Tuchman, 1980), the Western World gives credit to Gutenberg, who printed his 42-line Bible from movable type on a printing press in 1455 A.D. Gutenberg’s invention was…
How did we get to the latest art form of printing, the wireless printer? Through years of evolutional design and determination, this technology was possible. The printing press allowed people to learn different styles of the art of printing, education, arts, literature, and cultural differences quicker, and learning was more widespread, in addition; it provided the world with the most efficient means of communication of the written word through mass production. I will show how the decision of humankind to advance the printing presses worthiness did advance literacy in many cultures. Through the printing presses, humble beginnings of block printing to the latest technological advancements, the printing press has continued to evolve in one form or other.…
Johannes Gutenberg & the printing press Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable/moveable wooden or metal letters in 1436 (completed by 1440). This method of printing can be credited not only for a revolution in the production of books, but also for fostering rapid development in the sciences, arts and religion through the transmission of texts.…
In 1445 the German Gutenberg concocted the printing press. He changed the lives of a great many individuals all through Europe. Interestingly, bookmaking got to be shoddy and Gutenberg could print numerous books rapidly. In the Middle Ages books were exceptionally costly in light of the fact that they were composed by hand.…
The Penny Press was developed during a very dynamic and colorful period in American history. In the early 1800s, newspapers were biased and controlled by political parties that only reported on political news. Social, economic,political and cultural conditions created a new form of journalism which began during the penny press. For once readers were able to read a newspaper and not just view it. This new press refelcted the new politics going on in America. Many historians believed that the nations growing litercay was the reason for the development of this cheap new press. By 1862, a number of editors wrote editorials including gossip and sports. The penny papers were influenced by Charles Knights magazine, Penny Magazine. This press was very sucessful . After a year this paper attainted a circulation of more than 20,000 and boosted a large American audience.…
His most significant event was creating the printing press. Before the invention of this movable printing press, hand written scripts were produces by a few time-consuming methods. That was until Gutenberg designed the first printing press. It required less time and effort. He had designed it and created it as fast as he could. This creation was the sole base for the knowledge of the later renaissance. At the time of Gutenberg’s life, no one had successfully created something like it.…
Personally, I believe that without Johannes Gutenberg's inventions, the world definitely would have progressed slower than it did. Although Gutenberg's inventions are now seen as being dated or inferior because of how much technology has progressed, without them there would not have been anything to build upon in the first place. Had Gutenberg not created a "blueprint" for future inventors to gain their inspirations and ideas from the world would be a completely different place. What Gutenberg did was such a pivotal thing and he most certainly deserves credit for what he has done for the media world and mankind. However, whether or not he should be given the title "Man of the Millennium" remains quite…
If you think about it, the spread and development of ideas and beliefs can root all the way back to the creation of the printing press. Of course, there is some credit to be given to the Chinese and their creation of the woodblock printing that came before Johannes Gutenberg’s time. But, it was not as influential as the printing press. We have to stop for a moment and ask, “What led to the creation of the printing press?” and how did it become such a key “weapon” in the Protestant and Counter Reformation? In this essay I’ll be discussing the printing press and it’s impact on society and many different categories including: the transition from scripts to the printing culture,…
The printing press has changed society in many ways, especially giving access to books and knowledge to people of all ages, nationality and religion. According to Steven Kreis who wrote an article “The Printing Press,” said that “libraries could now store greater quantities of information at a much lower cost when the printing press was made,” ( Kreis, n.d.). They were at a much lower cost because they could print more in a shorter period of time. Now,…
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, more commonly known as Johannes Gutenberg, was a man of the Renaissance. Johannes was born in approximately 1400 in Mainz, Germany into an upper-class family. His father was named Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden. According to some, he was a goldsmith for the bishop at Mainz, but most believe he was involved in the cloth trade. Johannes did many things to help the Renaissance times, and also to help us today. He invented the Printing Press and was also a goldsmith. Once he had invented the Printing Press, he created what is known today as the Gutenberg Bible, or the 42-line Bible. The world would be much farther back in technology if it weren’t for this man.…
Where only some people wanted to expand their knowledge, everyone wanted to be saved from eternal damnation. Coupled with this financial advantage, Gutenberg was a very religious man. He was extremely passionate about spreading the word of God. In fact, during the process of creating his press, he stated “Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men” (Gutenberg). Because of this passion and financial sense, he printed the forty-two line Bible, which to this day is one of the most sought-after books in existence. Unfortunately for Johannes, this would be the only book he would be able to print on his own press. At this point the lawsuit by Fust had been completed, and Fust took control of the rights to use and operate the press technology (Rees 56).…
On the other hand, because printing was done by a machine, there was less room for human error so written language became more consistent. These new books were available to people who had never had access to written materials before because printed books were about two-thirds cheaper that handwritten ones and could be mass produced. As a result, libraries had a huge increase in new material and average families could afford books of their own for the first time. One of the most direct effects of the printing press was that it multiplied the number of books while cutting their costs at the same time. As a result of this effect, literacy increased in Europe, especially among the middle and lower classes, and people…
The invention that was most responsible for helping to educate the middle classes during the Renaissance was the printing press discovered by a German printer named Johannes Gutenberg in the middle of the fifteenth century.…
Hope in the darkness of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries can be seen through Johannes Gutenberg. Gutenberg’s birth date is unknown, but it was concluded to be around 1394 to 1404. His well to do family consisted of his father, Friele…
In order to understand the deep changes that were the result of printing revolution, we need to focus our attention at the transition from the scribal to the print culture which brought the book culture from inside the monasteries to outside into the universities. This outwards movement got lay people involved in reading and writing activities. During the Middle Ages, the book production in the manuscript form was confined to monasteries and other ecclesiastical centers which had thus direct control of the resulting book culture. The scribal culture of the Middle Ages depended on the meticulous copying of manuscripts by scribes who spent hours at their task in scriptoria. Such a labor intensive task could not lead to large scale duplication and hence, access to…