The Printing Press

The innovation which became the greatest revolution

Back then, communication was difficult. Knowledge has not been spread widely around the world. Each book had to be written by hand. Not everyone could afford to buy books; hence during those days, not everyone was not that educated. Until the Gutenberg bible was printed. Books had to be no longer written by hand. They became easier to produce. Books became cheaper. As books became cheaper, more people could own them. Today this invention has advanced to digital printing.

Revolution happens when innovation spreads and dramatically changes our everyday life. An invention is not a revolution, it is only the beginning of a journey. The invention introduces new innovations into our society.

The movable-type printing press was also believed to be the greatest revolution among human kinds. Printing in woodblocks started in the 9th century. Four hundred years later, metal moveable type printing began to be used in Korea. But it is in Europe that printing became a revolution. Until then,1450 books were written by hand. But during the year 1455, the Gutenberg bible was printed in Mainz, Germany, changing the printing industry forever. The first movable printing press was created by Johann Gutenberg and his business partners. The machine was known as a ‘moveable type machine’. Instead of using woodblock,

Gutenberg decided to use metal blocks. The process of making the metal blocks was kept a secret by Johann Gutenberg and his business partners. Having the moveable blocks of metal made them more durable, and the lettering became more uniform, which opened the wonderful door of typography and fonts. The first blueprint of the printing press came out almost a century after it was first introduced. Gutenberg and his business partners were the main producers of

Europe’s printing press monopoly

In addition to this, the new printed media played an important role in traders becoming better. For example, the printing press has produced a stream of math textbooks used by students preparing for careers and businesses. The first known of this mathematical textbook is the Treviso Arithmetic. This one and hundreds of similar texts help students become better at calculating exchange rates, profit shares and interest rates. It also advanced professions such as merchants, lawyers, doctors, and teachers. All of this together meant entities with the printing press

experience huge amounts of economic growth, and it became the greatest revolution in information technology. Within 40 years printing presses were built in Italy, France and England.

Not only, but also after only 50 years of printing, there were more than nine million (9,000,000) books. These figures reveal the impact of the printing press.

Moveable type metal blocks were arranged over a flat wooden plate called the lower platen. The ink was applied to the type, and a sheet of paper was laid on the block. A long handle was used to turn a heavy wooden screw, exerting downward pressure against the paper, which was laid over the type mounted on a wooden platen. Gutenberg produced the ink by melting turpentine oil, pine resin, cinnabar and other substances.

The English philosopher Francis Bacon, who’s credited with developing the scientific method, wrote in 1620 that the three inventions that forever changed the world were Gunpowder, the nautical compass and the printing press. This means that the invention of the printing press did not only affect Europe or society.

It has revolutionised the world to gain knowledge wider and faster than ever before.

In conclusion, the new innovation created by Gutenberg brings a revolution to the printing industry, and that helps to broaden the educational sector as well.

Reference

https://www.history.com/news/printing-press-renaissance

https://www.psprint.com/resources/printing-press/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qysf0baeGcY

Author biography

Aminath Mishya Ahmed was born in 2007 in India and is now living in the Maldives. She loves enriching herself with knowledge of various kinds. Apart from her academic school, she loves taking part in school extracurricular activities. Till now, she has participated in various extra-curricular activities such as oratory competition, narration, sports and Quran recitation. She also loves travelling all around the world

Cite this article as:
Aminath Mishya Ahmed, The Printing Press, theCircle Composition, Volume 2, (2022). https://thecirclecomposition.org/the-printing-press-2/