Medieval (about 476AD-1600’s)
30 The First Moveable Type Printing Press
Marisa Sauls
Introduction
The printing press is a form of technology, first invented by Johannes Gutenberg, that contributed to the rapid spread of accurate information across the world. The first movable type printing press increased literacy rates an offered individuals new ways to think about themselves, the world around them and their purpose in it. While we may not think of printers today as having a major impact on society, much of the knowledge that circulates throughout the human race is shared through the printed word. Gutenberg’s dedication to innovation ultimately changed the way the world operated, altering it to the world we know today.
Connection to STS
The Printing Press was one of the most influential and life-changing forms of technology in the Medieval time period. This technology improved communication across Europe and encouraged those without an education to learn how to read and write. With efficient communication, the Printing Press allowed for the mass spread of religious texts, famous works and geographical maps and charts. In addition to the start of a societal enlightenment, the economy also prospered from the creation of this new printing technology. Without a willing society, this technology would’ve never emerged or been as popular as it was.
A Look Back in Time
In 3200 BCE, the Sumerians of Mesopotamia were the first to record business dealings on wet clay tablets using various tools to sketch shapes. These clay tablets were left out in the sun to dry; a written document (see Figure 1). Promptly after the Sumerians, the Egyptians developed a writing system that used characters that were more picture like than cuneiform. This Egyptian writing was known as “hieroglyphics.”
One important milestone in Egyptian writing was the development of papyrus as a writing surface. Papyrus is made of a plant that grows along the Nile River and it was widely used because it provided a smooth and flexible surface to write on. When pasted together, sheets of papyrus formed long rolls called scrolls. While papyrus was inexpensive to make, it wore out extremely quickly. This defeated the purpose of attempting to document important information. Parchment paper was also used, but it was expensive and time consuming to produce. Another organic material that was used to create a writing surface was raw animal hides. The downside was that it was a long and tedious process to fully clean the hides and it took several animals to make just one book (Yomtov, 2015).
Who was Johannes Gutenberg?
In the late 1430s, Johannes Gutenberg, a German inventor and craftsman, had begun work on some form of mechanical means that could reproduce texts in large quantities. Gutenberg single handedly created a printing process and a printing machine (Yomtov, 2015). Less than 50 years after Gutenberg’s creation, 236 European towns had printing presses; the printing press was spreading like wil