Printing press - wikipedia Printing press This article is about the historical device. For the modern technology of printing, see printing. Recreated Gutenberg press at the International Printing Museum, Carson, California Part of a series on the History of printing Woodblock printing 200 Movable type 1040 Printing press c. 1440 Etching c. 1515 Mezzotint 1642 Aquatint 1772 Lithography 1796 Chromolithography 1837 Rotary press 1843 Hectograph 1869 Offset printing 1875 Hot metal typesetting 1884 Mimeograph 1886 Photostat and rectigraph 1907 Screen printing 1911 Spirit duplicator 1923 Dot matrix printing 1925 Xerography 1938 Phototypesetting 1949 Inkjet printing 1951 Dye - sublimation 1957 Laser printing 1969 Thermal printing c. 1972 3D printing 1981 Solid Ink printing 1986 Digital printing 1991 A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium ( such as paper or cloth ), thereby transferring the ink. This was a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the cloth, paper or other medium was brushed or rubbed repeatedly to achieve the transfer of ink, and accelerated the process. Typically used for texts, the invention and spread of the printing press was one of the most influential events in the second millennium. The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw presses. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, developed a printing system, by adapting existing technologies to printing purposes, as well as making inventions of his own. His newly devised hand mould made possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type in large quantities. Movable type had been hitherto unknown in Europe. In East Asia, where it was invented, the usefulness of movable type was limited by the complexity of the writing system and, without the hand mould, the production of sorts ( individual letters of type ) was slow. In Europe, the two inventions, the hand mould and the printing press, together drastically reduced the cost of printing books and other documents, particularly in short print runs. The printing press spread within several decades to over two hundred cities in a dozen European countries. By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes. In the 16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies. The operation of a press became synonymous with the enterprise of printing, and lent its name to a new branch of media, `` the press ''. In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication, which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information and ( revolutionary ) ideas transcended borders, captured the masses in the Reformation and threatened the power of political and religious authorities. The sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class. Across Europe, the increasing cultural self - awareness of its peoples led to the rise of proto - nationalism, and accelerated by the development of European vernacular languages, to the detriment of Latin 's status as lingua franca. In the 19th century, the replacement of the hand - operated Gutenberg - style press by steam - powered rotary presses allowed printing on an industrial scale. Contents 1 History 1.1 Economic conditions and intellectual climate 1.2 Technological factors 2 Function and approach 3 Gutenberg 's press 4 The Printing Revolution 4.1 Mass production and spread of printed books 4.2 Circulation of information and ideas 5 Book printing as art form 6 Industrial printing presses 6.1 Rotary press 7 Gallery 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links History Main article : History of printing Economic conditions and intellectual climate See also : History of capitalism and Medieval university Medieval university class ( 1350s ) The rapid economic and socio - cultural development of late medieval society in Europe created favorable intellectual and technological conditions for Gutenberg 's invention : the entrepreneurial spirit of emerging capitalism increasingly made its impact on medieval modes of production, fostering economic thinking and improving the efficiency of traditional work - processes. The sharp rise of medieval learning and literacy amongst the middle class led to an increased demand for books which the time - consuming hand - copying method fell far short of accommodating. Technological factors See also : History of Western typography and Medieval technology Technologies preceding the press that led to the press 's invention included : manufacturing of paper, development of ink, woodblock printing, and distribution of eye - glasses. At the same time, a number of medieval products and technological processes had reached a level of maturity which allowed their potential use for printing purposes. Gutenberg took up these far - flung strands, combined them into one complete and functioning system, and perfected the printing process through all its stages by adding a number of inventions and innovations of his own : Early modern wine press. Such screw presses were applied in Europe to a wide range of uses and provided Gutenberg with the model for his printing press. The screw press which allowed direct pressure to be applied on flat - plane was already of great antiquity in Gutenberg 's time and was used for a wide range of tasks. Introduced in the 1st century AD by the Romans, it was commonly employed in agricultural production for pressing wine grapes and ( olive ) oil fruit, both of which formed an integral part of the mediterranean and medieval diet. The device was also used from very early on in urban contexts as a cloth press for printing patterns. Gutenberg may have also been inspired by the paper presses which had spread through the German lands since the late 14th century and which worked on the same mechanical principles. Gutenberg adopted the basic design, thereby mechanizing the printing process. Printing, however, put a demand on the machine quite different from pressing. Gutenberg adapted the construction so that the pressing power exerted by the platen on the paper was now applied both evenly and with the required sudden elasticity. To speed up the printing process, he introduced a movable undertable with a plane surface on which the sheets could be swiftly changed. Movable type sorted in a letter case and loaded in a composing stick on top The concept of movable type was not new in the 15th century ; movable type printing had been invented in China during the Song dynasty, and was later used in Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty, where metal movable - type printing technology was developed in 1234. In Europe, sporadic evidence that the typographical principle, the idea of creating a text by reusing individual characters, was well understood and employed in pre-Gutenberg Europe had been cropping up since the 12th century and possibly before. The known examples range from Germany ( Prüfening inscription ) to England ( letter tiles ) to Italy. However, the various techniques employed ( imprinting, punching and assembling individual letters ) did not have the refinement and efficiency needed to become widely accepted. Gutenberg greatly improved the process by treating typesetting and printing as two separate work steps. A goldsmith by profession, he created his type pieces from a lead - based alloy which suited printing purposes so well that it is still used today. The mass production of metal letters was achieved by his key invention of a special hand mould, the matrix. The Latin alphabet proved to be an enormous advantage in the process because, in contrast to logographic writing systems, it allowed the type - setter to represent any text with a theoretical minimum of only around two dozen different letters. Another factor conducive to printing arose from the book existing in the format of the codex, which had originated in the Roman period. Considered the most important advance in the history of the book prior to printing itself, the codex had completely replaced the ancient scroll at the onset of the Middle Ages ( 500 AD ). The codex holds considerable practical advantages over the scroll format ; it is more convenient to read ( by turning pages ), is more compact, less costly, and, in particular, unlike the scroll, both recto and verso could be used for writing − and printing. A paper codex of the acclaimed 42 - line Bible, Gutenberg 's major work A fourth development was the early success of medieval papermakers at mechanizing paper manufacture. The introduction of water - powered paper mills, the first certain evidence of which dates to 1282, allowed for a massive expansion of production and replaced the laborious handcraft characteristic of both Chinese and Muslim papermaking. Papermaking centres began to multiply in the late 13th century in Italy, reducing the price of paper to one sixth of parchment and then falling further ; papermaking centers reached Germany a century later. Despite this it appears that the final breakthrough of paper depended just as much on the rapid spread of movable - type printing. It is notable that codices of parchment, which in terms of quality is superior to any other writing material, still had a substantial share in Gutenberg 's edition of the 42 - line Bible. After much experimentation, Gutenberg managed to overcome the difficulties which traditional water - based inks caused by soaking the paper, and found the formula for an oil - based ink suitable for high - quality printing with metal type. Function and approach This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2015 ) This woodcut from 1568 shows the left printer removing a page from the press while the one at right inks the text - blocks. Such a duo could reach 14,000 hand movements per working day, printing around 3,600 pages in the process. A printing press, in its classical form, is a standing mechanism, ranging from 5 to 7 feet ( 1.5 to 2.1 m ) long, 3 feet ( 0.91 m ) wide, and 7 feet ( 2.1 m ) tall. Type, small metal letters that have a raised letter on one end, is arranged into pages and placed in a frame to make a forme, which itself is placed onto a flat stone, ' bed, ' or ' coffin. ' The text is inked using two balls, pads mounted on handles. The balls were made of dog skin leather, because it has no pores, and stuffed with sheep 's wool and were inked. This ink was then applied to the text evenly. One damp piece of paper was then taken from a heap of paper and placed on the tympan. The paper was damp as this lets the type ' bite ' into the paper better. Small pins hold the paper in place. The paper is now held between a frisket and tympan ( two frames covered with paper or parchment ). These are folded down, so that the paper lies on the surface of the inked type. The bed is rolled under the platen, using a windlass mechanism. A small rotating handle is used called the ' rounce ' to do this, and the impression is made with a screw that transmits pressure through the platen. To turn the screw the long handle attached to it is turned. This is known as the bar or ' Devil 's Tail. ' In a well - set - up press, the springiness of the paper, frisket, and tympan caused the bar to spring back and raise the platen, the windlass turned again to move the bed back to its original position, the tympan and frisket raised and opened, and the printed sheet removed. Such presses were always worked by hand. After around 1800, iron presses were developed, some of which could be operated by steam power. Gutenberg 's press See also : Letterpress printing Johannes Gutenberg 's work on the printing press began in approximately 1436 when he partnered with Andreas Dritzehn -- a man who had previously instructed in gem - cutting -- and Andreas Heilmann, owner of a paper mill. However, it was not until a 1439 lawsuit against Gutenberg that an official record existed ; witnesses ' testimony discussed Gutenberg 's types, an inventory of metals ( including lead ), and his type molds. Having previously worked as a professional goldsmith, Gutenberg made skillful use of the knowledge of metals he had learned as a craftsman. He was the first to make type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, which was critical for producing durable type that produced high - quality printed books and proved to be much better suited for printing than all other known materials. To create these lead types, Gutenberg used what is considered one of his most ingenious inventions, a special matrix enabling the quick and precise molding of new type blocks from a uniform template. His type case is estimated to have contained around 290 separate letter boxes, most of which were required for special characters, ligatures, punctuation marks, and so forth. Gutenberg is also credited with the introduction of an oil - based ink which was more durable than the previously used water - based inks. As printing material he used both paper and vellum ( high - quality parchment ). In the Gutenberg Bible, Gutenberg made a trial of coloured printing for a few of the page headings, present only in some copies. A later work, the Mainz Psalter of 1453, presumably designed by Gutenberg but published under the imprint of his successors Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, had elaborate red and blue printed initials. The printing Revolution The Printing Revolution occurred when the spread of the printing press facilitated the wide circulation of information and ideas, acting as an `` agent of change '' through the societies that it reached. ( Eisenstein ( 1980 ) ) Mass production and spread of printed books See also : Global spread of the printing press and List of early modern newspapers Spread of printing in the 15th century from Mainz, Germany The European book output rose from a few million to around one billion copies within a span of less than four centuries. The invention of mechanical movable type printing led to a huge increase of printing activities across Europe within only a few decades. From a single print shop in Mainz, Germany, printing had spread to no less than around 270 cities in Central, Western and Eastern Europe by the end of the 15th century. As early as 1480, there were printers active in 110 different places in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Bohemia and Poland. From that time on, it is assumed that `` the printed book was in universal use in Europe ''. In Italy, a center of early printing, print shops had been established in 77 cities and towns by 1500. At the end of the following century, 151 locations in Italy had seen at one time printing activities, with a total of nearly three thousand printers known to be active. Despite this proliferation, printing centres soon emerged ; thus, one third of the Italian printers published in Venice. By 1500, the printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million copies. In the following century, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies. European printing presses of around 1600 were capable of producing about 1,500 impressions per workday. By comparison, book printing in East Asia, did not use presses and was solely done by block printing. Of Erasmus 's work, at least 750,000 copies were sold during his lifetime alone ( 1469 -- 1536 ). In the early days of the Reformation, the revolutionary potential of bulk printing took princes and papacy alike by surprise. In the period from 1518 to 1524, the publication of books in Germany alone skyrocketed sevenfold ; between 1518 and 1520, Luther 's tracts were distributed in 300,000 printed copies. The rapidity of typographical text production, as well as the sharp fall in unit costs, led to the issuing of the first newspapers ( see Relation ) which opened up an entirely new field for conveying up - to - date information to the public. Incunable are surviving pre-16th century print works which are collected by many of the libraries in Europe and North America. Circulation of information and ideas See also : The Gutenberg Galaxy `` Modern Book Printing '' sculpture, commemorating Gutenberg 's invention on the occasion of the 2006 World Cup in Germany The printing press was also a factor in the establishment of a community of scientists who could easily communicate their discoveries through the establishment of widely disseminated scholarly journals, helping to bring on the scientific revolution. Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful and profitable. It was suddenly important who had said or written what, and what the precise formulation and time of composition was. This allowed the exact citing of references, producing the rule, `` One Author, one work ( title ), one piece of information '' ( Giesecke, 1989 ; 325 ). Before, the author was less important, since a copy of Aristotle made in Paris would not be exactly identical to one made in Bologna. For many works prior to the printing press, the name of the author has been entirely lost. Because the printing process ensured that the same information fell on the same pages, page numbering, tables of contents, and indices became common, though they previously had not been unknown. The process of reading also changed, gradually moving over several centuries from oral readings to silent, private reading. Over the next 200 years, the wider availability of printed materials led to a dramatic rise in the adult literacy rate throughout Europe. The printing press was an important step towards the democratization of knowledge. Within 50 or 60 years of the invention of the printing press, the entire classical canon had been reprinted and widely promulgated throughout Europe ( Eisenstein, 1969 ; 52 ). Now that more people had access to knowledge both new and old, more people could discuss these works. Furthermore, now that book production was a more commercial enterprise, the first copyright laws were passed to protect what we now would call intellectual property rights. On the other hand, the printing press was criticized for allowing the dissemination of information which may have been incorrect. A second outgrowth of this popularization of knowledge was the decline of Latin as the language of most published works, to be replaced by the vernacular language of each area, increasing the variety of published works. The printed word also helped to unify and standardize the spelling and syntax of these vernaculars, in effect ' decreasing ' their variability. This rise in importance of national languages as opposed to pan-European Latin is cited as one of the causes of the rise of nationalism in Europe. A third consequence of popularization of printing was on the economy. Printing press was associated with higher levels of city growth. Publication of trade related manuals and books teaching techniques like double - entry bookkeeping, increased reliability of trade and led to decline of merchant guilds and rise of individual traders. Book printing as art form Page - setting room ( ca. 1920 ) For years, book printing was considered a true art form. Typesetting, or the placement of the characters on the page, including the use of ligatures, was passed down from master to apprentice. In Germany, the art of typesetting was termed the `` black art '', in allusion to the ink - covered printers. It has largely been replaced by computer typesetting programs, which make it easy to get similar results more quickly and with less physical labor. Some practitioners continue to print books the way Gutenberg did. For example, there is a yearly convention of traditional book printers in Mainz, Germany. Some theorists, such as McLuhan, Eisenstein, Kittler, and Giesecke, see an `` alphabetic monopoly '' as having developed from printing, removing the role of the image from society. Other authors stress that printed works themselves are a visual medium. Certainly, modern developments in printing have revitalized the role of illustrations. Industrial printing presses At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the mechanics of the hand - operated Gutenberg - style press were still essentially unchanged, although new materials in its construction, amongst other innovations, had gradually improved its printing efficiency. By 1800, Lord Stanhope had built a press completely from cast iron which reduced the force required by 90 %, while doubling the size of the printed area. With a capacity of 480 pages per hour, it doubled the output of the old style press. Nonetheless, the limitations inherent to the traditional method of printing became obvious. Koenig 's 1814 steam - powered printing press Two ideas altered the design of the printing press radically : First, the use of steam power for running the machinery, and second the replacement of the printing flatbed with the rotary motion of cylinders. Both elements were for the first time successfully implemented by the German printer Friedrich Koenig in a series of press designs devised between 1802 and 1818. Having moved to London in 1804, Koenig soon met Thomas Bensley and secured financial support for his project in 1807. Patented in 1810, Koenig had designed a steam press `` much like a hand press connected to a steam engine. '' The first production trial of this model occurred in April 1811. He produced his machine with assistance from German engineer Andreas Friedrich Bauer. Koenig and Bauer sold two of their first models to The Times in London in 1814, capable of 1,100 impressions per hour. The first edition so printed was on 28 November 1814. They went on to perfect the early model so that it could print on both sides of a sheet at once. This began the long process of making newspapers available to a mass audience ( which in turn helped spread literacy ), and from the 1820s changed the nature of book production, forcing a greater standardization in titles and other metadata. Their company Koenig & Bauer AG is still one of the world 's largest manufacturers of printing presses today. Rotary press The steam powered rotary printing press, invented in 1843 in the United States by Richard M. Hoe, allowed millions of copies of a page in a single day. Mass production of printed works flourished after the transition to rolled paper, as continuous feed allowed the presses to run at a much faster pace. By the late 1930s or early 1940s, rotary presses had increased substantially in efficiency : a model by Platen Printing Press was capable of performing 2,500 to 3,000 impressions per hour. Also, in the middle of the 19th century, there was a separate development of jobbing presses, small presses capable of printing small - format pieces such as billheads, letterheads, business cards, and envelopes. Jobbing presses were capable of quick set - up ( average setup time for a small job was under 15 minutes ) and quick production ( even on treadle - powered jobbing presses it was considered normal to get 1,000 impressions per hour ( iph ) with one pressman, with speeds of 1,500 iph often attained on simple envelope work ). Job printing emerged as a reasonably cost - effective duplicating solution for commerce at this time. Gallery Model of the Common Press, used from 1650 to 1850 Printing press from 1811 Stanhope press from 1842 Imprenta Press V John Sherwin from 1860 See also General Imprimatur Printing Typography Printing presses Adana Printing Presses Albion press Columbian Printing Press Flexography Vertical print press Other inventions Color printing Lithography Offset printing Desktop publishing Electronic publishing Computer printer Composing stick Notes Jump up ^ For example, in 1999, the A&E Network ranked Gutenberg no. 1 on their `` People of the Millennium '' countdown. In 1997, Time -- Life magazine picked Gutenberg 's invention as the most important of the second millennium ; the same did four prominent US journalists in their 1998 resume 1,000 Years, 1,000 People : Ranking The Men and Women Who Shaped The Millennium. The Johann Gutenberg entry of the Catholic Encyclopedia describes his invention as having made a practically unparalleled cultural impact in the Christian era. Jump up ^ McLuhan 1962 ; Eisenstein 1980 ; Febvre & Martin 1997 ; Man 2002 ^ Jump up to : Febvre, Lucien ; Martin, Henri - Jean ( 1976 ) : `` The Coming of the Book : The Impact of Printing 1450 - 1800 '', London : New Left Books, quoted in : Anderson, Benedict : `` Comunidades Imaginadas. Reflexiones sobre el origen y la difusión del nacionalismo '', Fondo de cultura económica, Mexico 1993, ISBN 978 - 968 - 16 - 3867 - 2, pp. 58f. Jump up ^ Weber 2006, p. 387 : At the same time, then, as the printing press in the physical, technological sense was invented, ' the press ' in the extended sense of the word also entered the historical stage. The phenomenon of publishing was born. Jump up ^ Anderson, Benedict : `` Comunidades Imaginadas. Reflexiones sobre el origen y la difusión del nacionalismo '', Fondo de cultura económica, Mexico 1993, ISBN 978 - 968 - 16 - 3867 - 2, pp. 63 -- 76 Jump up ^ Gerhardt 1978, p. 217 Jump up ^ Eisenstein 1980 ; Febvre & Martin 1997 ; Man 2002 Jump up ^ Jones, Colin. The Cambridge Illustrated History of France ( 1st ed. ). Cambridge University Press. p. 133. ISBN 0 - 521 - 43294 - 4. Jump up ^ Wolf 1974, pp. 21 -- 35 Jump up ^ Onken 2009 ; White 1984, pp. 31f. ; Schneider 2007, pp. 156 -- 159 Jump up ^ Schneider 2007, p. 158 Jump up ^ Schulte 1939, p. 56 Jump up ^ Wolf 1974, pp. 39f. Jump up ^ Wolf 1974, pp. 39 -- 46 Jump up ^ Tsien Tsuen - Hsuin ; Joseph Needham ( 1985 ). Paper and Printing. Science and Civilisation in China. 5 part 1. Cambridge University Press. p. 158,201. Jump up ^ Briggs, Asa and Burke, Peter ( 2002 ) A Social History of the Media : from Gutenberg to the Internet, Polity, Cambridge, pp. 15 - 23, 61 - 73. Jump up ^ Germany : Brekle 1995, pp. 23 -- 26 ; Brekle 1997, p. 62 ; Brekle 2005, p. 25 ; England : Lehmann - Haupt 1940, pp. 93 -- 97 ; Brekle 1997, p. 62 ; Italy : Lipinsky 1986, pp. 75 -- 80 ; Koch 1994, p. 213. Lipinsky surmises that this typographical technique was known in Constantinople from the 10th to 12th century and that the Venetians received it from there ( p. 78 ). Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 : `` Printing '', retrieved 27 November 2006 Jump up ^ Childress 2008, pp. 51 -- 55 Jump up ^ Childress 2008, pp. 51 -- 55 ; Hellinga 2007, p. 208 : Gutenberg 's invention took full advantage of the degree of abstraction in representing language forms that was offered by the alphabet and by the Western forms of script that were current in the fifteenth century. Jump up ^ Roberts & Skeat 1983, pp. 24 -- 30 Jump up ^ Roberts & Skeat 1983, pp. 1, 38 -- 67, 75 : The most momentous development in the history of the book until the invention of printing was the replacement of the roll by the codex ; this we may define as a collection of sheets of any material, folded double and fastened together at the back or spine, and usually protected by covers. ( p. 1 ) Jump up ^ Roberts & Skeat 1983, pp. 45 -- 53. Technically speaking, a scroll could be written on its back side, too, but the very few ancient specimen found indicate that this was never considered a viable option. ( p. 46 ) Jump up ^ Burns 1996, p. 418 Jump up ^ Thompson 1978, p. 169 ; Tsien 1985, p. 68 − 73 ; Lucas 2005, p. 28, fn. 70 Jump up ^ Thompson 1978, p. 169 ; Burns 1996, pp. 414 -- 417 Jump up ^ Burns 1996, p. 417 Jump up ^ Febvre & Martin 1997, pp. 41 -- 44 ; Burns 1996, p. 419 : In the West, the only inhibiting expense in the production of writings for an increasingly literate market was the manual labor of the scribe himself. With his mechanization by movable - type printing in the 1440s, the manufacture of paper, until then relatively confined, began to spread very widely. The Paper Revolution of the thirteenth century thus entered a new era. Jump up ^ Roberts & Skeat 1983, pp. 7f. : Despite all that has been said above, even the strongest supporters of papyrus would not deny that parchment of good quality is the finest writing material ever devised by man. It is immensely strong, remains flexible indefinitely under normal conditions, does not deteriorate with age, and possesses a smooth, even surface which is both pleasant to the eye and provides unlimited scope for the finest writing and illumination. Jump up ^ The ratio between paper and parchment copies is estimated at around 150 to 30 ( Hanebutt - Benz 2000, pp. 158 -- 189 ). Jump up ^ Childress 2008, p. 60 Jump up ^ Wolf 1974, pp. 67f. : From old price tables it can be deduced that the capacity of a printing press around 1600, assuming a fifteen - hour workday, was between 3,200 and 3,600 impressions per day. Jump up ^ ( 1 ) RIND Survey ( The Press Institute of India - Research Institute for Newspaper Development ) June 2015, p14 ^ Jump up to : Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. ( pp 58 -- 69 ) ISBN 0 - 471 - 29198 - 6 Jump up ^ Mahnke 2009, p. 290 Jump up ^ Kapr 1996, p. 172 Jump up ^ Kapr 1996, p. 203 Jump up ^ Buringh & van Zanden 2009, p. 417, table 2 Jump up ^ `` Incunabula Short Title Catalogue ''. British Library. Retrieved 2 March 2011. Jump up ^ Borsa 1976, p. 314 ; Borsa 1977, p. 166 − 169 Jump up ^ Pollak, Michael ( 1972 ). `` The performance of the wooden printing press ''. The library quarterly. 42 ( 2 ) : 218 -- 264. Retrieved 10 May 2017. Jump up ^ Needham 1965, p. 211 : The outstanding difference between the two ends of the Old World was the absence of screw - presses from China, but this is only another manifestation of the fact that this basic mechanism was foreign to that culture. Widmann 1974, p. 34, fn. 14 : In East Asia, both woodblock and movable type printing were manual reproduction techniques, that is hand printing. Duchesne 2006, p. 83 ; Man 2002, pp. 112 -- 115 : Chinese paper was suitable only for calligraphy or block - printing ; there were no screw - based presses in the east, because they were not wine - drinkers, did n't have olives, and used other means to dry their paper. Jump up ^ Issawi 1980, pp. 492 Jump up ^ Duchesne 2006, p. 83 Jump up ^ Weber 2006, pp. 387f. Jump up ^ The British Library Incunabula Short Title Catalogue gives 29,777 separate editions ( not copies ) as of 8 January 2008, which however includes some print items from the 16th century ( retrieved 11 March 2010 ). According to Bettina Wagner : `` Das Second - Life der Wiegendrucke. Die Inkunabelsammlung der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek '', in : Griebel, Rolf ; Ceynowa, Klaus ( eds. ) : `` Information, Innovation, Inspiration. 450 Jahre Bayerische Staatsbibliothek '', KG Saur, München 2008, ISBN 978 - 3 - 598 - 11772 - 5, pp. 207 -- 224 ( 207f. ), the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue lists 28,107 editions published before 1501. Jump up ^ Peck, Josh. `` The State of Publishing : Literacy Rates. '' McSweeney 's Internet Tendency. McSweeney, 5 July 2011. Web. 28 August 2014. Jump up ^ Malte Herwig, `` Google 's Total Library '', Spiegel Online International, Mar. 28, 2007. Jump up ^ Howard Rheingold, `` Moblogs Seen as a Crystal Ball for a New Era in Online Journalism '', Online Journalism Review, Jul. 9, 2009. Jump up ^ Julia C. Crick ; Alexandra Walsham ( 2004 ). The uses of script and print, 1300 -- 1700. Cambridge University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 81063 - 0. Retrieved 25 March 2011. Jump up ^ Nick Bilton ( 14 September 2010 ). I Live in the Future & Here 's How It Works : Why Your World, Work, and Brain Are Being Creatively Disrupted. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 53. ISBN 978 - 0 - 307 - 59111 - 1. Retrieved 25 March 2011. Jump up ^ Jeremiah Dittmar. `` Information technology and economic change : The impact of the printing press ''. VoxEU. Retrieved 3 August 2017. Jump up ^ Prateek Raj. `` How the Postal System and the Printing Press Transformed European Markets ''. Evonomics. Retrieved 3 August 2017. ^ Jump up to : Meggs, Philip B. A History of Graphic Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1998. ( pp 130 -- 133 ) ISBN 0 - 471 - 29198 - 6 Jump up ^ Bolza 1967, p. 80 Jump up ^ Bolza 1967, p. 88 Jump up ^ Meggs, Philip B. ( 1998 ). A History of Graphic Design ( Third ed. ). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. p. 147. ISBN 978 - 0 - 471 - 29198 - 5. References On the effects of the printing press Boruchoff, David A. ( 2012 ), `` The Three Greatest Inventions of Modern Times : An Idea and Its Public '', in Klaus Hock ; Gesa Mackenthun, Entangled Knowledge : Scientific Discourses and Cultural Difference, Münster : Waxmann, pp. 133 -- 163, ISBN 978 - 3 - 8309 - 2729 - 7 Buringh, Eltjo ; van Zanden, Jan Luiten ( 2009 ), `` Charting the `` Rise of the West '' : Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long - Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries ``, The Journal of Economic History, 69 ( 2 ) : 409 -- 445, doi : 10.1017 / s0022050709000837 Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. ( 1980 ), The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 - 521 - 29955 - 1 Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. ( 2005 ), The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe ( 2nd, rev. ed. ), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 - 521 - 60774 - 4 ( More recent, abridged version ) Febvre, Lucien ; Martin, Henri - Jean ( 1997 ), The Coming of the Book : The Impact of Printing 1450 -- 1800, London : Verso, ISBN 1 - 85984 - 108 - 2 Man, John ( 2002 ), The Gutenberg Revolution : The Story of a Genius and an Invention that Changed the World, London : Headline Review, ISBN 978 - 0 - 7472 - 4504 - 9 McLuhan, Marshall ( 1962 ), The Gutenberg Galaxy : The Making of Typographic Man ( 1st ed. ), University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978 - 0 - 8020 - 6041 - 9 Technology of printing Bechtel, G. ( 1992 ), Gutenberg et l'invention de l'imprimerie, Paris : Fayard, ISBN 2 - 213 - 02865 - 6 Bolza, Hans ( 1967 ), `` Friedrich Koenig und die Erfindung der Druckmaschine '', Technikgeschichte, 34 ( 1 ) : 79 -- 89 Borsa, Gedeon ( 1976 ), `` Druckorte in Italien vor 1601 '', Gutenberg - Jahrbuch : 311 -- 314 Borsa, Gedeon ( 1977 ), `` Drucker in Italien vor 1601 '', Gutenberg - Jahrbuch : 166 -- 169 Brekle, Herbert E. ( 1995 ), `` Eine weitere Spur einer typographischen Werkstatt beim Kloster Prüfening im 12. Jahrhundert '', Gutenberg - Jahrbuch, 70 : 23 -- 26 Brekle, Herbert E. ( 1997 ), `` Das typographische Prinzip. Versuch einer Begriffsklärung '', Gutenberg - Jahrbuch, 72 : 58 -- 63 Brekle, Herbert E. ( 2005 ), Die Prüfeninger Weihinschrift von 1119. Eine paläographisch - typographische Untersuchung ( brief summary ), Regensburg : Scriptorium Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, ISBN 3 - 937527 - 06 - 0 Burns, Robert I. ( 1996 ), `` Paper comes to the West, 800 -- 1400 '', in Lindgren, Uta, Europäische Technik im Mittelalter. 800 bis 1400. Tradition und Innovation ( 4th ed. ), Berlin : Gebr. Mann Verlag, pp. 413 -- 422, ISBN 3 - 7861 - 1748 - 9 Childress, Diana ( 2008 ), Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press, Minneapolis : Twenty - First Century Books, ISBN 978 - 0 - 7613 - 4024 - 9 Ch'on Hye - bong : `` Typography in Korea '', Koreana, Vol. 7, No. 2 ( 1993 ), pp. 10 -- 19 Stearns, Peter N ( ed. ). Encyclopedia of World History ( 6 ed. ). The Houghton Mifflin Company / Bartleby.com. Citation Crompton, Samuel Willard ( 2004 ), The Printing Press. Transforming Power of Technology, Philadelphia : Chelsea House Publishers, ISBN 0 - 7910 - 7451 - X Duchesne, Ricardo ( 2006 ), `` Asia First ? '', The Journal of the Historical Society, 6 ( 1 ) : 69 -- 91, doi : 10.1111 / j. 1540 - 5923.2006. 00168. x Fontaine, Jean - Paul ( 1999 ), L'aventure du livre : Du manuscrit medieval a nos jours, Paris : Bibliothèque de l'image Gerhardt, Claus W. ( 1971 ), `` Warum wurde die Gutenberg - Presse erst nach über 350 Jahren durch ein besseres System abgelöst ? '', Gutenberg - Jahrbuch : 43 -- 57 Gerhardt, Claus W. ( 1978 ), `` Besitzt Gutenbergs Erfindung heute noch einen Wert ? '', Gutenberg - Jahrbuch : 212 -- 217 Hanebutt - Benz, Eva - Maria ( 2000 ), `` Gutenbergs Erfindungen '', Gutenberg. 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The Man and his Invention, Aldershot : Scolar, ISBN 1 - 85928 - 114 - 1 Koch, Walter ( 1994 ), Literaturbericht zur mittelalterlichen und neuzeitlichen Epigraphik ( 1985 -- 1991 ), Monumenta Germaniae Historica : Hilfsmittel, 14, München, p. 213, ISBN 978 - 3 - 88612 - 114 - 4 Lehmann - Haupt, Hellmut ( 1940 ), `` Englische Holzstempelalphabete des XIII. Jahrhunderts '', Gutenberg - Jahrbuch : 93 -- 97 Lipinsky, Angelo ( 1986 ), `` La pala argentea del Patriarca Pellegrino nella Collegiata di Cividale e le sue iscrizioni con caratteri mobili '', Ateneo Veneto, 24 : 75 -- 80 Lucas, Adam Robert ( 2005 ), `` Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe '', Technology and Culture, 46 ( 1 ) : 1 -- 30, doi : 10.1353 / tech. 2005.0026 Mahnke, Helmut ( 2009 ), Der kunstreiche Johannes Gutenberg und die Frühzeit der Druckkunst, Norderstedt : Books on Demand, ISBN 978 - 3 - 8370 - 5041 - 7 Needham, Joseph : `` Science and Civilisation in China '', Physics and Physical Technology ( Vol. 4 ), Mechanical Engineering ( Part 2 ), Cambridge University Press, 1965 Onken, Björn ( 2009 ), `` Presses '', in Cancik, Hubert ; Schneider, Helmuth, Brill 's New Pauly Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 : `` Printing ''. Retrieved 27 November 2006 Roberts, Colin H. ; Skeat, T.C. ( 1983 ), The Birth of the Codex, London : Oxford University Press, ISBN 0 - 19 - 726024 - 1 Schneider, Helmuth ( 2007 ), `` Technology '', in Scheidel, Walter ; Morris, Ian ; Saller, Richard, The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco - Roman World, Cambridge University Press, pp. 144 -- 171, ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 78053 - 7 Schulte, Alfred ( 1939 ), `` Papierpresse, Druckerpresse und Kelter '', Gutenberg - Jahrbuch : 52 -- 56 Thompson, Susan ( 1978 ), `` Paper Manufacturing and Early Books '', Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 314 : 167 -- 176, doi : 10.1111 / j. 1749 - 6632.1978. tb47791. x Tsien, Tsuen - Hsuin ( 1985 ), Paper and Printing, Science and Civilisation in China, Chemistry and Chemical Technology ( Vol. 5, Part 1 ), Cambridge University Press Weber, Johannes ( 2006 ), `` Strassburg, 1605 : The Origins of the Newspaper in Europe '', German History, 24 ( 3 ) : 387 -- 412, doi : 10.1191 / 0266355406gh380oa White, K.D. ( 1984 ), Greek and Roman Technology, London : Thames and Hudson Widmann, Hans ( 1974 ), `` Der koreanische Buchdruck und Gutenbergs Erfindung '', Gutenberg - Jahrbuch : 32 -- 34 Wolf, Hans - Jürgen ( 1974 ), Geschichte der Druckpressen ( 1st ed. ), Frankfurt / Main : Interprint External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Printing press. Centre for the History of the Book Gutenberg printing − Photos of Incunabula and the Gutenberg Bible ( 1455 ) Internet Archive : Printing ( 1947 ) − a film from the Prelinger Archives explaining the printing industry Letterpress printing History of printing Printer Ways to make impressions Movable type Type casting Type metal Punchcutter Matrix Blocks and plates Stereotype Logographic printing Wood engraving Electrotype Zinc etching Typesetting Manual typesetting Type case Composing stick Sort Slug Strut Reglet Furniture Leading Quoin Chase Forme Hellbox Hot metal typesetting Linotype machine Monotype System Ludlow Typograph Intertype Machine Paige Compositor Printing press Parts of a press Platen Frisket Tympan Bed Inking Offset ink Ink ball Composition roller Types of presses Hand press Stanhope Columbian Albion Jobbing press Golding & Company Chandler & Price Colt 's Armory Cylinder press Rotary press Other equipment Folding machine Paper cutter Addressograph Related arts Typography Bookbinding Printmaking Papermaking GND : 4523304 - 4 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Printing_press&oldid=804471745 '' Categories : Printing Johannes Gutenberg 1445 introductions Textual scholarship Hidden categories : Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages Use dmy dates from August 2017 Articles needing additional references from April 2015 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November 2009 Articles with unsourced statements from May 2010 All articles with specifically marked weasel - worded phrases Articles with specifically marked weasel - worded phrases from March 2015 Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk View source Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Aragonés Asturianu Azərbaycanca বাংলা Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Bosanski Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Frysk Galego 贛 語 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Ido Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית ಕನ್ನಡ Latina Magyar मराठी Nederlands Norsk Occitan ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Papiamentu Patois Polski Português Русский Scots Shqip Sicilianu Simple English Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska தமிழ் తెలుగు Türkçe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt Winaray 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 9 October 2017, at 06 : 26. 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Question: when was the printing press invented in europe
Answer: around 1440