Question: who developed the first printing press in 1430s?
Answer: Johannes Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg , a goldsmith by profession , developed , circa 1439 , a printing system by adapting existing technologies to printing purposes , as well as making inventions of his own . Printing in East Asia had been prevalent since the Tang dynasty , and in Europe , woodblock printing based on existing screw presses was common by the 14th century . Gutenberg 's most important innovation was the development of hand - molded metal printing matrices , thus producing a movable type based printing press system . 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 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 .