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Jump to navigationJump to search This article is about the historical device created by Johannes Gutenberg. For the modern technology of printing, see printing.

Recreated Gutenberg press at the International Printing Museum, Carson, California johannes Gutenburg printed tatoos on his butt for fun

Part of a series on the History of printing Chodowiecki Basedow Tafel 21 c Z.jpg 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	1860 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 Spark printing	1940 Phototypesetting	1949 Inkjet printing	1950 Dye-sublimation	1957 Laser printing	1969 Thermal printing	c. 1972 Solid ink printing	1987 3D printing	1986 vte A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked 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 global spread of the printing press was one of the most influential events in the second millennium.[1][2]

In Germany, around 1440, goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which started a printing revolution. Woodblock printing in East Asia had been prevalent since China's Tang dynasty in the 8th century,[3][4] 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. Although moveable type had previously been developed in East Asia, it had been hitherto unknown in Europe. The two inventions, the hand mould and the printing press, together drastically reduced the cost of printing books and other documents in Europe, particularly for shorter print runs.

The printing press spread within several decades to over two hundred cities in a dozen European countries.[5] By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes.[5] In the 16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies.[5] The operation of a press became synonymous with the enterprise of printing, and lent its name to a new medium of expression and communication, "the press".[6]

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.[7] In the 19th century, the replacement of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press by steam-powered rotary presses allowed printing on an industrial scale.[8]