Benefits Of a Printing Press

As the adage goes, information is power, and the introduction of the mechanical moveable type printing press helped distribute knowledge more widely and quickly than ever before.

The printing press was invented about the year 1436 by German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg. However, he was far from the first to automate the book-printing process. Woodblock printing dates back to the 9th century in the China influenced  Printing Industry, while Korean bookmakers used movable metal type a century before Gutenberg.

However, most historians think Gutenberg’s modification, which used a screw-style wine press to compress down on the inked metal type uniformly, was the key to unlocking the modern period. With the newly discovered capacity to mass-produce books on every possible subject at a low cost, innovative ideas and irreplaceable old knowledge were placed in the hands of every literate European, the number of whom increased every century.

Here are a few examples of how the printing press helped Europe escape the Middle Ages and advance human development.

The Evolution Of Literacy

Writing and Reading go hand in hand. Literacy is useless without written content, and writing is useless without readers. Reading and writing depend on cultural advances such as a shared set of symbols, such as the modern alphabet.

Documents written in numerals date back to 8000 BC. The symbols employed by ancient societies for numbers gradually became symbols for words, leading to the birth of written literature. By 3200 BC, humans were reading and writing words, but it was a rare ability reserved for scribes, intellectuals, and priests.

Writing systems and symbols used by ancient societies varied. They also employed papyrus, clay, stone, paper, and wool as surfaces. Everything had to be handwritten and, if duplicates were required, hand-copied because there was no printing.

The Beginning Of The Printing Press’s Revival

The influence of the printing press on schooling was immediately apparent. While Gutenberg’s most well-known work is the printed Bible, one of his earliest works might have been a textbook. The Ars Minor was a fourth-century Latin text widely utilized in teaching Latin, which was the language of science and study during the time of Gutenberg.

Several 14th-century printed versions of Ars Minor survive. It’s conceivable but not definite that Gutenberg produced a few copies of the book before beginning work on the Bible. Ars Minor had an assured market in schools, which would have allowed Gutenberg to generate funds before investing in the larger, more ambitious Bible project.

The benefits of the printing press over hand-copying contributed to the printing press’s effect on society.

• A printing press could produce far more copies than even the greatest scribes.
• Printed copies are more precise. Manuscripts copied by hand contain mistakes because copyists misunderstand the original or write the wrong words, characters, or numbers.
• Printing has the potential to reach a greater number of individuals across a larger region than having one person instruct or teach others.
• Over time, knowledge passed down orally or from scribe to scribe had become increasingly fragmented and contaminated. The printing press enabled the collection, organization, and transmission of information.

Historians continue to dispute whether the printing press had an immediate impact or not.

Printing And Literacy

Handwritten books were time-consuming and costly to produce. Because only the rich could purchase them, most people had little motivation to learn to read. Printing enabled the widespread production of books that the general population could purchase; by 1500, there were 15-20 million copies of 30,000-35,000 works.

The printing press influenced education because it offered individuals a purpose to become educated. Protestant Christianity, which believed that everyone should and could study the Bible for himself, provided an additional motivation for European Christians to learn. Protestant churches supported education and established Sunday schools for working-class children during the week.

The educational benefits of a printing press

Before the printing press, knowledge was transmitted verbally or through costly handwritten books. The printing press allowed individuals to be educated faster than ever before. More individuals could benefit from new ideas and information than even the finest teacher could hope to reach in their lifetime.

The printing press significantly altered the teaching process, especially in technical disciplines. Complex diagrams in technical, mathematical, or architectural works might be reproduced considerably more correctly and efficiently by printed textbooks than by a copyist. Even without an instructor present, students might learn by examining their textbooks.

A well-written book might impart more knowledge than the teacher did. Students could outperform not only their professors but even the knowledge of the ancients, thanks to updated versions of mathematical literature. Students from all around Europe could debate the topics they read, knowing they were using identical copies of the texts.

From the perspective of those in authority, the influence of the printing press on society had additional downsides. Along with books, printers produced periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets, and flyers. Many of them articulated opinions that churches and governments disagreed with, and growing literacy enabled them to propagate their heresies across the continent.