How Printing Changed the World

Before printing presses were invented, there were very limited opportunities to read books. Because the only way to reproduce a book for distribution was to copy it by hand, the process was slow, expensive and reserved only for books that were considered worth copying.

The legendary Great Library at Alexander stocked its shelves, so the legend goes, by impounding any written material found on boats that docked in their port. These were copied by hand, and then returned.

Clearly with so much to go through, reading was a hobby closed to everyone but the upper classes, who were in any case often the only ones who were able to read and write. Perhaps the only book many people would ever see during Europe 's dark ages was the bible. Since it could only be read by the priest it's little wonder the book and the priest held such power.

The church was in fact amongst the first to suffer once printing on a large scale could produce written propaganda. An important part of the rapid spread of the Protestant Reformation was the printed matter that was distributed, often to attack the Catholic Church.

This phenomenon did not contribute to the increase in literacy rates. It was chiefly due to the use of illustrations rather than text in the books. The writers criticized the Pope for presenting himself greater than Jesus Christ by such acts as allowing people to wash his feet rather than the other way round as done by Jesus. Some even called him a whore. Resentment against the Pope increased by his acts like wearing golden crowns and all this contributed to a considerable decline in the power of the Catholic Church.

Printing did not originate in Europe , as earlier believed, when the Gutenburg press printed for the first time in 1440 A .D. This is a fallacy. Similar movable-type metal printing press was already in action as early as 1404. Another reason is that printing is recorded as early as 6th century B.C. in the East.

Sophisticated printing using wood was common in the East by the 9th Century, and at the start of the 11th century printing with moveable typefaces was invented by a Chinaman, Pi Sheng. Arabic and Chinese libraries were stocked with many thousands of printed books by the 13th century.

There is little doubt that the invention of printing was the driving force for much social change, including the Protestant movement. With printing came a method to spread knowledge unlike anything else. It was matched by an impulse to spread learning that meant a rise in literacy rates over the years to come. The wonder of knowledge began to move within everyone's reach, and the world was changed for good.

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