...The Printing Press What’s so important about the Printing Press? It had numerous reasons as to why it was so important, but this essay will just name a few. This will tell the reader who invented it and what inspired him to do so. It will explain the importance the printing press had at the time it was invented. Along with explaining how important the machine was at the time of its invention, this will also explain how the machine is still important today. It is important because it enabled books such as the bible to be produced and helped the spread of ideas. Johan Gutenberg lived in Strasberg, Germany in 1450 when he invented the Printing Press Movable. Information concerning Gutenberg’s life is minimal since history has little knowledge about him. One thing we do know is that he was born in Mainz, Germany, where he moved to and set up a printing shop and completed the first true book in the West produced by his movable printing press: The Bible, completed between 1455 -1456. Unfortunately, he lost his shop to a creditor. Gutenberg died at the age of seventy-one in the year 1468. Printing became one of the largest industries in the western world. It had an enormous impact on the intellectual society. New religious ideas would have never been able to spread with such speed and ease throughout Europe without the aid of printing press. The Bible commentaries, books of devotion, and sermons made up more than 50% of the publication printed and spread throughout Europe...
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...The Printing Press Introduction: The Advancement The advancement in question is the printing press, a technological innovation that profoundly altered human culture. It may be argued, in fact, that this advancement revolutionized humanity and society in a manner rivaled only by the modern advent of the Internet. Moreover, as will be discussed, these were impacts with both varied and far-reaching consequences: “Paper and printing paved the way for religious reformation and made possible popular education” (Thompson, 1978, p. 167). It is then all the more astonishing that such consequences could arise from so simple a mechanism, or that its development would be realized as late as the 15th century. What is generally considered the original version of the modern printing press is a machine consisting of several key components. A long wooden table provides the surface for setting out the paper and ink, and these are then placed under the upright frame of the press itself. Before this step, however, every stage requires exacting work. First, the type is needed, which are metal blocks with raised letters, numbers, and punctuation marks on one end. This type is then arranged to spell out the document, smeared with ink, and lowered by the frame onto the paper by means of a large and adjustable screw, supported by a cross beam (Hook, 2009, p. 46). The press is, again, hardly an impressive-looking feat of engineering. Essentially, it looks...
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...Renaissance and more specifically the 15th century in Europe, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. The most important consequences of this invention are the increased production of books, the spread of knowledge, and the spread of a new religion. By changing the method for reproduction of books from handwriting to printing, the printing press created a better way of copying books. By comparing an advertisement about copying texts from the15th century and a woodcut that shows copying in the 16th century, it can be observed that the method for book reproduction is much faster and much easier.(doc #1) Being fast and easy, the printing method also became very cheap. The printing press created a more efficient way of reproducing books than the ones people used before that. By making the reproduction of books so much better, the printing press created a positive feedback loop that allowed more and more people to copy books. When maps that show the locations of the printing press in 1471 and 1500 are...
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...How could the printing press help with exploration? The printing press was invented in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg. The printing press changed the way and speed with which we share ideas with one another. Was exploration or reformation the most important consequence of the printing press. I think that the most important consequence of the printing press is exploration because of maps. Reformation was the second most important consequence because of theses. Reformation was the second most important consequence of the printing press because of Martin Luther’s theses. Martin Luther was able to argue against the church thanks to the printing press, with 95 theses. These theses talked about how he thought Indulgence or being able to pay money to...
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...Although the Chinese experimented with block printing by the 11th century, Johannes Gutenberg created movable type in the 15th century and invented a machine that is widely known as the printing press (History of the Printing Press, 2007, The Story section, para. 2). This significant discovery led to the publication of books that promoted literacy and expanded knowledge. This paper provides a background and analysis of the social, economic, and political factors that influenced this important discovery. As a result of this invention, the expansion of knowledge challenged many traditional beliefs and created a paradigm shift in human relationships among different regions of the world. There were Social, Economic, and Political Factors that played a huge role in the printing press as well. During the late medieval times, society was making a change into the coming years. Occurring was a pickup in social factors that lead to emerging capitalism, this sparked off more literacy among the wealthy and upper, middle-class. With new interest of literacy and knowledge, the printing press did not satisfy the demand. Manuscripts, prior to the discovery of the printing press, took years to develop. Thereafter, pages were published using time-consuming wood graving techniques with limited reusability. Pages were compromised of a number of blocks jointed together to raise the words off the page and were then pressed and copied onto another (Ament, 2007). Gutenberg first experimented...
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...One of the most significant inventions during the renaissance period was the movable type printing press. This invention created one of the Western world’s first major printed books, the “Forty-Two Line” Bible. Today I have had the privilege of interviewing the creator of this important artifact, Johannes Gutenberg in his home town of Mainz, Germany. Mr Gutenberg informed me that throughout the Middle Ages books were either hand copied by monks who used quill pens and ink or printed from engraved wooden blocks, either method could take months or even years for completion. In 1436 he began designing...
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...Johannes Gutenberg was an inventor, craftsman, and goldsmith. He invented the printing press. This invention led to the mass production of books and to the huge spread of information throughout Europe. Before this invention, people had to write out books by hand and would could take up to six months to get a book copied word for word. This whole process could also be completed by using carved, wooden blocks that would be covered in ink and pressed onto the paper. This was usually done by monks in monasteries. Since books were expensive to reproduce and hard to keep in good condition, the books often had to be copied every generation. Johannes Gutenberg got his inspiration from the above mentioned processes and improved them. He first changes the wooden blocks to metal ones. This change allowed the blocks to be reused more times than the wooden blocks. The metal blocks were also more accurate because they could be cleaned easier. This was still a very slow process and was a tedious task to perform....
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...The Printing Press and how it shaped our modern world To center a line in Microsoft Word, select Format | Paragraph from the main toolbar, and then on the Indents and Spacing tab beside the word Alignment choose Center from the drop-down list. Introduction to the Humanities Professor You can insert the date in Microsoft Word by selecting Insert | Date and Time… from the main toolbar and selecting a style. Date 05/14/2011 Prior to 1440 everything read in Europe was copied by hand or copied from wooden blocks carved by hand. This was very expensive and time consuming. The only people who were literate were those of the church and a small percentage of nobility. That all changed with Johanes Gutenber’s creation of the printing press. Johann Gutenberg managed to bring together technologies known for centuries before him, adding the idea for movable metal type. This led to the mass production of books, being them more available to the general public. The invention of the printing press helped ideas spread quickly making things easier for the reform of the Church and the development of modern sciences. "Renaissance" means "rebirth" in French and stands for the cultural, intellectual and economic changes that occurred in Europe from the fourteenth century and lasted through the sixteenth century. However, the Renaissance was not the first rebirth of learning during the Middle Ages since many beautiful cathedrals had previously been built using classical styles: universities...
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...From Manuscript to Bound Book: How the Printing Press Revolutionized 15th Century Literature “The invention of printing broadcast the printed language and gave to print a degree of authority that it has never lost.”- A. Lloyd James Before the days of automated printers and wireless communication, manuscripts represented the primary but inefficient and costly way to record, obtain and share knowledge. It was not until the 15th century when Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press revolutionized the way information was stored and disseminated. The printing press quickly changed the way in which written works were manufactured and which works could be produced by allowing private citizens to publish books and other written texts at a marketable rate. Illustrated through the invention of Gutenberg’s machine, society as a whole was impacted by the way in which information was produced, and through the press’ impact on academia and on the political and religious groups of the 15th and 16th centuries. Exemplified by the restricted writing methods at the time and the constraints transcription raised on the production of manuscripts, the printing press had a significant impact on universities and the methods of medieval education. Through readily available literature, the resulting increase of literacy had a large effect on the scientific community and a shift in power for the ruling parties of the time. Ultimately, the easy dissemination of political ideas in medieval Europe led to upheavals...
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...about the next phase of language change. *Diachronic means studying the language as it changes through history. Synchronic means studying the language at a particular point, without considering the historical context. Introducing William Caxton There were a number of catalysts, but arguably the single most important of these was technological - the development of the printing press, which enabled mass reproduction and circulation of cheap printed material. This was in many ways a revolution - books would previously have been hand-written manuscripts which only the very wealthy could afford to buy and have produced. In England, William Caxton was a major player in the development of printing. Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/caxton_william.shtml and read this short description of William Caxton’s life. Then make brief notes on the following points: 1. His birth place, his education, what trade he chose to follow before becoming a printer, and the status he gained in his initial career. 2. His relationship with the aristocracy, his literary taste, his choice of location for his printing business, and his output as a printer. Now consider carefully how you think these factors might have influenced his attitude to the English language. © 2009...
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...learning. The change in social life is inseparable from the endeavours of technology and social science. Information system as a dominating force created by Technology and Information science are precisely the leading factors in the advancement of such systems. Most of modern Information systems banks on the technical side of IT and information contents such as peoples activities including management, decision making and support operations. Thus, the information system provides an incentive to promote efficiency at work and improve the overall quality of life. The aim of this essay is to address the information systems that have changed the way we work and collaborate in significant ways from two aspects: the virtual organisation and the printing press. The main body will consists an analysis with examples on the impact of these two technologies and the power of Information that has quickly transformed societies by influencing the way people work and live. Main Body Considering the new paradigm of work-anywhere, anytime, in cyberspace or real space. The virtual workplace in which workers function remotely from each other and managers, is becoming a reality now and all indications are that it will become more widespread in the future. Thus a Virtual organisation signifies a new organisational form that facilitates technological demands (Black & Edwards, 2000). Therefore the virtual organisation can be defined as an information-intensive organisation form (Child & McGrath, 2001)...
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...27 January 2011 History 10A 10B Name: ______mohamed abdelrahman________ Date: ___26/2/2011____________ The Northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance Begins 1. What changes were occurring in northern Europe around 1450 which helped the Renaissance begin? The population of northern Europe which has been shattered by the bubonic plague, the destructive hundred year war between France and England cities grow rapidly, urban merchants became wealthy to sponsor artists. 2. How was the focus of the Northern Renaissance different from the focus of the Southern Renaissance? Northern renaissance was focus on religious ideas than secular themes popular in Italy, the renaissance idea of human dignity inspired some northern humanists to develop plans for social reform based on Christian values.. Artistic Ideas Spread 1. How did the war in Italy spread the Renaissance? As the war dragged on many Italian artists and writers left to a more safer life in northern Europe, with them they brought the styles and techniques of the renaissance, I addition artists who studied in Italy also carried renaissance ideas north. 2. How was the development and spread of oil painting different from many other Renaissance developments? Oil paint does not dry quickly and it can be blended more easily than other paints by applying layer upon layer of paint, oil painting became popular and spread to Italy and was influenced by many artists n the renaissance. 3. Flanders...
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... 1. Printing Press - Rise of Philosophes The printing press gave rise to philosophes and changed how people would begin to think for example the printing press gave people their own personal copies of the bible although it was written in many different ways. Due to this people began to think in their own way which gave the rise to philosophes. 2. Printing Press- Spread of Christianity The printing press gave mass production to bibles being created which gave everybody their own bible which spread Christianity. 3. Printing Press- Critique and Creation of New...
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...Humanism, the printing press and the Renaissance art change Europe in many ways. The printing press encouraged people to get the Bible in their language and read about God. Humanism encouraged people to want freedom of religion, and the Renaissance art changed the way people viewed art. Everything caused a new problem. The printing press was a way to copy books. They translated the bible and copied them into everyday languages. This made people want to learn more about god. Now anyone could get a bible in their own language and read about god and his history. This also encouraged people to learn how to read and maybe write their own books. Humanism opened people’s eyes to make their own decisions. They then wanted freedom of religion. Humanism...
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...Assess the significance of the role of individuals in the development of reformation, protest and rebellion, in Late Medieval Europe. Conversely, it can also be implied that the influence of such individuals is less important than certain other factors. This includes the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in 1440, which resulted in the rapid spread of humanist ideas throughout the state. Bibles could now be freely distributed, meaning they were no longer owned only by the Church. Combined with the founding of many universities, it was clear that the educational rate of Germany was on the rise. This meant that an increasing population was becoming progressively inspired to place pressure on the upper-classes to make concessions of equality. Additionally, ifLuther not had access to the printing press, it is unlikely that he would have had as profound an influence upon Europe, and the Protestant religion would not have been created. However, the creation of Guttenberg’s letterpress came too late for both England and Bohemia. The fact that two revolts of similar nature had taken place beforehand indicates that the stimulus of Gutenberg’s invention is negligible, and therefore an incrucial factor in developing reformation, protest and rebellion in Late Medieval Europe. An issue in England, Germany and Bohemia, Taxation Arguably, the frequency of such risings within Europe, and the ease with which such prophets inflamed the common people, demonstrates the instability...
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