The Printing Revolution

The printing revolution refers to the rapid spread of movable type printing across Europe following Johannes Gutenberg's development of a practical printing press in the German city of Mainz around 1440. Gutenberg's method, which combined oil based ink, a hand mold for casting reusable metal type and a modified wine press, allowed books to be produced far faster and more cheaply than by hand copying, and within decades printing presses had spread to major cities across Europe. The resulting explosion in the availability of books, including Bibles, classical texts, scientific and legal works, and later pamphlets and newspapers, is credited by historians with accelerating the spread of the Renaissance, enabling the rapid dissemination of Martin Luther's ideas during the Protestant Reformation, and gradually expanding literacy far beyond the clergy and nobility who had previously monopolized access to written knowledge.