Johannes Gutenberg Importance

Books also had social consequences. The ideas of nature and education had changed. Books suggested more private reading while universities and cities began to think of libraries as more important. While the printing press made books available for almost everyone, the public’s aspiration for literacy skyrocketed. But with easier access to printing, this led to more propaganda, gutter journalism, and quack theories to longing buyers. Books had become the center change for humanity. As books became the primary means of exchanging knowledge and

This book displays how our futuristic world would be without all the books in the world being accessible to us. “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture; just get people to stop reading them.” The destruction of books shows how the authoritative people are trying to manipulate their nation’s thoughts and the past. ‘We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says. But everyone made equal… a book is a loaded gun in the house next door.” This quote from Beatty indicates that they do not want their people to know about history and they want everyone to see the same things, hear the same things, and do the same things. These characters all believed in living the same lives oblivious to the world before them.

Therefore, Gutenberg invented a punch and mold system in order to produce the movable type for the masses. Over the next five centuries the punch and mold system was refined, so a type tray contained the letters. In addition, the type tray allowed for easier replacement of broken letters. The following books or pages used the same type, which allowed for faster printing (Bantwal). Johannes Gutenberg’s genius lies within utilizing the current 15th century technology and then inventing the leftover part to complete the movable printing press.

In 1731 Benjamin Franklin along with the members of philosophical organization known as the Junto, decided to write “Articles of Agreement” and to create a library. At this time the vast majority of Americans were illiterate. They did not have access to books that would help the improve their reading skills as there were no public libraries at the time. This was a problem for the Junto group as men of average prosperity also could not afford books. While they members of Junto were educated and interested in a variety of areas none of them had more than a couple of books. In fact, the only people who have a substantial collection of books are the extremely wealthy and the clergy.

In the Middle Ages, children were treated as an adult in the family. Children went out to work just as the parents did to help provide for the good of the family and to provide for the family’s needs, whether it was economically or material based. The prosperity of the family came first. Because of this, many children were unable to read and were not provided with a formal education. They were provided with the education that was needed to survive everyday life and the education of religious beliefs. Books at this time cost too much for the common family to own, and were very rare at this time in history. In 1476 William Claxton was credited with learning the printing trade and taking it back to England with him and setting up a printing press at Westminster. From there he published 106 books of various genres. The books were put together with excellence, but were very costly, because of this they were owned mainly by the wealthy. (Kiefer, 2010, p.69) It is visible at this point to see how valuable the printing press really was. Due to the high expense that books were in this time, many did not own books because they could not afford them. Others would trade their valuable land or property to own a single book.

Today people think of books as everyday objects that are just around. However, back in the 13th and 14th century that was not the case. Books were hard to come by and showed that you had wealth and power. Many people did not have books and if they did they probably only had a few.

There are thousands upon thousands of books in libraries spread all around the world. Some of those books are newer than others; some are thicker; some are about history, geography, economics, or engineering. No matter the type of book, it took just a couple hours to print them. It is incredible to think how it is possible to have so many books available for us, and we can have access anytime we want. Although, many centuries ago books were very different from modern books. In fact, the earliest books were written on scrolls. In the Middle Age, books were produced by monks who copied them with pen and ink to study them later. Even a small book with just less than hundred pages could have taken several weeks or maybe months to be completed. A longer book, such as the Bible, could have taken years to copy. This tedious and exhausting process ended in 1444. In 1471 there were about 15 printing presses open. Mainly in the area of Germany because that was where Gutenberg invented the press. Also in the center of Italy because that’s where trade was made and the printing press was used by the pope and the church. [Doc.2] In 1500 over a 100 printing presses were being used mainly in Germany and in the center of Italy.[Doc. 2]

In 1439 Johannes Gutenberg invented the first movable type printing press. The design was based off of the screw press which had a “matrix” where

Books used to be a hard copied deed with words handwritten by ink pen, owned by the rich until the advent of the first printing press, enabling many to own multiple copies of this so called books. This also allowed affordable access to information and education for most. As time passed on, words began to show up on electronic devices allowing all to own at least one copy of a book "that's ever been written"; at least until it just "vanishes". Some may see this great technology as the greatest asset of the world, however, others may believe such things are wrong and not the conventional way of doing things. The contentious issue of eBooks replacing the traditional hard copied

Since books wear out eventually and are vulnerable, it takes a large number of literate scribes simply to maintain a sizable collection. Before the printing press was invented, a common way of writing was Block Printing. This involved Europeans carving text into a block of wood and printing it on paper. No longer

His revolutionizing invention was the combination of these parts into a system that allows the mass production of printed books.The invention was also very economically able for printers and readers alike. Gutenberg's method for making a type is normally considered to have included a metal alloy and a hand mold for casting a type. The alloy was a mixture of lead, tin, and antimony that melted at a low temperature for fast and safe economical

Each word, phrase, and picture were on a separate block, making it expensive and time-consuming (Kreis). Even though "block-books were a huge step in transforming the printing of books, the woodcuts would tend to split after a lot of usage so they were not really useful. In 868 CE, China created the first printed book called the "Diamond Sutra". However, there is a chance there may have been book printing occurring long before this date (Bellis). Before the printing press, the only books that were made were highly valuable objects that only belonged to the church.

Johannes Gutenberg life and accomplishments have had the greatest impact on our modern world. He invented the printing press in the year 1455. The first book he printed was the Gutenberg Bible. 45 years later in 1500 there were over a thousand printers in europe. Because of his invention of printing this “allowed European civilization to compete for the first time with the civilization of China”. Printing allowed for school books, religion books, and novelty books to be widely spread through the world. Gutenberg’s invention has now been enhanced. This is why I believe that the Johannes Gutenberg's life accomplishments have had the greatest

Johannes Gutenberg, a German inventor, has brought together an exquisite machine that he calls the printing press. The function of the printing press is using blocks with ink as a faster and more efficient way of printing. How does the printing press work? Well, type blocks are set up by a frame to make words. These blocks are set backwards so they have a mirror effect when they are transferred. Once all of the blocks are in place, ink has to be put onto these blocks now. Then the paper, yes, paper, is pressed onto the blocks and the ink that was once on the word blocks is now on the paper (“The Invention of the Printing Press”). Although Gutenberg is credited with the invention of the printing press, another version has been used before the

Gutenberg’s press, made of wood, may have been inspired by winepresses of his time. The type was made of a metal alloy with a low melting temperature. Despite that, the metal alloy was strong enough to have pressure applied to it in the press. Research indicated that Gutenberg used a sand-casting