Printing Press History
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Printing Press History
In the early 1450's rapid cultural change in Europe fueled a growing need for
the rapid and cheap production of written documents. Johannes Gutenberg, a
goldsmith and businessman from the mining town of Mainz in southern Germany,
borrowed money to develop a technology that could address this serious economic
bottleneck. Gutenberg foresaw enormous profit-making potential for a printing
press that used movable metal type. Gutenberg developed his press by combining
features of existing technologies: textile, papermaking and wine presses.
Perhaps his most significant innovation, however, was the efficient molding and
casting of movable metal type. Each letter was carved into the end of a steel
punch which was then hammered into a copper blank. The copper impression was
inserted into a mold and a molten alloy made of lead, antimony and bismuth was
poured in. The alloy cooled quickly and the resulting reverse image of the
letter attached to a lead base could be handled in minutes. In 1476, William
Caxton set up England's first printing press. Caxton had been a prolific
translator and found the printing press to be a marvelous way to amplify his
mission of promoting popular literature. Caxton printed and distributed a
variety of widely appealing narrative titles including the first popular edition
of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Caxton was an enthusiastic editor and he
determined the diction, spelling and usage for all the books he printed. He
realized that English suffered from so much regional variation that many people
couldn't communicate with others from their own country. Caxton's contributions
as an editor and printer won him a good portion of the credit for standardizing
the English language. The printing press encouraged the pursuit of personal
privacy. Less expensive and more portable books lent themselves to solitary and
si...
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