Printing

This is the technological practice of reproducing texts and images on paper using printing forms, which gained widespread adoption in Europe in the mid-15th century due to the invention by German craftsman Johannes Gutenberg. In 1440, in Mainz, he developed a printing press with movable metal type, significantly accelerating and reducing the cost of book production compared to manual copying. The first major work printed using this method was the Gutenberg Bible, produced around 1455, with a print run of approximately 180 copies, fewer than 50 of which have survived to the present day. Gutenberg's invention marked a turning point in cultural history, facilitating the widespread dissemination of knowledge, the development of literacy, the scientific revolution, and the Reformation. Although similar technologies had previously existed in China and Korea, employing woodblock printing and movable ceramic and metal type, it was the European model of printing that had a global impact, spreading worldwide and laying the foundation for the modern publishing and printing industry.