The press it was invented in Chinabut it was rediscovered and perfected in Europe. Originally, fixed characters were used to print, that is, entire pages were composed on a plate which was then printed on paper or another support; later they were introduced movable characterswhich can be moved to compose different texts. In Europe there was such an innovation developed around the mid-fifteenth century and it represented a revolution from a cultural, social and political point of view. The introduction of movable type is generally considered the invention of printing. The book market grew rapidly and changed the forms and methods of the circulation of knowledge. In the following centuries, numerous other technical innovations made printing a fast and accessible process for everyone.
From scribes to the press
Printing is the process by which they reproduce written texts and images on a support (today generally paper), through the use of ink.
Before the birth of printing, the only way to reproduce books was to copy them by hand. The operation was generally carried out in monasteries by special scribes and required a lot of time.
The books, accordingly, were rare and expensive. Many works, not considered worthy of being handed down, were not copied and have therefore been lost. Furthermore, since each scribe made only one copy, it was common for errors to occur different versions of the same text.
The invention of printing. Fixed characters and movable characters
Printing was invented in China around the 6th/5th century BC. C. They were originally used fixed characters: the entire page to be printed was carved on a block of wood; later it was wetted with ink; finally it was printed on a support, generally paper (invented in China). The oldest text printed with this system and surviving to us dates back to to the year 868 d. C. and shows that Chinese printers had achieved a high degree of technical efficiency. From China, fixed-character printing reached other territories in Asia and Europe.
The Chinese printers, however, also introduced another system, the a movable characters: the entire page was not carved in wood, but individual characters were composed, which after being used to print could be moved to form other words. The system appeared shortly after the year one thousandbut it did not have particular development, because the Chinese language, unlike the alphabets spread throughout almost the whole world, uses thousands of characters. In Europe, however, movable type printing was the basis of a real revolution.
The arrival of the press in Europe and the role of Gutenberg
Fixed-character printing also reached Europe, but did not become widespread. The fate of movable type printing was different, developed in the mid-fifteenth century in Germany. The invention is attributed to a goldsmith from Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg.
Printing was still rudimentary: the characters had to be arranged by hand on a special tray, then dipped in ink and pressed onto the paper with a special machine. However, it was possible to use the tray several times and therefore print multiple copies of the same text. The process was much faster and cheaper than copying by hand. Gutenberg also replaced the wood used in China with metals, which allowed for more resistant and long-lasting characters. The first printed work was one Bible, completed in 1455of which 180 copies were produced (49 of which still exist). Initially only religious texts were printed, but soon the presses began to reproduce secular books as well, such as the Latin and Greek classics.
Printing shops quickly spread throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. In Italy the role of a Venetian printer was particularly important, Aldus Manutiusto whom we owe numerous innovations, including the introduction of the italic font. The number of books in circulation increased rapidly throughout Europe and movable type printing gradually reached the other continents, although in some cases, such as in the Ottoman Empire, its spread was hindered by the political authorities.
The consequences of the invention of the printing press
The press constituted a real revolution, because it yielded a lot faster circulation of knowledge and it allowed many more people in a position to form their own opinions. Only a minority of the population accessed the book market, because the vast majority of citizens were illiterate, but nevertheless the press represented the beginning of a revolution and facilitated the diffusion of critical thinking. For intellectuals and scientists, it became easier to discuss the interpretation of texts and, for this reason, the press also favored the scientific revolution. It is no coincidence that the circulation of books was controlled by political and religious authorities, who introduced various censorship tools, such as the Index of Prohibited Books.
The press also had the consequence of facilitating the Protestant Reformation: thanks to books, Martin Luther was able to establish that the faithful had to read the sacred texts firsthand, without the mediation of priests, and was able to disseminate his writings to a greater extent.
Furthermore, the press eliminated individual errors committed by scribes during copying and, by broadening the potential readership well beyond the ecclesiastical sphere, facilitated the diffusion of modern languages at the expense of Latin.
Technical improvements from the 15th century to today
Over the centuries, printing has undergone numerous advances, which have made the process of reproducing texts and images infinitely faster and simpler. Among the main innovations we should mention the lithographyintroduced in the eighteenth century, which also allowed images to be printed. In the 19th century, however, the steam engine was applied to printing presses, which replaced muscle energy and made the process faster. In the same century the rotarythat is, a printing machine that is not composed of flat surfaces, but of rollers. In 1886 the first was introduced linotypethat is, a machine in which for the first time the characters were not arranged by hand on the tray, but a keyboard similar to that of current typewriters was used.
At the beginning of the twentieth century we moved from linotype to offset printingwhich is very widespread today: characters do not pass directly from the plate to the paper, but first on an intermediate surface made of rubber, which allows for better quality.
The most recent development is the digital printingwhich is obtained by composing texts on a computer connected to a printer: an operation we do almost every day at home and in the workplace.
