The Birth of the Printing Press in Europe
One of the most significant events in the history of writing was the completion,in the German city of Mainz around 1450,of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press,a machine that used movable type to enable mass printing.Movable type alone,however,could not change the world;the world had to be ready for it.In Europe’s case the stage had already been set for the impact of printing during the late Middle Ages.One important aspect of the preparation was the advent of paper.
Paper took a thousand years to reach Europe from China;it was first used in Constantinople in 1100 and in Arab-controlled Sicily in 1102.Accustomed to parchment,Europeans wrote with feather pens, rather than Chinese brushes or Islamic reed pens.They therefore needed paper that was strong,scratch resistant,and relatively impervious to ink (to keep the ink from spreading).The solution was to use a gelatin substance known as size-a thin layer of glue applied to the surface of the paper.The result still got mixed reviews: compared with parchment,paper tore easily and was clearly not going to outlast the millennium.Important documents therefore continued to use parchment.But paper was somewhat cheaper, rather lighter,and,most importantly,could be made in greater and greater quantities,at least so long as supplies of the raw materials- cotton and linen rags-held out.By the end of the fourteenth century the use of paper was finally well established;the printing press appeared not long thereafter.Without paper,a printing press would have been nearly pointless.With paper,printing could create the world’s first truly mass communication.
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