Printing press

A printing press is a mechanical system that applies pressure to an inked surface that is sitting on a print medium (such as paper or cloth), causing the ink to transfer from the inked surface to the printed media. In comparison to earlier printing methods, where the cloth, paper, or other media was brushed or rubbed repeatedly in order to effect the transfer of ink, it was a significant advance since it expedited the printing process significantly. It was one of the most significant events in the second millennium to see the creation and widespread usage of a printing press, which was often utilised for texts at the time.

The printing press was created by goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in 1440, sparking the beginning of the Printing Revolution. A single Renaissance printing press, which was based on the design of existing screw presses, could generate up to 3600 pages every workday, compared to forty pages printed by hand and a few pages copied by hand nowadays. Metal moveable type could be produced in vast numbers with pinpoint accuracy and speed because to Gutenberg's newly developed hand mould. He made two significant contributions to printing history. His hand mould and printing press, together, significantly decreased the cost of printing books and other documents in Europe, especially for shorter print runs.

With the printing press's growth from Mainz to almost two hundred locations in a dozen European nations within a few decades, the printing press became ubiquitous. More than twenty million volumes had been printed by the time printing presses were put into operation across Western Europe by 1500. With the expansion of printing presses around the world in the 16th century, their production more than doubled to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies per year. Operating a press became associated with the printing business, and the operation of a press gave birth to a new form of expression and communication known as "the press."

During the Renaissance, the introduction of mechanical moveable type printing to Europe heralded the beginning of the period of mass communication, which had a profound effect on the social structure. When knowledge and (revolutionary) ideas were circulated relatively freely, they crossed boundaries, grabbed the hearts and minds of the populace, and posed a serious challenge to the authority of political and religious institutions. Increased literacy shattered the literate elite's monopoly on education and learning, and it helped to establish and strengthen the developing middle class. Along the length and breadth of Europe, growing cultural self-awareness among its peoples fueled the growth of proto-nationalism and the rapid development of European vernaculars, ultimately undermining Latin's role as the world's common language. Printing on a large scale became possible in the nineteenth century once the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press was replaced by steam-powered rotary presses.