Printing Press

•Intro things to discuss The ancient Greeks wrote texts intended for education only the privileged, wealthy few who could afford scribes. The modern textbook has its roots in the standardization made possible by the printing press. Early textbooks were used by tutors and teachers, who used the books as instructional aids The next revolution for books came with the 15th-century invention of printing with changeable type. The invention is attributed to German metal smith Johannes Gutenberg, who cast type in molds using a melted metal alloy and constructed a wooden-screw printing press to transfer the image onto paper.

Gutenberg’s invention made mass production of texts possible for the first time. •In general the invention of the printing press (Lower-class) Before Gutenberg’s printing press, reading books were a privilege for the church and some of the nobility, literacy was practically non-existent in the lower class, books were extremely expensive, and scientists never shared their work with other scientist. After the printing press was invented, books became considerably cheaper to afford, thus, making it easier for lower class citizens, as well as, libraries to afford books and circulate them throughout Europe.

With the increase in books and the availability of them, came the increase in literacy among the lower classes. •traditional lecture before the invention- who accessed books •how it impacted education Also, since it was easier to print work scientist started sharing their works with each other. This was an amazing improvement in science, because now scientist could critic each other’s work, improve upon it, and eventually come up with correct conclusions. •how the printing press (changed the role of the Catholic Church) No more did people have to accept what the church told them – they could now read it for themselves.

In an indirect way, it led to the Reformation of the church, one of the major events in European history. Without the printing press and the availability of Bibles, Martin Luther may not have been in the position to question the authority of the church and to encourage people to study the Bible for themselves to see how Faith was the means to salvation, rather than “good works”, as the Catholic Church had expounded for centuries. The church officials, before the printing press was invented, were the only ones to read the Bible and they, then taught their interpretations to the congregation. When the printing presses started printing