Feb 13, 2011
The spread of the printing press: Cities that had printing, 1450-1500
First this quote from Werner Rolewinck, 1474:
Printing, lately invented in Mainz, is the art of arts, the science of sciences. Thanks to its rapid diffusion the world is endowed with a treasure house of wisdom and knowledge, till now hidden from view.
An infinite number of works which very few students could have consulted in Paris, or Athens or in the libraries of other great university towns, are now translated into all languages and scattered abroad among all the nations of the world.
(via VOX and Economist’s View)
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The number of cities with printing presses gives a good idea of the general geographical distribution.
The maps give a wrong idea of the distribution of the printed page. In cities as Paris, Venice and Antwerpen the number of printing presses was superior to Delft, London, Embden, Madrid. By the turn of the century, everyone that could read and write had access to the Bible in German, Dutch and Italian, not in French, Spanish and English.
Printing was not invented by Johann Gutenberg but by the Chinese, who used printing from the 12 century on. Gutenberg invented the alloy for the mobile type, which gave rise to the reuse of the letters for more prints. The alloy was, and still is, a combination of lead (plump), aluminum and tin. In the right proportions the letters were strong to be used for printing and the alloy gave the posibility to have very fine details in the letters, sturdy enough to withstand the pressure of the presses.
The distribution of the printed page gave rise to the Renaissance in Italy (1470), later to the Reformation (1517) and the alphabetize of the masses.
See my book “De invloed van de drukkunst op de verspreiding van de Bijbel in de 15de en 16de eeuw”.