Editing Printing press (section)

{{Short description|Mechanism that applies ink to a medium}}
{{About|the historical device created by Johannes Gutenberg|the modern technology of printing|Printing}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox machine
| image             = PrintMus 038.jpg
| caption           = A recreated Gutenberg press at the [[International Printing Museum]] in [[Carson, California]]
| classification    = [[Machine]]
| application       = [[Printing]]
| inventor          = [[Johannes Gutenberg]]
| invented          = {{start date and years ago|1440|df=y|p=y}}
}}
{{History of printing}}
A '''printing press''' is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an [[ink]]ed surface resting upon a [[printing|print]] medium (such as [[paper]] or [[cloth]]), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the cloth, paper, or other medium was brushed or rubbed repeatedly to achieve the transfer of ink and accelerated the process. Typically used for texts, the invention and [[global spread of the printing press]] was one of the most influential events in the second millennium.<ref>For example, in 1999, the [[A&E Network]] ranked [http://www.wmich.edu/mus-gened/mus170/biography100 Gutenberg no. 1 on their "People of the Millennium" countdown] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829092813/http://www.wmich.edu/mus-gened/mus170/biography100|date=29 August 2010}}. In 1997, [[Time–Life]] magazine picked Gutenberg's invention as the most important of the second millennium {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/lifemillennium1000frie/page/165/mode/1up |title=The Life Millennium : the 100 most important events & people of the past 1000 years |publisher=Life Books, Time Inc.; Distributed by Bulfinch Press |page= 166 |editor=Friedman, Robert |date=1998|isbn=978-0-8212-2557-8 |access-date=20 March 2024}}; the same did four prominent US journalists in their 1998 resume [http://rhsweb.org/library/1000PeopleMillennium.htm 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking The Men and Women Who Shaped The Millennium] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303082307/http://rhsweb.org/library/1000PeopleMillennium.htm|date=3 March 2012}}. The [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07090a.htm Johann Gutenberg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414190953/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07090a.htm|date=14 April 2008}} entry of the [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] describes his invention as having made a practically unparalleled cultural impact in the [[Christian era]].</ref><ref>{{harvnb|McLuhan|1962}}; {{harvnb|Eisenstein|1980}}; {{harvnb|Febvre|Martin|1997}}; {{harvnb|Man|2002}}</ref>

In [[Germany]], around 1440, the [[goldsmith]] [[Johannes Gutenberg]] invented the [[movable type|movable-type]] printing press, which started the [[Printing Revolution]]. Modelled on the design of existing [[screw press]]es, a single [[Renaissance]] movable-type printing press could produce up to 3,600 pages per workday,<ref name="Wolf 1974, 67f."/> compared to forty by [[History of typography in East Asia|hand-printing]] and a few by [[scribe|hand-copying]].<ref name="Ch'on Hye-bong 1993, 12"/> Gutenberg's newly devised [[hand mould]] made possible the precise and rapid creation of metal [[movable type]] in large quantities. His two inventions, the hand mould and the movable-type printing press, together drastically reduced the cost of printing books and other documents in Europe, particularly for shorter print runs.

From [[Mainz]], the movable-type printing press spread within several decades to over 200 cities in a dozen European countries.<ref name="Febvre, Lucien; Martin, Henri-Jean 1976 by Anderson, Benedict 1993, 58f.">Febvre, Lucien; Martin, Henri-Jean (1976). ''The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450–1800''. London: New Left Books. Quoted in: Anderson, Benedict. ''Comunidades Imaginadas. Reflexiones sobre el origen y la difusión del nacionalismo''. Fondo de cultura económica, Mexico, 1993. {{ISBN|978-968-16-3867-2}}. pp. 58f.</ref> By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout [[Western Europe]] had already produced more than 20 million volumes.<ref name="Febvre, Lucien; Martin, Henri-Jean 1976 by Anderson, Benedict 1993, 58f."/> In the 16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies.<ref name="Febvre, Lucien; Martin, Henri-Jean 1976 by Anderson, Benedict 1993, 58f."/> The earliest press in the [[Western Hemisphere]] was established by Spaniards in [[New Spain]] in 1539,<ref>{{Cite web |title=College of University Libraries and Learning Sciences News - Research Guides at University of New Mexico |url=https://libguides.unm.edu/blog/the-beginnings-of-printing-in-mexico |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=libguides.unm.edu}}</ref> and by the mid-17th century, the [[Early American publishers and printers|first printing presses arrived in British colonial America]] in response to the increasing demand for [[Bible]]s and other religious literature.<ref>[[Printing press#berthold1970|Bertold, 1970]], pp. 20, 26, 39,</ref> The operation of a press became synonymous with the enterprise of printing and lent its name to a new medium of expression and communication, "[[Newspaper|the press]]".<ref>{{harvnb|Weber|2006|p=387}}: {{quote|At the same time, then, as the printing press in the physical, technological sense was invented, 'the press' in the extended sense of the word also entered the historical stage. The phenomenon of publishing was born.}}</ref>

The spread of mechanical movable type printing in Europe in the [[Renaissance]] introduced the era of [[mass communication]], which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information and ideas transcended borders, captured the masses in the [[Reformation]], and threatened the power of political and religious authorities. The sharp increase in [[literacy]] broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging [[middle class]]. Across Europe, the increasing cultural self-awareness of its peoples led to the rise of proto-[[nationalism]] and accelerated the development of European [[vernaculars]], to the detriment of [[Latin]]'s status as [[lingua franca]].<ref>Anderson, Benedict: ''Comunidades Imaginadas. Reflexiones sobre el origen y la difusión del nacionalismo'', Fondo de cultura económica, Mexico 1993, {{ISBN|978-968-16-3867-2}}, pp. 63–76</ref> In the 19th century, the replacement of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press by steam-powered [[rotary press]]es allowed printing on an industrial scale.<ref>{{harvnb|Gerhardt|1978|p=217}}</ref>