If you want the history of the printing press in a nutshell, it starts with Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz around 1448. His movable metal type made books faster and cheaper to produce, and ordinary readers slowly gained access to them.
This page is part of our wider look at literature and society, where books meet the people who read them.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Press with movable type credited to Gutenberg | 1448 |
| Gutenberg Bible printed | 1452 to 1455 |
| Diamond Sutra block print, China | 868 |
| Jikji, Korean book printed with metal type | 1377 |
| European cities with presses around 1500 | About 2,500 cities |
| Books produced in Europe by 1500 | More than 20 million copies |
These figures come from EBSCO’s printing press overview and its Gutenberg research starter, both published in 2022. Dates and counts are estimates and can change as scholarship develops, so check the sources before you rely on them.
History of the printing press: what came before Gutenberg
Before Gutenberg, a book in Europe meant a manuscript. Monks in monastery scriptoria copied and decorated texts by hand, a process that EBSCO’s overview describes as costly, lengthy and mistake ridden.
That is why books stayed out of reach for most people. As the Lemelson-MIT profile of Gutenberg puts it, books were very expensive and only the rich could afford them.
The cost went well beyond the copyist’s labor. According to TheCollector, a book’s price covered sourcing materials, paying the copyist and arranging a proper binding. Books were therefore seen as luxury objects that could prove someone’s status and erudition.
Printing itself was not a European idea. Several Asian milestones came first:
- In 868, Wang Jie used the first block print in China to produce the Diamond Sutra, according to EBSCO.
- In the eleventh century, Bi Sheng arranged molded and baked clay characters on a frame for printing, the same source says.
- In Korea in 1377, a monk printed Jikji, believed to be the world’s oldest book printed with metal type.
Europeans did use woodblocks, but each block was carved in one piece and would break with repeated use. That made the process long and labor-intensive, as the printing press overview explains.
Asian movable type did not spread as widely as it later would in Europe. TheCollector notes that Bi Sheng’s invention did not gain much popularity, and the EBSCO overview suggests a possible reason: the complexity of Asian writing systems compared with the relatively few characters of the Latin alphabet.
Gutenberg was also not alone in looking for a better way. Christian History magazine notes that in the 1440s many other Europeans were experimenting too, all looking for a faster, cheaper way to produce books.
How did Gutenberg’s press work?
The exact timeline and details of the invention may vary because definitive evidence is scarce, as the Gutenberg research starter admits. Still, the main ideas are well described, and they came down to breaking a page into reusable pieces.
Here is the process as the sources describe it:
- Cast each letter, punctuation mark and space as a separate piece of type, in an alloy of lead, antimony and tin.
- Arrange the pieces in any order to set a page of text.
- Coat the type with an ink made from linseed oil and soot.
- Press paper against the type using a mechanism based on a wine press screw.
- Reuse the type, as long as the metal does not wear down.
A simple hand mold for recasting type mattered more than it sounds. It led to the standardization of book fonts and made the press easier to reproduce.
Gutenberg’s typeface looked backward, not forward. According to Christian History magazine, it resembled the ornate handwritten letters scribes had used for ages.
The Gutenberg Bible and the first printing business
Money drove the project. In 1448 a loan from Johann Fust helped fund the Gutenberg Bible, which was printed between 1452 and 1455, according to EBSCO.
The partnership ended badly. A lawsuit of 1455 shows that Fust sued to recover his expenses, and Fust then formed a new firm with Peter Schöffer. Their 1457 Psalter was the first book whose colophon dates and names its printer, per the same source.
The new Bible was not cheap. EBSCO’s overview says copies sold at the 1455 Frankfurt Book Fair for the equivalent of three years of a clerk’s pay, and that the book was decorated to look like a hand-copied manuscript. The press first imitated the old technology before it reshaped it.
How quickly did printing spread across Europe?
Very quickly. Around 1500, an estimated 2,500 European cities had presses, according to EBSCO.
By the time Martin Luther was born in 1483, every large European country had at least one printing press. The scale of output grew just as fast:
- About 30,000 editions of early printed books, called incunabula, appeared between the middle and end of the fifteenth century (EBSCO Gutenberg research starter).
- More than 20 million copies of books were produced by European presses by 1500, by historians’ estimates (EBSCO printing press overview).
- The estimate for 1600 is 150 to 200 million copies, from the same overview.
Early books were mostly religious. Later publications also covered medicine, travel and practical topics.
How did printing change the way people read?
Reading itself changed. As reading became a silent and solitary activity, the press challenged the oral tradition and the work of scribes, according to EBSCO. The same source says printing also led to the standardization of grammar and syntax.
Language and identity shifted too. A growing, literate middle class that was not versed in Latin gravitated to books in its own languages, which contributed to national identities. Humanists, meanwhile, learned Latin and Greek to read revived ancient manuscripts.
Religion felt the change most sharply. Christian History magazine argues that the Protestant Reformation might have been impossible before Gutenberg, and EBSCO’s research starter says the invention is seen as a catalyst for the Renaissance and the Reformation.
Printing also made it possible to store more information in libraries for less money, a thread you can follow in our piece on the role of libraries in society. Literature that reaches wide audiences is still celebrated today, and the list of nobel prize in literature winners is one place to see it.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented the printing press?
Show answer
Johannes Gutenberg is widely credited with the movable-type press in Europe, with 1448 as the usual date. A Dutch claim for Laurens Janszoon Coster is ignored by most modern scholars, and movable type already existed in Asia.
Did printing exist before Gutenberg?
Show answer
Printing began in Asia. EBSCO’s Gutenberg research starter says Wang Jie used the first block print in China in 868 to produce the Diamond Sutra. Its printing press overview says a monk in Korea printed Jikji in 1377, believed to be the world’s oldest book printed with metal type.
How many copies of the Gutenberg Bible were printed?
Show answer
Sources differ slightly. EBSCO’s printing press overview says 200 copies were completed, while its Gutenberg research starter says the press yielded 210.
Did the printing press cause the Reformation?
Show answer
Sources treat it as a catalyst rather than a sole cause. The EBSCO research starter calls it a catalyst for the Renaissance and the Reformation.
