Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

	The spread of printing in Europe.

The Spread of Printing

Gutenberg revolutionized the distribution of knowledge by making it possible to produce a large number of copies of a single work in a relatively short amount of time. His contemporaries called it "the art of multiplying books." The process soon spread to other German cities in the 1450s, to Italy in the 1460s, and then to France and the rest of Europe. The first book printed in English (by William Caxton) is Raoul Lefevre's Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1473-74). A copy of this book may be found in the Ransom Center's Pforzheimer Library.

By the end of the fifteenth century, hundreds of book titles were being produced each year on wooden presses much like Gutenberg's. The design of such presses stayed remarkably similar for centuries, although the iron handpresses developed around 1800 were sturdier and more efficient than the wooden ones. Today, automated machine presses produce almost all of our printed materials.

The rapid spread of knowledge made possible by Gutenberg's printing press contributed to the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the Protestant Reformation. For this reason, Gutenberg was chosen by Time Magazine as the "Man of the Millennium."

Lactantius, Divinarum institutionum (1465), the second book printed in Italy. HRC book collections.

The Myrrour of the Worlde (1481), printed by William Caxton. Pforzheimer Library, HRC.