Book printing

When Johannes Gutenberg invented book printing in the 15th century, it ushered in a new era of unimagined possibilities for the dissemination of information. Until then, texts could only be reproduced in limited numbers through time-consuming hand-written copies. Gutenberg assembled movable type to form a text on a printing plate, smeared this with lampblack ink and pressed it onto pergament or paper - hundreds and thousands of times. As Europe expanded overseas, book printing began its victory course around the world.