In 1400, an important development was made that exceptionally contributed in education and led to new occupations in ancient times; printing press. The history of the printing press could be traced when a German inventor Johannes Gutenberg was successful in inventing the first machine that could facilitate publishers and writers in printing books in large quantities.
Bible The ‘First’ Published Book:
Initially, it used to take nearly 20years for a man to reproduce a Bible. Hence, the first book Gutenberg pushed through the machine was Bible for mast production; these were the initiative steps that led to increase in religious publications and spread of knowledge of different religions.
Drift Brought Through Invention Of Printing Press:
Slowly, with the passage of time by 1500, printing presses dominated the European society as the number reached to hundreds. A more advanced invention of 21st century led to printing of millions of copies in a day through rotary machines.The invention of the printing press opened doors for knowledge to all causing the prices of books to fall so it could be easily affordable to people.
Doors for Knowledge:
Printing press made the most important contribution to the society as the knowledge of different cultures, religion and ancient times were shared between people and later forwarded to future generations. The thirst for knowledge led to development of schools and colleges and allowed intellectuals to create journals and facilitating others for better inventions. In recent times, the process has been further refined through availability of thousands of publications available to us on the internet.
Value Of Books:
The publication press brought way to literacy in the society. The aptitude of people created awareness among them causing the prices of books to fall that were mainly regarded as the treasure for riches.
The value of books is determined through various factors. At times, they are worth thousands of dollars keeping in view their demand. Their age, special edition, paper or parchment used; or because of their rarity, books that were handwritten, etc. This has resulted in a number of book’s collectors to grow in the society due to their interest in the rare book collection that ranged in thousands of dollars.
Advancement In The Technology Of Printing Press:
With the passage of time more advancements were made in the invention of the printing press. In 1800s, Friedrich Koenig invented the printing machines that were powered by steam instead of man-power resulting in faster and large quantities of publications, which brought a new era in the production of newspapers.
The further improvement through rotary press enabled the publications to produce over 50,000 copies per hour in color. This technology further facilitated the personnel to cut, fold, and bind a cover in one go supported through essential parts that include paper roll, printing plate and compression of cylinders that are between paper rolls.
Printing Press in 21st Century:
The new developments such as photocopying, dot-matrix, inkjet, thermal, screen-printing, laser-printing, digital and 3D is due to the invention of the printing press. Photocopying invented in 1960s using a process of dry heat to copy to similar image on the paper has been a blessing for businesses, educational purposes and government organizations. Creation through digitalization allows printing images on cloth, woods, metals, paper, glasses, CDs and DVDs.