The printed word first appeared in China more than a thousand years ago, where people used wood or clay blocks to stamp out simple text. The process had only limited success. The problem was, with a language of 40 to 50,000 characters, the technology and materials were not quite up to the job.
Credit for the invention of the first European printing machine goes to Johannes Gansfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, a man who must have been very tired of writing his name out by hand. In the mid 1400s, Gutenberg's creation transformed the world and relegated the once booming business of calligraphy into something primarily useful for wedding invitations and diplomas.
As with any innovator, Gutenberg experienced a few problems in the beginning. His first financial backer went to Paris with twelve newly printed editions of the Bible. However, the unfortunate man was soon run out of town by book trade guilds who believed so many identical copies of a book could only be the work of the devil.
It didn't take long, however, for the movable type to catch on. Martin Luther once said that, "Print is the best of God's inventions." While some writing may, make wonder if that is exactly true, the printed word, in all it forms, shapes our world.
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