The Perfect Book It was a time characterized by new scientific and artistic interest in secular understanding of the world, known as the Renaissance. Emerged in Europe, was an intensified pressure for new discoveries. Johannes Gutenberg pleased this intensity of Europeans in 1430 by perfecting the Asian moveable type. Gutenberg's expertise as a metallurgist led him to improving the quality and durability of the printing process through the use of metal type faces, opposed to the previous wood or clay typeface. Before the printing press, medieval monks worked in scriptoriums to produce manuscript books, but the labor-intensive process of transcribing by hand was expensive and could not meet the growing demand, encouraging the development…show more content… “Early printed books… are sources for studying the technical development of the craft of printing” (Hellinga). Although the Asian movable type came before the European printing machine, the Johannes Gutenberg's version was the first functional printing press. The printing press originating from Asia was created using typefaces out of different materials, but none of them proved useable until Gutenberg made the metal typeface. He improved the quality and durability of the press by developing the way things were printed, from monks copying books by hand, to multiple books being made within the timespan of one handwritten book. The industrial revolution in North America was sparked by a man transporting the first printing press from Europe to America. This is one example of how the world was industrialized by the spread of the improved printing press. The printing machine not only affected the Renaissance time period, but also affected life today. Without the development of the machine, society today would not be granted with enormous libraries, printers, or even small things such as the newspapers. The printing press caused the transition in European history that changed the modern
