Why Did the Printing Press Matter?

Imagine if you had to copy every book by hand. It would take forever. Johannes Gutenberg built a machine that could copy pages super fast. This machine is called a printing press.

What is a Printing Press?

It is like a cookie cutter for words. You push down on metal letters to make ink marks on paper.

Why Does it Matter?

Before this, only rich monks had books. Now, normal people could buy them. This meant more people could learn to read. It helped spread ideas quickly, like a rumor that travels through a classroom.

A single press could print hundreds of pages in the time it took a scribe to write one.

Take the quiz →

Examples

  1. Like copying your homework by hand takes all night, but a copy machine does it in seconds.
  2. Imagine telling one friend a secret, then them telling another. The press is like telling everyone at once.
  3. Before the press, a book cost as much as a cow. After, it cost like a loaf of bread.

Ask a question

See also

Loading…

Discussion

Recent activity