The invention of the Gutenberg printing

Position 1: Historians therefore regard the printing press as one of the most consequential technological innovations in the history of human communication.

Position 2: Prior to this development, manuscripts were copied laboriously by hand, meaning that books were rare, expensive, and largely confined to monastic libraries and wealthy patrons.

Position 3: This accessibility fuelled literacy rates and enabled ideas associated with the Renaissance and later the Reformation to spread far more rapidly than would otherwise have been possible.

Position 4: The invention of the Gutenberg printing press in the mid-fifteenth century fundamentally altered the dissemination of knowledge across Europe.

Position 5: Movable type allowed printers to reproduce texts rapidly and in large quantities, reducing the cost of books dramatically within just a few decades.