Mass printing begins

1450, Mainz, Germany

Johannes Gutenberg was a 15th century German craftsman, credited with the creation of the first moveable printing press. It was this device that would be used to produce the famous Gutenberg Bible – 200 copies were printed, some 48 of which are still in existence. Yet the celebrated Bibles were just a small part of the printing press’s legacy. Soon printers began to send pamphlets to sailors that would then be copied by other printers and read aloud in public houses, in an early form of news. The press also allowed the mass printing of works in a cheap and timely manner. This allowed many rare classical texts, which previously had existed as a single handwritten copy, to be saved for prosperity. It also allowed radical voices a medium through which to express their views. Despite the invention of the internet, printing is still an integral part of society, without which the magazine you hold in your hands could not have been produced.