The Religious Importance of Printing

Recent technological developments in the field of data processing and transfer – such as the Internet – have revolutionized many aspects of modern life. A similar situation emerged in the late fifteenth century in western Europe, through the invention of printing using moveable type. This would have a very substantial impact on the development and propagation of religious ideas during the great debates of the sixteenth century, when Protestantism emerged as a serious challenge to Catholicism. The printing press played a significant role in making the ideas of both sides more widely available.

The late Middle Ages saw a soaring demand for books, reflecting a significant rise in literacy throughout much of western Europe. Yet this new market for reading material simply could not be met. Existing book production techniques were painfully slow, and the price of books correspondingly high. Text and illustrations had to be painstakingly copied out by hand by specially trained scribes. Demand far outstripped the supply.

The surge of interest in books caused many to wonder whether it was possible to develop a new way of producing them, which would cut out the hugely expensive copying process. A short-term answer was found in the early part of the fifteenth century. Text and illustra- tions were engraved on wooden blocks, using a knife and gouge. A water-based brown ink, made from the bark of trees, was then applied to the block using an inking cushion. The block was then used to print copies of the image on single sheets of paper, which were bound together to produce a book. But it was only an interim solution. The blocks were costly to produce, and once cut to order, could not be used for any other purpose. It was ideal for short books – but for long works, such as the Bible, it was unrealistically cumbersome. A better solution had to be found.