The global spread of printing with movable type from its origins in Germany began with the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, (c. 1450) and ended with the adoption of printing in all major regions of the world by the 19th century. Genealogically, Gutenberg's printing press is the archetype of all modern movable type printing, and practically all printing technology can be traced back to a single source, Gutenberg's press. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Movable type. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (c. ...

Spread of printing

Germany

Gutenberg's first major print work was the 42-line bible in Latin (B42), printed probably between 1452 and 1454 in the German city of Mainz. After Gutenberg lost a lawsuit against his investor Johann Fust, Peter Schöffer was put by Fust in charge of Gutenberg's print shop. Thereupon Gutenberg established a new print shop with the financial backing of another money lender. With Gutenberg's monopoly soon shattered, and the secrecy of the new technology compromised, printing spread throughout Germany and beyond, diffused first by emigrating German printers, but soon also by foreign apprentices. Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... Johann Fust ( died 1466) was an early German printer. ... Peter Schöffer or Petrus Schoiffer (born circa 1425 in Gernsheim, Groß-Gerau, died 1502 in Mainz) was an early German book printer. ...

Europe

In rapid succession, printing presses were set up in middle and western Europe. Major towns, in particular, functioned as centers of diffusion (Köln 1466, Rome 1467, Venice 1469, Paris 1470, London 1477). In 1481, barely 30 years after the publication of the B42, the small Netherlands already featured printing shops in 21 cities and towns, Italy even 40 (1480) and Germany a similar number. According to one estimate, "by 1500, 220 printing presses were in operation throughout Western Europe and had produced 8 million books."^[1] Germany and Italy were considered the two main centres of printing in terms of quantity and quality. World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ...

Rest of the world

The near-simultaneous discovery of sea routes to the West (Christopher Columbus, 1492) and East (Vasco da Gama, 1498) and the subsequent establishment of trade links greatly facilitated the global spread of Gutenberg-style printing. Traders, colonists, but, perhaps most, missionaries exported printing presses to the new European oversea domains, setting up new print shops and distributing printing material. In America, the first extra-European print shop was founded in Mexico-City in 1544 (1539?), and soon after Jesuits started operating the first printing press on Asian soil (Goa, 1556). Christopher Columbus (Genoa?, Italy, 1451? – Valladolid, Spain, May 20, 1506) was a navigator and maritime explorer credited as the discoverer of the Americas. ... Vasco da Gama (IPA: (Sines or Vidigueira, Alentejo, Portugal, c. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ...

For a long time, however, movable type printing rather remained the business of Europeans, working from within the confines of their colonies. Ignorance and religious reasons seemed to be among the reasons for the slow adoption of the printing press by indigenous peoples. Thus, printing remained prohibited in the Ottoman empire between 1483 and 1727, initially even on death penalty. And in India, reports are that Jesuits "presented a polyglot Bible to the Emperor Akbar in 1580 but did not succeed in arousing much curiosity."^[2] But also practical reasons seem to have played a role. The English East India Company, for example, brought a printer to Surat in 1675, but was not able to cast type in Indian scripts, so the venture failed.^[2] A notable exception was the enthusiastic adoption by the Cherokee chieftain See-quah-yah who published the newspaper 'Cherokee Phoenix' in his native language (and English), after having invented an alphabet of 85 letters for that purpose. Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar (Persian: جلال الدین محمد اکبر), (alternate spellings: Jellaladin, Celalettin) also known as Akbar the Great (Akbar-e-Azam) (October 15, 1542 – October 27, 1605) was the son of Nasiruddin Humayun whom he succeeded as ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1605. ...

In the 19th century, the arrival of the Gutenberg-style press - essentially unchanged from the time of its invention - on the shores of Tahiti (1818), Hawaii (1821) and other Pacific islands marked the end of a global diffusion process which had begun almost 400 years earlier. At the same time, the 'old style' press (as the Gutenberg model came to be termed in the 19th century), was already in the process of being displaced by industrial machines like the steam powered press (1812) and the rotary press (1833) - both of which are to be considered further developments of the Gutenberg press. A rotary printing press is a printing press in which the impressions are curved around a wheel so that the printing can be done on long continuous rolls of paper, cardboard, plastic, or a large number of other substrates. ...

Spread of printing by location

The following represents a selection:^[3]

Germany, Austria and German printers in Central Europe

Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (c. ... Peter Schöffer or Petrus Schoiffer (born circa 1425 in Gernsheim, Groß-Gerau, died 1502 in Mainz) was an early German book printer. ... Johann Fust ( died 1466) was an early German printer. ... City motto: – City proper (commune) Région Alsace Département Bas-Rhin (67) Mayor Fabienne Keller (UMP) (since 2001) Area 78. ... For other meanings, see Bamberg (disambiguation). ... Page from Der Edelstein Albrecht Pfister (c. ... For other uses, see Cologne (disambiguation). ... This article needs to be updated. ... Augsburg is a city in south-central Germany. ... Statistics State: Schleswig-Holstein District: Independent city Area: 214. ... Plzeň (Czech name) or Pilsen (German equivalent, sometimes used in English) is a city in western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. ... Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg) is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. ... Regiomontanus Johannes Müller von Königsberg (June 6, 1436 – July 6, 1476), known by his Latin pseudonym Regiomontanus, was an important German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. ... Speyer (English formerly Spires) is a city in Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate) with approx. ... Alternate use: Esslingen, Switzerland Esslingen is a city in the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, capital of the district of Esslingen. ... Merseburg is a city in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. ... Ulm is a city in the German Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube, about 90 km south-east of Stuttgart and 140 km north-west of Munich. ... Blaubeuren is a town near Ulm in Germany. ... Wrocław. ... Burgdorf (fr. ... Statistics State: Schleswig-Holstein District: Independent city Area: 214. ... Panorama of Trento. ... Rostock is a city in northern Germany. ... Eichstätt (not to be confused with Eichstädt) is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district Eichstätt. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. ... [] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the Federal State (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. ... Inhabitants according to official census figures: 1800 to 2005 Vienna in 1858 Vienna (German: Wien ) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ... Munich: Frauenkirche and Town Hall steeple Munich: St. ... Mariendom and the Severikirche. ... Old Town of Passau Passau (Latin: Batavia) is a town in Niederbayern, Eastern Bavaria, Germany, known also as Dreiflüssestadt (the City of three rivers), because the Danube River is joined there by the Inn River from the South, and the Ilz River coming out of the Bavarian Forest to... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A view of the city from the castle (Schloss) A view of stone bridge from the castle (Schloss) The castle (Schloss) above the town Shopping district Heidelberg and the other cities of the Neckar valley View from the so called alley of philosophers (Philosophenweg) towards the Old Town, with Heidelberg... Regensburg (also Ratisbon, Latin Ratisbona) is a city (population 129,175 in 2005) in Bavaria, south-east Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. ... Schleswig coat of arms Schleswig (Danish: Slesvig) is a town at the Schlei firth in the northeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. ... Stuttgart [], located in southern Germany, is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg with a population of approximately 590,000 (as of September 2005) in the city and around 3 million in the metropolitan area. ... For other places with the same or similar names, and other uses of the word, see Munster (disambiguation) Münster is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... Coordinates: Country Czech Republic Region South Moravia Founded 1146 Area    - city 230. ... Hamburg from above Hamburgs motto: May the posterity endeavour with dignity to conserve the freedom, which the forefathers acquired. ...

Rest of Europe

Italy

In the 15th century, printing presses were established in 77 Italian cities and towns. At the end of the following century, 151 locations in Italy had seen at one time printing activities, of which 130 (86%) were north of Rome.^[8] During these two centuries a total of 2894 printers were active in Italy, with only 216 of them located in southern Italy. Ca. 60% of the Italian printing shops were situated in six cities (Venice, Rome, Milan, Naples, Bologna and Florence), with the concentration of printers in Venice being particularly high (ca. 30%).^[9] Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 21 April 753 BC  - Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1285 km²  (580 sq mi)  - Urban... Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venexia) is the capital of the Italian regions and has a population of 271,663 (census estimate January 1, 2004). ... Aldus Manutius (1449/50 - February 6, 1515), the Latin form of Aldo Manuzio (born Teobaldo Mannucci) was the founder of the Aldine Press. ... Milano redirects here. ... Demetrius Chalcondylas (1423–1511) was a Greek exile in Italy, and a humanist scholar of the Italian Renaissance. ...

Switzerland

France

Apart from the cities above, there was a small number of lesser towns which set up printing presses.

The Netherlands

In 1481, printing was already done in 21 towns and cities.

Hungary

Nickname: Paris of the East, Pearl of the Danubeor Queen of the Danube Location of Budapest in Hungary Country Hungary County Pest Mayor Gábor Demszky (SZDSZ) Area    - City 525. ... County BraÅŸov County Status County capital Mayor George Scripcaru, since 2004 Area  km² Population (2002) 283,901 Density  inh/km² Geographical coordinates Web site http://www. ...

Poland

Wawel Hill. ... The last surviving copy of the Almanach The Almanach Cracoviense ad annum 1474 (Cracovian Almanac for the year 1474) is a single-sheet astronomical calendar for the year 1474 and the oldest known Polish print. ... Wawel Hill. ... Motto: Semper fidelis Location Map of Ukraine with Lviv. ... Warsaw (Polish: , , in full The Capital City of Warsaw, Polish: Miasto Stołeczne Warszawa) is the capital of Poland and its largest city. ...

Belgium

Spain

// Valencia is the name of two large cities in different parts of the world: Spain: Valencia, capital of the Valencia Autonomous Community. ... For other uses, see Seville (disambiguation). ...

England

William Caxton (c. ... Wynkyn de Worde, born in Alsace, was the successor to William Caxton in his English printing business, taking over and running Caxtons press after his death. ...

Denmark

Sweden

Portugal

By 1500, the cut-off point for incunabula, 236 towns in Europe had presses, and it is estimated that twenty million books had been printed for a European population of perhaps seventy million.^[4] A page from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497) printed in Strasbourg by J.R. Grueninger. ...

Scotland

Iceland

Norway

Ireland

Russia

Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and...

Latvia

Georgia

Turkey

Due to religious qualms, Sultan Bayezid II. prohibited printing in Arabic script in the Ottoman empire in 1483 on death penalty, but underground printing was done by Jews as well as the Greek and Armenian communities (1515 Saloniki, 1554 Adrianople, 1552 Belgrade, 1658 Smyrna). In 1727, Sultan Achmed III. gave his permission for the establishment of the first legal print shop for printing in Arabic script.

Greece

Greek books were published in Italy and the Ottoman Empire, especially in Constantinople and Smyrna by Greeks from the 15th Century onwards. Corfu (Greek: Κέρκυρα - Kérkyra) is a city in north-western Greece. ...

Greenland

Rest of the world

Latin America

North America

Africa

South Asia

South East Asia

Inner Asia

Australia & Oceania

East Asia

References

Angus Maddison, Emeritus Professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Groningen. ... Fernand Braudel Fernand Braudel (August 24, 1902–November 27, 1985) was a French historian. ...

See also

• Editio princeps
• History of the book
• Johannes Gutenberg
• Printing
• Printing press

In classical scholarship, editio princeps is a term of art. ... Section Origins and antiquity contains text that needs translation into English. ... Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (c. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ...

External links

• Meyers Konversationslexikon, 4th edition, 1888–1890