The Media Revolution

Erik Bergholm

Life Before Gutenberg

• Books could be found only in monasteries, places of education, and in the homes of the very wealthy

• As copying was a laborious process, only texts that held wide appeal were reproduced

• Not surprisingly, the Bible was the primary text

• Scribes were responsible for copying manuscripts, while “illuminators” created the illustrations

• Illuminators added stylized fonts, gold trimming, and beautiful color to the tomes

• Worked in special rooms called scriptoriums

• Scribes and similar trades formed guilds, similar to today’s unions

Early Process

• Parchment was made from animal skin

• Bought, brought to the monastery, and rubbed smooth by an assistant, before the copying could begin

• Lines had to be spaced exactly, marked by knife incisions

Gutenberg

• Trained as a metallurgist and goldsmith

• Hailed from Mainz, Germany. Born around 1399

• Used his skills in metalworking to aid in the construction of his most important invention

• First mass-marketed book he produced was the Gutenberg Bible

The Printing Press

• Inspired by the wine press, which uses a similar technique

• Constructed mainly of wood

• Letters were carved onto movable “keys”. These were coated with ink

http://youtu.be/ksLaBnZVRnM

Demonstration

Its Influence

• Allowed books to be mass produced

• Naturally, knowledge would be available to many more people

• Learning something—be it a trade, language, etc—once required the assistance of a mentor. Now all one had to do was learn to read

• Created an intellectual revolution in all areas of thought—philosophy, science, and religion

• Since the layperson could buy a Bible now, it was open to individual interpretation

• The Copernican Revolution would not have been possible without the printing press

• Culture moved from oral to literate

Food for Thought

• The invention, and subsequent mass-production, of books allowed humanity to store its collective knowledge

• No longer do we have to rely on heredity and oral tradition

• Books are the new DNA. Humanity has transcended physical evolution

• Echoes what famous astronomer said (was it Sagan or Hawking?)

Superstition and the Written Word

• A demon known as Tutivillus was said to haunt scribes

• Legend continued even after the printing press

• Demon would cause errors and lack of concentration (typos and writer’s block)

• According to some tales, monks would be punished in afterlife for too many spelling errors

Sources

• "A Gallimaufry." 'a Gallimaufry' N.p., 14 Mar. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.

• "End of Europe's Middle Ages - The Impact of the Printing Press." End of Europe's Middle Ages - The Impact of the Printing Press. University of Calgary, 6 Nov. 2001. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

• "Harry Ransom Center the University of Texas at Austin." Harry Ransom Center RSS. University of Texas at Austin, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

• "Inventor of the Week: Archive." Inventor of the Week: Archive. LemelsonMIT, Aug. 2004. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.