These days, we are surrounded by electronic devices that make our lives easier. Among these devices are the written means of communication, whether printed or electronic (and both depend on the computer – a very recent invention). Well, behind such material comfort provided by technology there are always many, many stories – stories of technological inventions, above all. The first and most decisive of these inventions took place in the AgeModern. THE invention of the press, per JohannesGutenberg, was one of the most notorious.
The German Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) developed the first printing machine made with movable type around 1439 (thus 15th century). When we talk about press, the journalistic apparatus that registers and transmits the news of the day comes to mind. But here, the word press has the meaning of origin, that is, it refers to the phenomenon of printing on paper, printing characters or types furniture (letters and other graphic signs - such as accent, comma, period etc.) on sheets of paper that were folded, tied and glued, forming a " codex”, that is, a book as we know it today.
Gutenberg revolutionized the way books are produced. This is justified by the fact that, before printing, books were handcrafted, handcrafted, with cursive writing, usually in pen. Of course, before the movable type machine, there were other printing systems, like the Chinese one, in which Indian ink was used. But the big news in Gutenberg's press was the mechanical ability to produce and reproduce texts and books. While, by hand, a codex took a month to be ready, with movable types, dozens of codices (or books) were made in the same time frame.
In the 16th century, the press machine became very popular and useful in the principalities of Germany because of the Protestant Reformation, carried out by martinLuther. Luther translated the Bible from Latin into German, making access to the Scriptures easier. The Bible was the first great book to be printed in movable type and circulated among the population, initially in the Germany, where the printing press was invented, and later in the rest of Europe, when other translations were made. Reformist pamphlets were also printed in movable type, in great quantity, and began to circulate in Germany with impressive speed for the time.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, in the main urban centers of Europe, large communities of readers, precisely because the press has enabled the mass production of books, newspapers, flyers etc. Thus, what Gutenberg did has the same weight as the scientific inventions of modernity, such as the invention of the telescope, by GalileoGalilei.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
