<P> The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 , based on existing screw presses . Gutenberg , a goldsmith by profession , developed a printing system , by adapting existing technologies to printing purposes , as well as making inventions of his own . His newly devised hand mould made possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type in large quantities . Movable type had been hitherto unknown in Europe . In East Asia , where it was invented , the usefulness of movable type was limited by the complexity of the writing system and , without the hand mould , the production of sorts ( individual letters of type ) was slow . In Europe , the two inventions , the hand mould and the printing press , together drastically reduced the cost of printing books and other documents , particularly in short print runs . </P>
<P> The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 , based on existing screw presses . Gutenberg , a goldsmith by profession , developed a printing system , by adapting existing technologies to printing purposes , as well as making inventions of his own . His newly devised hand mould made possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type in large quantities . Movable type had been hitherto unknown in Europe . In East Asia , where it was invented , the usefulness of movable type was limited by the complexity of the writing system and , without the hand mould , the production of sorts ( individual letters of type ) was slow . In Europe , the two inventions , the hand mould and the printing press , together drastically reduced the cost of printing books and other documents , particularly in short print runs . </P>
when was the printing press invented and by who
when was the printing press invented and by who
The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 , based on existing screw presses
The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440 , based on existing screw presses