How the Printing Press Changed the World

History · 5 questions · 353 words

1 Six hundred years ago, a book in Europe was a rare and costly treasure. Each one was copied by hand, letter by letter, by trained writers called scribes. Copying one long book could take months. Only rich families and a few schools could afford books. Most people never owned a single book in their whole lives.

2 Around 1450, in the German city of Mainz, a goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg found a faster way. He cast hundreds of small metal letters that could be lined up into words, inked and pressed onto paper. When a page was done, the letters could be taken apart and used again. For the press itself, he borrowed the design of the screw presses that farmers used to squeeze grapes and olives. Gutenberg was not the first to print with movable type. Printers in China and Korea had done it centuries earlier. But his mix of metal letters, oily ink and a strong press worked so well that it spread quickly across Europe.

3 The results were astonishing. A team at one press could print hundreds of copies of a page in a day. In the same time, a scribe might finish only a few pages. By 1500, print shops were running in more than two hundred European cities. Together they had turned out millions of books. As books grew cheaper, ordinary people could buy them, and many more people had a reason to learn to read.

4 Cheap books also changed the way ideas traveled. Hand-copied books often picked up mistakes, because a tired scribe could skip a line or misspell a word. Printed copies were nearly identical, so readers in different cities could study the very same pages. Now a scientist's discovery, a doctor's drawings of the human body or a map of a newly explored coast could reach readers in many countries. Printing even helped settle spelling, because printers wanted words to look the same in every book.

5 Today we send words around the world in seconds. But the idea behind that speed took shape in Gutenberg's workshop: knowledge grows more powerful when many people can share it.

Written for PlayOwl

Questions

Read the passage. Fill in the circle next to the best answer, or every box that fits when a question says "Choose all that are true". Name the paragraph that proves each answer.

1Which statement best expresses the central idea of the passage?
- Gutenberg was the first person in the world to print with movable type.
- Gutenberg's press made books cheap and common, spreading reading and ideas.
- Before printing, books in Europe were rare treasures that few people owned.
- Scribes made fewer mistakes than printers because they worked so slowly and carefully.
Evidence: paragraph

2In paragraph 4, printing "helped settle spelling." What does "settle" mean in this sentence?
- to move to a new place and live there
- to fix in one agreed way
- to make shorter and simpler
- to argue about loudly
Evidence: paragraph
3Which sentences support the claim that printed books were more accurate than hand-copied books? Choose all that are true.

More than one answer. Fill in every box that fits.
- "Hand-copied books often picked up mistakes, because a tired scribe could skip a line or misspell a word."
- "For the press itself, he borrowed the design of the screw presses that farmers used to squeeze grapes and olives."
- "Printed copies were nearly identical, so readers in different cities could study the very same pages."
- "By 1500, print shops were running in more than two hundred European cities."
- "Each one was copied by hand, letter by letter, by trained writers called scribes."
Evidence: paragraph
4What can you infer about reading in Europe before the printing press?
- Fewer people could read, partly because books were so hard to get.
- Most people borrowed books from scribes whenever they wanted something to read.
- Every child learned to read in school from hand-copied books.
- People read more before printing because each book was a treasure.
Evidence: paragraph
5How does the author organize most of the passage?
- It tells the story of Gutenberg's life from his childhood to his old age.
- It compares printing in China and Korea with printing in Europe, step by step.
- It explains how books were made before the press, how it worked and what it changed.
- It gives reasons for and against using printing presses, then lets readers decide for themselves.
Evidence: paragraph