(From "Books Before and After Johannes Gutenberg, Illuminate)
Question: What can we learn from the text about how medieval books were related to the process in which they were made?
Books Before and After Johannes Gutenberg
1
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in Mainz, Germany, in 1440. With the printing press, multiple copies of books could be produced efficiently and with consistent quality. Before Gutenberg’s invention, there were perhaps 30,000 books in all of Europe. Fifty years later, there were as many as 10 to 12 million.
Books Before the Printing Press
2
To understand how Gutenberg’s invention revolutionized European culture, it is “illuminating” to understand how books were made before the printing press. Intellectual and cultural life in Medieval Europe was limited, for the most part, to religious communities called monasteries. Large monasteries had rooms called scriptoria where monks copied manuscripts—all by hand. A scribe prepared each page by outlining the margins and drawing a straight line for each line of text. Then the scribe wrote with a goose quill dipped in ink. After the scribe was finished, a person called a rubicator checked for errors and added the titles and large initial letters. Finally, a person called an illuminator added the illustrations and other artwork. This time-consuming process was used for each page of every book before the printing press was invented.
The Invention That Changed Books
3
The invention of the printing press is really the invention of three things: movable type, ink, and the press itself. Movable type consists of small pieces of metal with raised letters, which can be arranged and re-arranged to form words. Once the movable type is arranged, the page can be printed over and over again. Printing also requires ink. The scribe’s ink was water based and did not stick to the type. Gutenberg had to invent ink that was thicker and stuck to the type. Finally, the actual printing press was an adaptation of a wine press. Gutenberg was likely familiar with the wine press because he grew up in a winemaking region of Germany.
Books After the Printing Press
4
In 1452 and 1453, Gutenberg published the Gutenberg Bible, his first major project. It looked like a handwritten bible, but it differed in that each page had 42 regularly spaced lines of text, and there were no variations from copy to copy. This made reading the book much easier. One hundred and eighty copies of the Gutenberg Bible were printed. Only 21 complete copies of the Gutenberg Bible exist today.
5
For the 350 years that followed the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the printing process remained much the same. But significant changes took place in the intellectual and cultural life of society.
6
Gutenberg’s invention is, in fact, often described as the beginning of the information age. As the number of books increased, the types of books increased as well. In Medieval times, books were about religious topics only; the printing press enabled the printing of the so-called lost works of classical Greece and Rome. This renewed interest in the ancient world contributed to the rise of the Renaissance.
7
More than 240 printing shops had been established throughout Europe by the beginning of the sixteenth century. The spread of the printing press made it possible for more and more people to read books. Books began to be written in local languages, not just in Latin. This decline in the use of Latin for written communication both strengthened local languages and improved the educational opportunities for a wider range of society.
The Books of Today
8
Although virtual books are replacing more and more printed books, the influence of Gutenberg’s invention is still felt today. When we read a book, whether printed or electronic, we expect the consistency first established with the Gutenberg Bible. We expect that books are widely available, and not the domain of a privileged few. Gutenberg’s invention is so important that the first major effort to put all books online bears his name: “Project Gutenberg.”
(From "Books Before and After Johannes Gutenberg, Illuminate)
Question: What can we learn from the text about how medieval books were related to the process in which they were made?
(1 point)
Responses
Monks in monasteries made the books, so they were usually about religion.
Monks in monasteries made the books, so they were usually about religion.
The books had hand-drawn pictures, so they were mostly about things that could be shown in pictures.
The books had hand-drawn pictures, so they were mostly about things that could be shown in pictures.
Because the books were in Latin, they talked about things that interested Romans.
Because the books were in Latin, they talked about things that interested Romans.
Scribes copied each book by hand, so they were about things that could be explained shortly.
Scribes copied each book by hand, so they were about things that could be explained shortly.
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From the text, we can learn that medieval books were closely related to the process in which they were made. Monks in monasteries were responsible for making the books, and this was a time-consuming process. The books were copied by hand by scribes, who outlined the margins, wrote the text with a goose quill dipped in ink, and added titles and large initial letters. Another person called a rubicator checked for errors, and an illuminator added illustrations and artwork. Therefore, the books produced in this process were often about religious topics, as they were made in monasteries. They also had hand-drawn pictures, as the illuminator added illustrations. The books were written in Latin, which was the common language used in written communication during that time.
From the text, we can learn that medieval books were related to the process in which they were made in the following ways:
1. Monks in monasteries were responsible for copying manuscripts by hand, so the content of these books was often religious in nature. This suggests that the books were primarily about religion.
2. Scribes prepared each page and added the text using a goose quill dipped in ink. A rubicator checked for errors and added titles and large initial letters, and an illuminator added the illustrations and other artwork. This labor-intensive and time-consuming process suggests that the books were seen as valuable and often contained decorative elements.
3. The text mentions that the scribe's ink used in the manuscript production process was water-based and did not stick to the type. This indicates that the books were not printed using movable type like the ones produced after Gutenberg's invention.
4. The text also states that books before Gutenberg's invention were all copied by hand, indicating that they were limited in number and not easily mass-produced.
Overall, the process of making medieval books by hand influenced the content, design, and availability of these books, making them primarily religious in nature and limited in number.
From the text, we can learn that medieval books were closely related to the process in which they were made. Before the invention of the printing press, books were made by monks in monasteries who copied manuscripts by hand. The process involved preparing each page with margins and lines of text, writing with a quill dipped in ink, checking for errors and adding titles, and finally adding illustrations and artwork. This time-consuming process meant that each book was unique and took a long time to produce.
The invention of the printing press changed this process significantly. With movable type, ink, and the press itself, multiple copies of books could be produced efficiently and with consistent quality. Gutenberg's first major project was the Gutenberg Bible, which looked like a handwritten bible but had regular lines of text and no variations from copy to copy. This made reading the book much easier. The spread of the printing press led to the establishment of printing shops throughout Europe, making books more widely available.
Overall, the process of making medieval books was labor-intensive and limited to religious topics due to the involvement of monks in monasteries. The invention of the printing press revolutionized the process, enabling the printing of a wider range of books in different languages and contributing to the rise of the Renaissance.