The art of printing is one of the revolutionary inventions in the history of mankind. It offered an easy access to books for a much greater number of people.

In Europe printing was invented in the early Renaissance, about 1450, by the German Johann Gutenberg. Soon the art of printing spread, first to Italy, later to France and the rest of Europe. The earliest printed books (printed before 1501) are usually referred to as incunabula – literally “cradle prints”.

Printing made it possible to produce books in many identical copies. But in the early days of printing each copy often displayed individual traits. The illustrations – woodcuts – were coloured by hand.

Printing developed amazingly fast. Soon books were printed in Greek and Hebrew characters, and from the beginning of the 16th century also in Arabic characters.

Many centuries before Gutenberg, in the 11th century, printing with movable types was invented in China. Several factors combined, however, to make printing less attractive, one of them being the many characters in Chinese. It was not until the 19th century, after the introduction of types of lead, that print technology with movable types became widespread in the Far East.