How Did The Printing Press Change From 1500 To 1750

Different factors played a part in the change of the world from 1500-1750 to reach the modern world that we see today but the printing press and the way it impacted the spread and accessibility of literature and how it connected to newfound religious ideas was by far the most powerful.

To begin, the printing press led to the spread and accessibility of literature. The creation of the printing press led to a big domino effect as “printing made books less expensive and more available”1 allowing for a larger quantity of writings to be produced for a cheaper price for the consumer giving more people the opportunity to purchase and read different works evidently leading to increased literacy rates. The printing press also affected the spread of writings as “printing revolutionized the speed and range of distribution of texts”2. This increase of speed and range can be concluded due to the fact that literature before the printing press had been handwritten. With being able to step away from handwritten manuscripts to premade templates of writing the development of literature proceeded at a much faster pace “allow[ing] [people] to share large amounts of information quickly and in huge numbers”3.

Before the printing press, when writing was done all by hand, it was a privilege to obtain written works. Due to this, “religious authorities pretty much had monopolistic control over written texts”4 which were all written in the holy language of Latin, further restricting access to the written word. After the printing press was introduced it was much easier to obtain a copy of religious writings such as the bible due to their vast accessibility and creation in vernacular, granting any people of any language the ability to read the bible. “[A]fter reading the bible, people formed new ideas about Christianity”5 aiding in the spread of Reformation as it “spread quickly both within and beyond