Before the invention of the printing press, the reproduction of the written word was the responsibility of the monasteries. Each book had to be written and illustrated by hand. Surviving books from this era are among today's most valuable works of art. 

Despite their beauty there was a downside to this method of production, the books were so horrendously expensive to make, that only the very rich could afford to own them. This meant that few people ever had the opportunity or the need to learn to read. The printing press changed all that, and in doing so was responsible for the greatest socio-political changes in history. 

Printing from wooden blocks was probably invented in China in the years around the birth of Christ. However each plate had to be hand carved with each ideogram in position on the plate, which meant a completely new carved block for each new page. 

In 1457 Gutenberg invented the first printing press with moveable type. That is each letter was a separate carving and could be used again and again in different pages on different books. Gutenberg lived in Mainz in the heart of Germany's wine growing region and his press was built on the same idea as the presses that are used for pressing the juice from grapes to create wine. 

From humble beginnings printing presses spread over Europe, and with them a rapid increase in the number of people who could read, and the number of people who could afford to have their ideas reproduced in books. It is widely acknowledge that the reformation would not have occurred without the catalyst of the printing press. Printing presses across Europe rapidly produced copies of the thoughts of religous figures such as Martin Luther, because more people could read these ideas spread much more quickly than would have been possible with expensive and time-consuming hand-drawn books.

The idea of having raised type, applying ink to it and then squashing it onto paper to form an image, later became known as letterpress printing and was to be the most successful and most common form of printing until the 1950's.