Nothing divided the medieval world in Europe more decisively from the Early Modern period than printing with movable type. It was a German invention and the culmination of a complex process. The world of antiquity had recorded its writings mainly on papyrus. Between 200 B.C and A.D 300, this was supplemented by vellum, calf skin treated and then smoothed by pumice stone. To this in late Roman times was added parchment, similarly made from the smoothed skin of sheep or goats. In the early Middle Ages, Europe imported an industrial process from China, which turned almost any kind of fibrous material into pulp that was then spread in sheets. This was known as cloth parchment. By about 1150, the Spanish had developed the first mill for making cheap paper (a word contracted from "papyrus", which became the standard term). One of the most important phenomena of the later Middle Ages was the growing availability of cheap paper. Even in England, where technology lagged far behind, a sheet of paper, or eight octavo pages, cost only a penny by the fifteenth century.

In the years 1446-1448, two German goldsmiths, Johannes Gutenberg and Johann Fust, made use of cheap paper to introduce a critical improvement in the way written pages were reproduced. Printing from wooden blocks was the old method; what the Germans did was to invent movable type for the letterpress. It had three merits: it could be used repeatedly until worn out; it was cast in metal from a mold and so could be renewed without difficulty; and it made lettering uniform. In 1450, Gutenberg began work on his Bible, the first printed book, known as the Gutenberg. It was completed in 1455 and is a marvel. As Gutenberg, apart from getting the key idea, had to solve a lot of practical problems, including imposing paper and ink into the process and the actual printing itself, for which he adapted the screw press used by winemakers, it is amazing that his first product does not look at all rudimentary. Those who handle it are struck by its clarity and quality.

Printing was one of those technical revolutions that developed its own momentum at extraordinary speed. Europe in the fifteenth century was a place where intermediate technology - that is, workshops with skilled craftspeople - was well established and spreading fast, especially in Germany and Italy. Such workshops were able to take on printing easily, and it thus became Europe's first true industry. The process was aided by two factors: the new demand for cheap classical texts and the translation of the Latin Bible into "modern" languages. Works of reference were also in demand. Presses sprang up in several German cities, and by 1470, Nuremberg, Germany had established itself as the center of the international publishing trade, printing books from 24 presses and distributing them at trade fairs all over western and central Europe. The old monastic scriptoria-monastery workshops where monks copied texts by hand-worked closely alongside the new presses, continuing to produce the luxury goods that movable-type printing could not yet supply. Printing, however, was primarily aimed at a cheap mass sale.

Although there was no competition between the technologies, there was rivalry between nations. The Italians made energetic and successful efforts to catch up with Germany. Their most successful scriptorium quickly imported two leading German printers to set up presses in their book-producing shop. German printers had the disadvantage of working with the complex typeface that the Italians sneeringly referred to as "Gothic" and that later became known as black letter. Outside Germany, readers found this typeface disagreeable. The Italians, on the other hand, had a clear typeface known as roman that became the type of the future.

Hence, although the Germans made use of the paper revolution to introduce movable type, the Italians went far to regain the initiative by their artistry. By 1500 there were printing firms in 60 German cities, but there were 150 presses in Venice alone. However, since many nations and governments wanted their own presses, the trade quickly became international. The cumulative impact of this industrial spread was spectacular. Before printing, only the very largest libraries, of which there were a dozen in Europe, had as many as 600 books. The total number of books on the entire Continent was well under 100,000. But by 1500, after only 45 years of the printed book, there were 9 million in circulation.

要区分欧洲的中世纪和早期现代社会，没有什么能比活字印刷更明显。活字印刷是德国人发明的一种复杂程序。古代人们主要在纸莎草纸上记录文字。公元前200年至公元300年间，由处理过的并被浮石打磨过的小牛皮做成的牛皮纸成为书写材料的补充。在罗马时代晚期，还增加了羊皮纸，类似地，是由打磨光滑的绵羊皮或山羊皮制成的。在中世纪早期，欧洲人从中国引进了一种工业生产方法，可以将几乎任何纤维材料转化为浆体然后铺成薄片。这就是我们所说的“布纸”。大约在1150年，西班牙出现了第一座磨坊，用于制作更便宜的“纸”（paper是“papyrus”的缩写，现在成为了标准术语）。中世纪晚期最重要的现象之一就是便宜的纸越来越普及。甚至是在15世纪技术水平相当落后的英格兰，一张纸或八开纸也只需要1便士。 1466-1448年，德国金匠Johannes Gutenberg和Johann Fust利用便宜的纸带来了一个至关重要的改进，通过这种方式书写页改头换面。木块印刷是老方法，而德国人做的就是为凸版印刷发明活字。活字有3项优势：可以重复使用，直到用坏为止；由金属铸模而成，更换不难；统一印字。1450年，Gutenberg开始制作《圣经》，这也是第一本印刷书，即《古腾堡圣经》。它于1455年完成印刷，是一个奇迹。除开核心理念，Gutenberg还必须解决许多实际问题，包括将纸和油墨加入印刷工序，以及实际的印刷本身，为此他改装了酿酒师所使用的螺旋式压制方法。他的第一件作品看上去一点也不粗糙，真是令人叹服。操作它的人们都为它的清晰和质量而震惊。 印刷是发展势头极快的技术革命之一。15世纪的欧洲是一个中间技术——也就是拥有技能熟练的工匠的作坊——完全建立并迅速扩散的地方，尤其是在德国和意大利。这些作坊可以很容易地承担印刷，因而印刷成为欧洲第一个真正的产业。这一进程有两个辅助因素：对便宜的经典文稿的新需求和拉丁文《圣经》被翻译为“现代”语言。参考作品也非常受欢迎。出版公司在几个德国城市出现，到1470年，德国纽伦堡把自己建设成为国际出版贸易的中心，由24家出版公司来印刷书籍，然后在西欧和中欧的贸易展览会上分销。老式的修道院缮写室——就是修道院工作室，修道士（僧侣）在那里手抄经文——与新式出版印刷紧密合作，继续制造那些活字印刷还不能供应的奢侈品。印刷的目标是薄利多销。 技术之间并没有竞争，但国家之间有。意大利人非常努力地追赶德国，并且成功了。他们最成功的缮写室很快引进了两个德国先进打印机，为书籍制造商店建立出版公司。德国打印机面对复杂字体时有缺陷，意大利人轻蔑地称之为“哥特式”，随后改称为黑体。在德国之外，读者也发现这种字体令人不喜。另一方面，意大利人有一种清澈的字体，被称为“罗马字体”，它是以后的主流字体。 因此，虽然德国人利用纸张革命发明了活字印刷，但意大利人通过他们的工艺重获主动权，走得更远。到1500年，德国有60个城市拥有印刷公司，而单单威尼斯就有150家出版公司。但是，很多国家和政府都想要有自己的出版公司，相关贸易迅速国际化。工业传播的累计效果非常壮观。在印刷术出现之前，只有最大的图书馆（欧洲仅有12个）才拥有多达600本的藏书。整个大陆的书籍总数不到10万。但是到1500年，在第一本印刷书出现的50年之后，总共有9百万本书在流通中。