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Elizabeth Eisenstein's Arguments On The Printing Revolution

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Assess the impact of printing in early modern Europe, with specific reference to Elizabeth Eisenstein’s arguments about a ‘printing revolution’

Name of Author: Elizabeth O’ Dwyer
Course: First Year BA
Student ID number: 15173399
Module Code: HI4721

Mary Immaculate College
University of Limerick

Lecturer: Dr. Liam Chambers and Dr. Clodagh Tait
Submitted to Mary Immaculate College: 27/10/2015
Word Count: 1476.

This essay will discuss the impact of printing in early modern Europe, with specific reference to Elizabeth Eisenstein’s argument about a ‘printing revolution’. When Johannes Gutenberg invented printing in Mainz in the 1440s/1450s it set the platform for great change in Europe and the wider world. This new invention had such …show more content…

It is ludicrous for us to think of our lives now without the printed word yet it was the stark reality prior to the printing presses invention. It, no doubt, had a huge impact on the world yet some historians believe that it was not a revolution. Some make the valuable point that the impact of printing was made possible by a much broader communications revolution, which allowed books and printed document to be transported all over the world. While others believe that print did not just overtake manuscripts overnight. This of course is highly credible as people at the time people at the time especially conservative and wary of new ideas. This would have meant that people would have taken quite some time to accept printed works. Many historians have made the case that printing made great strides in dispelling illegal ideas from circulating as to have a document printed an author’s name needed to be provided. However, others have criticised this saying that these idea were still spread by written manuscripts. Others believe that printing shops were used by states to regulate authority. There printing press of course had its downfalls, however it proved to be very useful in many areas, making huge impacts in the sectors of education, religion, exploration, employment, science, law and politics. The printing revolution caused great change in Europe, change that is still evident to this day. The impact that the invention of the printing press had was so great that it is perfectly acceptable for Elizabeth Eisenstein to label it a printing

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