(i) The invention of the printing press accelerated the process of modernisation. Earlier, manuscripts were written by hand on animal skin called vellum. Only the privileged few could access them. Johannes Gutenberg (1394-1468 A.D. (C.E.)) invented the printing press in Germany in the middle of the fifteenth century. The printing press enabled the production of multiple copies of a manuscript and their spread all over Western Europe.
(ii) In less than fifty years after the invention of the Gutenberg printing press, about six million books had been printed.
(iii) The invention of printing press not only spread knowledge widely, but also promoted critical thinking.
