Member dossier · PDF
Ink, Metal and Money — Member Dossier
€ 9.95 VAT included · digital download, nothing is shipped
Few technologies have a reputation as grand as printing with movable type. It is credited with the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, the rise of the vernacular languages, the spread of literacy and, in some versions, the very idea of the modern individual. The story is usually told as a short, bright sequence: a goldsmith in Mainz perfects a new way of making books around 1450, a Bible appears, and within two generations Europe is a different place. Our free articles on the history of technology tend to follow that sequence because it is a good story and because much of it is true.
What you get
- 6 chapters, about 12300 words
- A chapter on what historians still argue about
- A chronology
- A reading list with the sources named
- PDF in A4 and US Letter
For: Readers who want one episode argued through from the evidence, with the disagreements between historians left visible.
Every article on this site stays free. Buying is how the writing gets paid for; reading never costs anything.