Who invented printing

The Chinese invented printing about a thousand years ago, using characters made of porcelain. In Europe two names are famous in connection with printing: that of Laurens Janszoon Coster of Haarlem, and that of Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz. We shall never know which one of them it was who invented printing first, but the first books appeared in the 1450s. The advent of printed books meant that knowledge was available to more people. Originally, the characters to be printed were cut from wood and assembled to form words or phrases. They were then covered with ink and printed on damp paper. The introduction of lead characters was a great step forward. The individual letters were cast in lead and stored by the printer in a flat wooden box with numerous compartments, known as a case. In this box, every letter and sign had its own place, so that the printer could easily find the ones which he needed to make up a sentence.

The letters were assembled on a composing stick and when a line had been completed it was transferred to a metal tray known as a galley, where the page was made up. Once completed the page was transferred to the press, where it was inked and printed on a sheet of damp paper.