ShmoopTube

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Shmoop All right here it is the invention that changed it all the one

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the only the squeegee squeegee never let interns write anything for you

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[a squeegee with a smiling face on a stage] we meant the printing press from the printing presses shrouded in mystery you

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know where it began okay actually a lot of people know where it began what can

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we say we like an air of mystery anyway well the printing press was invented in [A flag pole in a corner of a room with a printing press]

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1448 by a german guy named Johannes Gutenberg well why was it so swell

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because it allowed books to be reprinted quickly and cheaply after the printing

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press millions more people had access to the written word and all the [3 guys reading books]

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mind-blowing ideas that came with it before the printing press made its debut

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books were massively expensive this isn't necessarily because book makers

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were money-grubbing evildoers who wanted the world to remain in intellectual [man with devil horns laughing]

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darkness a couple of them may have books were majorly pricey because

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it took a long time to copy them most were recopied by hand which as you can

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imagine took forever block printing was starting to be popular but it just [printing press hard at work]

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wasn't good enough well despite advancements only rich people could

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afford to buy books and then came along old Johannes Gutenberg who was trained

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as a goldsmith gem cutter and metallurgist and show off despite his

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many skills Gutenberg ran into financial difficulties and racked up some major [Gutenberg stood in a cave]

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debt don't assault his financial woes he decided to invent a device that would

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allow him to cheaply print things Wow inventing a world-changing invention

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seems like a much more impressive way to deal with debt then bumming from mom [kid running to parents asking for money]

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and dad anyway to get the job done Gutenberg used metals like tin and led

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to cast locks of 290 letters and symbols next he created a new kind of ink from

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linseed oil and soot which he thought was best for handmade paper

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[gutenberg operating a wine press] he adapted a wine pres which let him spit paper in and out of it and also

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to squeeze out excess water well in 1450 Gutenberg tested his machine by printing a

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Latin book on speech making the process was a success but that book wasn't [group of people sleeping and looking bored]

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exactly the best seller for which Gutenberg is most famous hard to believe

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that people didn't go nuts for a Latin book on speech making huh

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well Gutenberg next project turned out to be his greatest hit this time he [piece of paper with list of best books ever]

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decided to go with a sure fire winner yep the Bible well 200 Gutenberg Bibles were

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printed complete with colorful illustrations that were filled in after [fountain pen frantically scratching]

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the printing and thus the printing revolution had begun too bad a local financier

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named Fust took ownership of the printing business when Gutenberg

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couldn't pay back his loans in all these days there were only 22 known Gutenberg

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Bibles left and they're valued at around 25 35 million dollars each we say it [a bible book with a price tag attached]

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would be nice to travel back in time and tell Johannes Gutenberg how it all

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worked out but well maybe that would be just too cool [a man holding a bible and gutenberg crying]

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