The Development of Printing

Paragraph 1：Printing with movable type, a revolutionary departure from the old practice of copying by hand, was invented in the 1440s by Johannes Gutenberg, a German goldsmith. Mass production of identical books and pamphlets made the world of letters more accessible to a literate audience. Two preconditions proved essential for the advent of printing: the industrial production of paper and the commercial production of manuscripts. 

 

 

Paragraph 2：Increased paper production in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was the first stage in the rapid growth of manuscript books—hand-copied works bound as books—which in turn led to the invention of mechanical printing. Papermaking came to Europe from China via Arab intermediaries. By the fourteenth century, paper mills were operating in Italy, producing paper that was much more fragile but much cheaper than parchment or vellum, animal skins that Europeans had previously used for writing. To produce paper, old rags were soaked in a chemical solution, beaten by mallets into a pulp, washed with water, treated, and dried in sheets—a method that still produces good-quality paper today. 

 

1. According to paragraph 2, which of the following is true of papermaking? 

 

O In fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Europe, it was restricted to Italy, which was the only country with the technology to build paper mills. 

 

O It was brought to Europe from China.

 

O Its development ended the practice of copying books by hand. 

 

O It produces a superior writing material that is stronger than parchment. 

 

 

 

2. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 2 about the process of making paper in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Europe? 

 

O It was based on the process previously used to make parchment and vellum. 

 

O It was replaced by a process that added steps to create a better quality of paper. 

 

O It was dependent on the availability of discarded or used cloth.

 

O It produced paper that was more fragile than paper made in China. 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 3：By the fifteenth century, a brisk industry in manuscript books was flourishing in Europe’s university towns and major cities. Production was in the hands of merchants called stationers, who supplied materials, arranged contracts for book production, and organized workshops known as scriptoria, where the manuscripts were copied, and acted as retail booksellers. The largest stationers, in Paris and Florence, were extensive operations by fifteenth-century standards. The Florentine Vespasiano da Bisticci, for example, created a library for Cosimo de’ Medici, the head of Florence’s leading family, by employing 45 copyists to complete 200 volumes in 22 months. Nonetheless, bookmaking in scriptoria was slow and expensive. 

 

 

 

3. The author mentions “Vespasiano da Bisticci” in order to emphasize   

 

O the process by which stationers obtained the necessary materials for book production 

 

O the equal importance of Florence and Paris in the rapidly developing book industry 

 

O the superiority of Florentine libraries to those in other European cities 

 

O that making books was a commercial enterprise in Europe before the invention of printing

 

 

 

4. All of the following were mentioned in paragraph 3 as functions of stationers in fifteenth-century Europe EXCEPT 

 

O the creation of contracts for production of books 

 

O the provision of materials for copying books 

 

O the hiring of authors to compose new books

 

O the organization of scriptoria 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 4：The invention of movable type was an enormous technological breakthrough that took bookmaking out of the hands of human copyists. Printing was not new: the Chinese had been printing by woodblock since the tenth century, and woodcut pictures (in which an image is cut on wood and then transferred to paper) made their appearance in Europe in the early fifteenth century. Movable type, however, allowed entire manuscripts to be printed. The process involved casting durable metal molds to represent the letters of the alphabet. The letters were arranged to represent the text on a page and then pressed in ink against a sheet of paper. The imprint could be repeated numerous times with only a small amount of human labor. In 1467 two German printers established the first press in Rome and produced 12,000 volumes in five years, a feat that in the past would have required one thousand scribes working full time for the same number of years. 

 

 

5. According to paragraph 4, which of the following occurred because of the invention of movable type? 

 

O An increase in the cost of book production 

 

O An increase in the popularity of the techniques of woodblock and woodcut 

 

O The creation of a large number of printing jobs 

 

O A decline in the importance of human copyists

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 5：After the 1440s, printing spread rapidly from Germany to other European countries. The cities of Cologne, Strasbourg, Nuremberg, Basel, and Augsburg had major presses, and many Italian cities had established their own by 1480. In the 1490s, the German city of Frankfurt became an international meeting place for printers and booksellers. The Frankfurt book fair, where printers from different nations exhibited their newest titles, represented a major international cultural event and remains an unbroken tradition to this day. Early books from other presses were still rather exclusive and inaccessible, especially to a largely illiterate population. Perhaps the most famous early book, Gutenberg’s two-volume edition of the Latin Bible, was unmistakably a luxury item. Altogether 185 copies were printed. First priced at well over what a fifteenth-century professor could earn in a year, the Gutenberg Bible has always been one of the most expensive books in history, both for its rarity and its exquisite crafting. 

 

 

 

6. Which of the following can be inferred from paragraph 5 about the Gutenberg Bible?   

 

O It was printed in Frankfurt.   

 

O People with average incomes were not likely to own it.  

 

O Numerous copies of it were sold at the Frankfurt book fair.   

 

O It was one of the first expensive books to be sold to an international population. 

 

 

 

 

 

Paragraph 6： Some historians argue that the invention of mechanical printing gave rise to a communications revolution as significant as, for example, the widespread use of the personal computer today. The multiplication of standardized texts altered the thinking habits of Europeans by freeing individuals from having to memorize everything they learned; it certainly made possible the speedy and inexpensive dissemination of knowledge. It created a wilder community of scholars, no longer dependent on personal patronage or church sponsorship for texts. Printing facilitated the free expression and exchange of ideas, and its disruptive potential did not go unnoticed by political and church authorities. Emperors and bishops in Germany, the homeland of the printing industry, moved quickly to issue censorship regulations. 

 

 

 

7. The author mentions “the personal computer” in the passage in order to   

 

O compare the importance of the development of mechanical printing to the development of the computer

 

O contrast the superiority of communications technology in the modern era to that of the fifteenth century   

 

O emphasize the sophisticated social and economic growth of fifteenth-century society   

 

O emphasize the conflicting views of historians about the significance of new technologies 

 

 

 

8. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways of leave out essential information. 

 

O European ways of thinking were affected by the new multiple sources of knowledge that became available through the standardization of texts.  

 

O Once standardized texts became widespread, people could acquire knowledge in faster, more affordable ways because they no longer had to memorize texts.   

 

O Individuals were increasingly free to take advantage of the large number of standardized texts that became available.   

 

O It became easier for people to increase their knowledge in many areas because books were significantly cheaper than they had previously been. 

 

 

Paragraph 6： Some historians argue that the invention of mechanical printing gave rise to a communications revolution as significant as, for example, the widespread use of the personal computer today. ■The multiplication of standardized texts altered the thinking habits of Europeans by freeing individuals from having to memorize everything they learned; it certainly made possible the speedy and inexpensive dissemination of knowledge. ■It created a wilder community of scholars, no longer dependent on personal patronage or church sponsorship for texts. ■Printing facilitated the free expression and exchange of ideas, and its disruptive potential did not go unnoticed by political and church authorities. ■Emperors and bishops in Germany, the homeland of the printing industry, moved quickly to issue censorship regulations. 

 

 

 

9. Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage. 

 

For such leaders, the uncontrolled expression of ideas was clearly unwelcome.

 

Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square [■] to add the sentence to the passage. 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points. Drag your choices to the spaces where they belong. To review the passage, click on View Text. 

 

The invention of printing was a revolutionary development that brought about profound social change in Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

 

 

 

Answer Choices 

 

O Printing with metal type rather than woodblocks was the invention of a German goldsmith living in Rome, the center of printing in the fifteenth century. 

 

O A precondition for the successful production and distribution of mechanically printed books was the earlier commercial organization of hand-copied book production by merchants known as stationers.

 

O Because movable type made it more economical to produce many copies of a single book, the invention of mechanical printing had an immense effect on the spread of knowledge.

 

O The expansion of the paper making industry in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries made it possible to fully and economically use the invention of movable type in book production. 

 

O In the fifteenth century, printed books were internationally distributed through the Frankfurt book fair, although few people in the fifteenth century could afford books or were able to read them.

 

O The most important and expensive early mechanically printed book was Gutenberg’s two-volume Latin Bible, produced in an edition of only 185 copies. 

 

 

 

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