In mid-15th-century Europe, the book was a hand-copied, prohibitively expensive object. Producing a single Bible required months of work by a monastic copyist. Movable type was already known in China by the 11th century, and Korea had printed *Jikji* with metal type in 1377; but Gutenberg's system combined a set of components that triggered a lasting industrial shift: a durable lead-tin-antimony type alloy, a mechanical press adapted from the wine press, an oil-based printing ink, and the precise mould for casting individual letters.

The famous 42-line Bible (*Biblia Sacra*), completed around 1455, was printed in roughly 180 copies — 49 survive today. Its quality became the reference standard for printing aesthetics for centuries.

The press spread rapidly: by 1500, printing workshops existed in some 250 European cities, and over ten million books had been produced. The result was a qualitative shift in how knowledge moved. The Protestant Reformation was carried by printed texts — Luther's 95 Theses circulated across Germany within weeks. The scientific revolution reached a wide readership through the books of Copernicus, Galileo and Vesalius. National languages were standardised; over centuries, literacy multiplied.