The woodblock printing existed in Europe even before Gutenberg. Gutenberg's real contribution was the printing with movable metal types, which were themselves m

The woodblock printing existed in Europe even before Gutenberg. Gutenberg's real contribution was the printing with movable metal types, which were themselves made by means of a hand mould he invented. So you had to carve a letter only once, produce one or several moulds from it and use them to cast identical metal types. This had not only the advantage that the types could faster be arranged into a text than cutting it all in wood. Their clear shapes were not only superior in appearance to any wood cut, but in one respect even to hand writen texts: all the types looked alike. Gutenberg's idea was not to make a cheap product for the masses (or at least for those who could read), but an extremly high-quality product for the top of the elite.[1] It is rather interesting to see that his intent and his actual impact were so far apart. [1] Cf. this sample from his bible: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Gutenberg_Bible_B42_Genesis.JPG https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Gutenber...