Printing consists of processes for preparing identical copies of a written or pictorial text. Writing, which dates from the beginnings of civilization, records messages and enables them to survive over the course of chronological time; printing enables the duplicated messages to move through geographical space as literary and political statements. The first printing dates from East Asia, just after the birth of Christ. Processes for duplicating written texts were invented anew in Europe around 1450, where it both reflected and profoundly stimulated an emerging Western culture.

The history of printing is a history of artifacts and events but also of crafts. Four objects are involved: (1) printing surfaces, determined by what is to be copied, (2) ink, which consists of a chemical vehicle into which are mixed other substances for pigment and drying, (3) presses to transfer the ink from the printing surface to...