1440: Gutenberg Press.

As in Johannes Gutenberg, the goldsmith and inventor who created the first printing press to use moveable type. Gutenberg’s press revolutionized book production, by lowering costs and making publishing possible on a mass scale.

 The press also sped up developments in science, art and religion by making it possible to distribute texts. A single printing press could produce 3,600 pages a day.

After the publication of the Gutenberg Bible in 1455, printing presses starting cropping up all over Europe. The first English book was published in 1475.  And by  the turn of the century, printing presses had cranked out more than 20 million volumes.