Letters, networks, and revolutions

Abstract

Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century unleashed a revolution by facilitating the circulation of ideas, information, propaganda, and discoveries like never before. Knowledge was democratised as it moved beyond the confines of traditional seats of learning to reach wider audiences. Authors of philosophical, scientific, theological, literary, philological, and historical works had greater and easier access to a broad array of sources that influenced their own works, and they, in turn, influenced the works of others. The surge in production and dissemination of printed books and pamphlets spurred and shaped the great developments of early modernity, from the Reformation to the scientific revolution.