Skip to Main Content

Student Research Guide WQ24/ The Gutenberg Press and its Impacts on Lower and Middle Class Societies in Western Europe

Student Research Guide for Library 201/ Brooke Tyler

Top 10 Resources

  • Dittmar, Jeremiah E. "Information technology and economic change: the impact of the printing press." The Quarterly Journal of Economics 126.3 (2011): 1133-1172. 

Dittmar has a PhD in Economics. This article talks about how the Gutenberg press impacted the economy.

  • Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. “The Advent of Printing and the Problem of the Renaissance.” Past & Present, no. 45, 1969, pp. 19–89. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/650048. Accessed 10 Mar. 2024.

Eisenstein had written multiple works on the printing press. This journal article talks about the connection between the printing press and the Renaissance.  She highlights how books were being produced in many different European languages in different regions.

  • Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. “In the Wake of the Printing Press.” The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, vol. 35, no. 3, 1978, pp. 183–97. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29781778. Accessed 9 Mar. 2024.

Elizabeth Eisenstein was an American Historian. In this article, she talks about how the press “moved Western Europe from picture-culture to word-culture” (Eisenstein 2), as well as transforming ways of communication.

This source is a documentary produced by Balanga. It gives a more detailed and cinematic story of the beginning and evolution of the press.

Hart has written multiple articles on religion for multiple journals. In the article he talks about why the increased access to print and the increased encouragement of literacy was impactful in the protestant reformation.

  • Hoe, Robert. "A Short History of the Printing Press and of the Improvements in Printing Machinery from the Time of Gutenberg up to the Present Day". Project Gutenberg, 2020. 

This source is a book found in the OneSearch section of the library website. Robert Hoe was a producer of printing press equipment. This book talks about the timeline and evolution of the printing press.

The Journal of Church and State is an academic journal. Howard is a professor of communication arts. He has written other works on religion and has a reputable background.

This is a reference source from an encyclopedia. It talks about not only the Gutenberg press, but also the other versions of the printing press that came later on.

  • Rubin, Jared. “PRINTING AND PROTESTANTS: AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE ROLE OF PRINTING IN THE REFORMATION.” The Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 96, no. 2, 2014, pp. 270–86. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43554930. Accessed 10 Mar. 2024.

Jared Rubin is a researcher and professor of economics at Chapman University. This paper highlights how reformers utilized the printing press during the Protestant Reformation. It also talks about how the Reformation helped the printing press spread.

  • Scialabba, Karen (2013) The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Publishing: A Framework for Contemporary Understanding, Journal of Religious & Theological Information, 12:3-4, 71-89, DOI: 10.1080/10477845.2013.840526

This article was written by Karen Scialabba, who studied philosophy and Religious Studies. This article is about how the printing press impacted the way that the Catholic people thought about and taught their religion to others.

Top 5 Recommended Keywords/Search Terms

  • "The Gutenberg Press"
  • "Gutenberg Press" AND "literacy rates"
  • "Gutenberg Press" AND "The Protestant Reformation"
  • Johannes Gutenberg
  • "Gutenberg Press" AND "The Renaissance" 
All Content CC-BY.