Before the dawn of modern printing, the making of a book was a slow, expensive process that had improved but little in a thousand years. The professional scribe might spend four or five months copying out a 200-page text; even more costly than his labors were the 25 sheepskins needed to make enough parchment for a book of that length. To be sure, cheaper books were produced by artisans who carved whole pages of words and pictures on single wood blocks, then printed them on paper, most probably using hand pressure. The block, however, printed only its own unchangeable text, and made poor, uneven impressions of words. Though block books could be produced in greater quantity than manuscripts, they did not meet the demand for long, inexpensive texts.
A WOODCARViR. following hls pen-drawn outlines, cuts a block into text and pictures. The chief products of block printing were picture Bibles and playing cards.
AN ILLUMINATOR adds decorations to a hand-copied book. The money for 30 such volumes might pay one man's expenses for seven years in 15th Century Italy.
World History
