Elenco Printing Press - Manual (Page 10)

8
Da Vinci may have been drawn to improve the printing press because of its impact on
science. The printing press was a factor in the establishment of a community of
scientists who could easily communicate their discoveries through widely disseminated
scholarly journals. Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful.
It was suddenly important to attribute information to its creator. This allowed the exact
citing of references, producing the rule, "One author, one work, one piece of information”
edict. This meant that only one author is credited with his work and it was attributed
to him only. Prior to the use of the printing press, the author of a specific body of work
was less important because a book made in one city would not be exactly identical to
one made in another. For many written works prior to the printing press, the name of
the author was entirely lost. After the advent of the printing press, book publishing
became a commercial enterprise and the first copyright laws were enacted to protect
what we now would call intellectual property rights.
The Importance of the Printing Press
Vocabulary Words
Copyright – rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the
right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. Copyrights lasts for a certain time period,
usually 50-100 years after the author’s death.
Handpress – a hand-operated printing press
Intellectual Property – The artistic and commercial ownership of creations of the mind.
Offset Printing – printing technique where the inked image is transferred or "offset"
from a plate to a rubber blanket, and then to the printing surface