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The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin… from Business History
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Show notes
Before 1450, books were written out by hand. It was slow and expensive. But Johannes Gutenberg borrowed a ton of money to create a printing press that could crank out Bibles and pamphlets and documents in huge numbers. Science, politics and philosophy were all up-ended.
For example, the Catholic Church seized on the invention to sell special certificates absolving people of their sins – a move that made money, but caused a permanent schism in Christianity.
And Gutenberg too found himself in trouble – when a financier sued the inventor to reclaim his loan, plus interest.
Enjoy this episode from Business History, another Pushkin podcast.
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