ABSTRACT
Advanced literacy depends on a large volume of available material which is clearly printed…. Widespread literacy cannot be based on inscriptions, since there are not enough of them; and rolls of parchment are awkward to consult. [Havelock] argues that rapid reading, and hence full literacy in the sense in which we understand the term, would have been difficult to achieve… without large volumes of materials to practice on…. A major factor in the development of effective and full-scale literacy is therefore the development of machine printing.
