Introduction

The close relationship between printing and the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century has long been a scholarly commonplace. By his translation of the Bible, Luther contributed massively to the unification of the German language, we are told. In English, the rich poetry of the Authorized Version has for centuries left an indelible mark on the literature of the English-speaking world. The Protestant stress on the Book as central to religious life implied an emphasis on education, and led to an accelerated growth in literacy rates in Protestant countries.1