ABSTRACT
The maturation of the book-printing industry in Europe was associated with several profound changes. Although printing had appeared a few centuries earlier in China, its maturation was not associated with any major transformations in the social structure of China. The printing of books was a state monopoly in China. The development of printing in Europe, therefore, shifted the reproduction of books from the patronage of temples and palaces to the commercial realm. The printing industry slowly grew for first three or four decades, and rapidly expanded. In preprint Europe books were reproduced by scribes affiliated with the Catholic Church. If commercial printing of the Bible contributed to the fragmentation of Christianity, it is reasonable to inquire into the consequences of the commercial printing of religious books on other religions. The form of the book changed over the centuries as new technologies became available. The printing press was the death knell for orality as a technique for the preservation of information.
