Movement guide

Early printing

mid-15th century

Representative Early printing artwork — Representative work from the Explainary collection.

Detail from a Early printing artwork — Detail crop for texture and technique.

The emergence of print technology that transformed access to knowledge and visual culture.

What defines it

Movable type and consistent typography
Hybrid pages with hand illumination
Rapid spread of texts and ideas

Techniques and innovations

Scalable book production
Standardized letterforms and layout

Key artists

Key works in Explainary