Editing Movable type (section)

==History==
{{Further|Letterpress printing|History of printing in East Asia}}

=== Ceramic movable type ===
[[File:活字《佛说观无量寿佛经》残叶.jpg|thumb|Chinese characters are arranged in the shape of buddha on a page remain of [[Amitayurdhyana Sutra]] printed in 1103 ([[Northern Song dynasty]]) by ceramic movable type. Found in Baixiang Pagoda, Wenzhou.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Jin 金 |first = 柏东 |title=从白象塔《佛说观无量寿佛经》的发现说起活字印刷与温州——看我国现存最早的活字印刷品 |journal=温州会刊 |date=1 February 2004 |volume=20 |page=2 |url = https://www.tongxianghuicn.com/article/914488.jhtml?libId= |access-date=16 March 2021 }}</ref>]]

[[Bi Sheng]] ({{lang|zh-Hant|畢昇}}) (990–1051) developed the first known movable-type system for printing in China around 1040&nbsp;AD during the [[Northern Song]] dynasty, using ceramic materials.<ref name="tsien" /><ref name="Man">{{cite book |last=Man |first=John |title = The Gutenberg Revolution: The story of a genius that changed the world |year=2002 |publisher = Headline Book Publishing |location=London |isbn=978-0-7472-4504-9 |url-access=registration |url = https://archive.org/details/gutenbergrevolut0000manj }} A detailed examination of Gutenberg's life and invention, interwoven with the underlying social and religious upheaval of [[Medieval Europe]] on the eve of the Renaissance.</ref> As described by the Chinese scholar [[Shen Kuo]] (沈括) (1031–1095):

{{blockquote|When he wished to print, he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. In this he placed the types, set close together. When the frame was full, the whole made one solid block of type. He then placed it near the fire to warm it. When the paste [at the back] was slightly melted, he took a smooth board and pressed it over the surface, so that the block of type became as even as a whetstone.

For each character there were several types, and for certain common characters there were twenty or more types each, in order to be prepared for the repetition of characters on the same page. When the characters were not in use he had them arranged with paper labels, one label for each rhyme-group, and kept them in wooden cases.

If one were to print only two or three copies, this method would be neither simple nor easy. But for printing hundreds or thousands of copies, it was marvelously quick. As a rule he kept two forms going. While the impression was being made from the one form, the type was being put in place on the other. When the printing of the one form was finished, the other was then ready. In this way the two forms alternated and the printing was done with great rapidity.<ref name="tsien">{{cite book |last = Tsien |first = Tsuen-Hsuin |author-link=Tsien Tsuen-hsuin |title = Paper and Printing |volume = 5 part 1 |series = Needham, Joseph ''Science and Civilization in China'' |publisher = Cambridge University Press |year = 1985 |isbn = 978-0-521-08690-5 |pages = 201–217}}; also published in Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986.</ref>}}

After his death, the ceramic movable-type passed onto his descendants. In 1193, [[Zhou Bida]], an officer of the Southern Song dynasty, made a set of clay movable-type method according to the method described by Shen Kuo in his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'', and printed his book ''Notes of The Jade Hall'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《玉堂雜記》}}).<ref name="Yinong">Xu Yinong, ''Moveable Type Books'' (徐憶農《活字本》) {{ISBN|7-80643-795-9}}</ref> The ceramic movable type was also mentioned by [[Kublai Khan]]'s counsellor [[Yao Shu]], who convinced his pupil [[Yang Gu]] to print language primers using this method.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=911}}

The claim that Bi Sheng's clay types were "fragile" and "not practical for large-scale printing" and "short lived"<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sohn |first=Pow-Key |title=Early Korean Printing |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=79 |issue=2 |year=1959 |pages=96–103 |jstor=595851 |doi=10.2307/595851 }}</ref> was refuted by later experiments. Bao Shicheng (1775–1885) wrote that baked clay moveable type was "as hard and tough as horn"; experiments show that clay type, after being baked in an oven, becomes hard and difficult to break, such that it remains intact after being dropped from a height of two metres onto a marble floor. The length of clay movable types in China was 1 to 2 centimetres, not 2&nbsp;mm, thus hard as horn. But similar to metal type, ceramic type did not hold the water-based Chinese calligraphic ink well, and had an added disadvantage of uneven matching of the type which could sometimes result from the uneven changes in size of the type during the baking process.<ref>''Science and Civilization'', volume 5 part 1, Joseph Needham, 1985, Cambridge University Press, page 221. {{ISBN|0 521 08690 6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uxiZCgAAQBAJ&dq=movable+type+chinese+ink&pg=PT115 | isbn=9780393244809 | title=The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time | date=22 August 2016 | publisher=W. W. Norton & Company }}</ref>

There has been an ongoing debate regarding the success of ceramic printing technology as there have been no printed materials found with ceramic movable types. However, it is historically recorded to have been used as late as 1844 in China from the Song dynasty through the Qing dynasty.<ref name="Yinong" /><ref name="Jixing">Pan Jixing, A history of movable metal type printing technique in China 2001</ref>{{rp|22}}

=== Wooden movable type ===
[[File:Chinese movable type 1313-ce.png|thumb|A revolving typecase for wooden type in China, from [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen]]'s book published in 1313]]

[[Bi Sheng]] (990–1051) of the [[Song dynasty]] also pioneered the use of [[wood type|wooden movable type]] around 1040&nbsp;AD, as described by the Chinese scholar [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095). However, this technology was abandoned in favour of clay movable types due to the presence of wood grains and the unevenness of the wooden type after being soaked in ink.<ref name="tsien" /><ref>{{cite book |last = Shen |first = Kuo |author-link = Shen Kuo |title = Dream Pool Essays |title-link = Dream Pool Essays }}</ref>

In 1298, [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen]] ({{lang|zh-Hant|王禎}}), a [[Yuan dynasty]] governmental official of [[Jingde County]], [[Anhui|Anhui Province]], China, re-invented a method of making movable wooden types. He made more than 30,000 wooden movable types and printed 100 copies of ''Records of Jingde County'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《旌德縣志》}}), a book of more than 60,000 [[Chinese characters]]. Soon afterwards, he summarized his invention in his book ''A method of making moveable wooden types for printing books''. Although the wooden type was more durable under the mechanical rigors of handling, repeated printing wore down the character faces, and the types could only be replaced by carving new pieces. This system was later enhanced by pressing wooden blocks into sand and casting metal types from the depression in copper, bronze, iron or tin. This new method overcame many of the shortcomings of woodblock printing. Rather than manually carving an individual block to print a single page, movable type printing allowed for the quick assembly of a page of text. Furthermore, these new, more compact type fonts could be reused and stored.<ref name="tsien" /><ref name="Man" /> Wang Zhen used two rotating circular tables as trays for laying out his type. The first table was separated into 24 trays in which each movable type was categorized based on a number corresponding with a rhyming pattern. The second table contained miscellaneous characters.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=911}}

The set of wafer-like metal stamp types could be assembled to form pages, inked, and page impressions taken from rubbings on cloth or paper.<ref name="Man" /> In 1322, a [[Fenghua|Fenghua county]] officer Ma Chengde ({{lang|zh-Hant|馬称德}}) in Zhejiang, made 100,000 wooden movable types and printed the 43-volume ''Daxue Yanyi'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《大學衍義》}}). Wooden movable types were used continually in China. Even as late as 1733, a 2300-volume ''Wuying Palace Collected Gems Edition'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《武英殿聚珍版叢書》}}) was printed with 253,500 wooden movable types on order of the [[Qianlong Emperor]], and completed in one year.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=911}}

A number of books printed in [[Tangut script]] during the [[Western Xia]] (1038–1227) period are known, of which the ''[[Auspicious Tantra of All-Reaching Union]]'', which was discovered in the ruins of [[Baisigou Square Pagoda]] in 1991 is believed to have been printed sometime during the reign of [[Emperor Renzong of Western Xia]] (1139–1193).<ref name="zhang-yuzhen-2003">{{cite journal |author = Zhang Yuzhen (張玉珍) |title = 世界上現存最早的木活字印本—宁夏贺兰山方塔出土西夏文佛經《吉祥遍至口和本讀》介紹 |trans-title = The world's oldest extant book printed with wooden movable type |journal = Library and Information (《書與情报》) |year = 2003 |issue = 1 |url = http://www.zhg1.cn/science/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=244&Page=1 |issn = 1003-6938 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120402150528/http://www.zhg1.cn/science/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=244&Page=1 |archive-date = 2012-04-02 }}</ref> It is considered by many Chinese experts to be the earliest extant example of a book printed using wooden movable type.<ref name="beijing-daily">{{cite news |author1 = Hou Jianmei (侯健美) |author2 = Tong Shuquan (童曙泉) |title = 《大夏寻踪》今展國博 |trans-title='In the Footsteps of the Great Xia' now exhibiting at the National Museum |newspaper = [[Beijing Daily]] (《北京日报》) |date = 20 December 2004 }}</ref>

=== Metal movable type ===
====China====
[[File:五贯宝卷.jpg|thumb|Copperplate printed 5000-[[Chinese cash (currency unit)|cash]] [[paper money]] in year 1215 ([[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]]) with bronze movable type counterfeit markers]]

At least 13 material finds in China indicate the invention of bronze movable type printing in China no later than the 12th century,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://news.ifeng.com/history/zhongguogudaishi/special/huoziyinshua/ |title = 韩国剽窃活字印刷发明权只是第一步 |website = news.ifeng.com |access-date = 2014-05-23 |archive-date = 2020-02-05 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200205160037/http://news.ifeng.com/history/zhongguogudaishi/special/huoziyinshua/ |url-status = live }}</ref> with the country producing large-scale bronze-plate-printed paper money and formal official documents issued by the [[Jin dynasty (1115-1234)|Jin]] (1115–1234) and [[Southern Song]] (1127–1279) dynasties with embedded bronze metal types for anti-counterfeit markers. Such paper-money printing might date back to the 11th-century [[jiaozi (currency)|''jiaozi'']] of [[Northern Song]] (960–1127).<ref name="Jixing" />{{rp|41–54}}

The typical example of this kind of bronze movable type embedded copper-block printing is a printed "check" of the Jin dynasty with two square holes for embedding two bronze movable-type characters, each selected from 1,000 different characters, such that each printed paper note has a different combination of markers. A copper-block printed note dated between 1215 and 1216 in the collection of [[Luo Zhenyu]]'s ''Pictorial Paper Money of the Four Dynasties'', 1914, shows two special characters—one called ''Ziliao'', the other called ''Zihao''—for the purpose of preventing counterfeiting; over the ''Ziliao'' there is a small character (輶) printed with movable copper type, while over the ''Zihao'' there is an empty square hole—apparently the associated copper metal type was lost. Another sample of [[Song dynasty]] money of the same period in the collection of the [[Shanghai Museum]] has two empty square holes above ''Ziliao'' as well as ''Zihou'', due to the loss of the two copper movable types. Song dynasty bronze block embedded with bronze metal movable type printed paper money was issued on a large scale and remained in circulation for a long time.<ref>''A History of Moveable Type Printing in China'', by Pan Jixing, Professor of the Institute for History of Science, Academy of Science, Beijing, China, English Abstract, p.&nbsp;273.</ref>

The 1298 book ''Zao Huozi Yinshufa'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《造活字印書法》}}) by the [[Yuan dynasty]] (1271–1368) official [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen]] mentions [[tin]] movable type, used probably since the [[Southern Song]] dynasty (1127–1279), but this was largely experimental.<ref>{{cite book |author = Wang Zhen |author-link = Wang Zhen (official) |year = 1298 |title = Zao Huozi Yinshufa (《造活字印書法》) |quote = 近世又铸锡作字, 以铁条贯之 (rendering: In the modern times, there's melten Tin Movable type, and linked them with iron bar)}}</ref> It was unsatisfactory due to its incompatibility with the [[ink]]ing process.<ref name="tsien" />{{rp|217}} But by the late 15th century these concerns were resolved and bronze type was widely used in Chinese printing.<ref>{{harvnb|Tsien|1985|p=211}}</ref>

During the [[Mongol Empire]] (1206–1405), printing using movable type spread from China to Central Asia.{{clarify |reason = which others? names of cultures please. It beats saying "among others..." |date = February 2012 }} The [[Uyghur people|Uyghurs]] of Central Asia used movable type, their script type adopted from the Mongol language, some with Chinese words printed between the pages—strong evidence that the books were printed in China.<ref name="TsienACH">''Chinese Paper and Printing, A Cultural History'', by Tsien, Tsuen-Hsuin</ref>

During the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644), [[Hua Sui]] in 1490 used bronze type in printing books.<ref name="tsien" />{{rp|212}} In 1574 the massive 1000-volume encyclopedia ''[[Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era]]'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《太平御覧》}}) was printed with bronze movable type.

In 1725 the [[Qing dynasty]] government made 250,000 bronze movable-type characters and printed 64 sets of the encyclopedic ''[[Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China]]'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|《古今圖書集成》}}). Each set consisted of 5,040 volumes, making a total of 322,560 volumes printed using movable type.<ref name="TsienACH" />

==== Korea ====
[[File:JikjiType.gif|thumb|Recreated Korean movable type from 1377 as used for the ''[[Jikji]]'']]
[[File:Korean book-Jikji-Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters-1377.jpg|thumb|Printed pages of the ''Jikji'']]

In 1234 the first books known to have been printed in metallic type set were published in [[Goryeo dynasty]] Korea. They form a set of ritual books, ''Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun'', compiled by [[Ch'oe Yun-ŭi]].<ref name="christensen">{{cite web
 |url = http://www.rightreading.com/printing/gutenberg.asia/gutenberg-asia-1-introduction.htm
 |title = Did East Asian Printing Traditions Influence the European Renaissance?
 |author = Thomas Christensen
 |access-date = 2006-10-18
 |year = 2007
 |publisher = Arts of Asia Magazine (to appear)
 |archive-date = 2019-08-11
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190811145633/http://www.rightreading.com/printing/gutenberg.asia/gutenberg-asia-1-introduction.htm
 |url-status = live
 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
 |last = Sohn
 |first = Pow-Key
 |title = Printing Since the 8th Century in Korea
 |date = Summer 1993
 |journal = Koreana
 |volume = 7
 |issue = 2
 |pages = 4–9
 |url = http://koreana.kf.or.kr/popup.asp?article_id=309
 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

While these books have not survived, ''[[Jikji]]'', printed in [[Korea]] in 1377, is believed to be the world's oldest metallic movable type-printed book.<ref>{{cite book |first= Michael |last= Twyman |title = The British Library Guide to Printing: History and Techniques |location = London |publisher = The British Library |year = 1998 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KXoaalwyOjAC&pg=PA21 |page = 21 |isbn= 9780802081797 }}</ref>
However, 2022 research suggests that a copy of the [[Song of Enlightenment]] with Commentaries by Buddhist Monk ''Nammyeong Cheon,'' printed 138 years before ''Jikji'' in 1239'','' may have been printed in metal type.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yoo |first=Woo Sik |date=2022-05-27 |title=The World's Oldest Book Printed by Movable Metal Type in Korea in 1239: The Song of Enlightenment |journal=Heritage |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=1089–1119 |doi=10.3390/heritage5020059 |doi-access=free |issn=2571-9408}}</ref> The Asian Reading Room of the [[Library of Congress]] in Washington, D.C., displays examples of this metal type.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/world-record.html World Treasures of the Library of Congress] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829232346/http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/world/world-record.html |date=2016-08-29 }}. Retrieved 26 December 2006.</ref> Commenting on the invention of metallic types by Koreans, French scholar Henri-Jean Martin described this as "[extremely similar] to Gutenberg's".<ref name="Briggs 2002 pp.15-23">Briggs, Asa and Burke, Peter (2002) ''A Social History of the Media: from Gutenberg to the Internet'', Polity, Cambridge, pp.&nbsp;15–23, 61–73.</ref> However, Korean movable metal type printing differed from European printing in the materials used for the type, punch, matrix, mould and in method of making an impression.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://origin-archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla72/papers/085-Lee-en.pdf |title=Korean Typography in 15th Century |author=Hee-Jae LEE |publisher=72ND IFLA GENERAL CONFERENCE AND COUNCIL |at=table on page 15 |date=20–24 August 2006 |location=Seoul, Korea |access-date=26 August 2020 |archive-date=4 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804030745/http://origin-archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla72/papers/085-Lee-en.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The techniques for bronze casting, used at the time for making coins (as well as bells and statues) were adapted to making metal type. The [[Joseon dynasty]] scholar Seong Hyeon (성현, 成俔, 1439–1504) records the following description of the Korean font-casting process:
{{blockquote|At first, one cuts letters in beech wood. One fills a trough level with fine sandy [clay] of the reed-growing seashore. Wood-cut letters are pressed into the sand, then the impressions become negative and form letters [moulds]. At this step, placing one trough together with another, one pours the molten bronze down into an opening. The fluid flows in, filling these negative moulds, one by one becoming type. Lastly, one scrapes and files off the irregularities, and piles them up to be arranged.<ref name="christensen" />}}

A potential solution to the linguistic and cultural bottleneck that held back movable type in Korea for 200 years appeared in the early 15th century—a generation before Gutenberg would begin working on his own movable-type invention in Europe—when [[Sejong the Great of Joseon|Sejong the Great]] devised a simplified [[alphabet]] of 24 characters ([[hangul]]) for use by the common people, which could have made the typecasting and compositing process more feasible. But Korea's cultural elite, "appalled at the idea of losing [[hanja]], the badge of their elitism", stifled the adoption of the new alphabet.<ref name="Man" />

A "[[Confucianism|Confucian]] prohibition on the commercialization of printing" also obstructed the proliferation of movable type, restricting the distribution of books produced using the new method to the government.<ref name="Burke" /> The technique was restricted to use by the royal foundry for official state publications only, where the focus was on reprinting Chinese classics lost in 1126 when Korea's libraries and palaces had perished in a conflict between dynasties.<ref name="Burke">Burke</ref>

Scholarly debate and speculation has occurred as to whether Eastern movable type spread to Europe between the late 14th century and early 15th centuries.<ref name="christensen" /><ref name="meggs58-69">{{cite book | last = von Polenz | first = Peter | title = Deutsche Sprachgeschichte vom Spätmittelalter bis zur Gegenwart: I. Einführung, Grundbegriffe, Deutsch in der frühbürgerlichen Zeit | location = New York/Berlin | publisher = Walter de Gruyter GmbH | year = 1991 | language = de }}</ref>{{rp|58–69}}<ref>{{cite book |author = Juan González de Mendoza |author-link = Juan González de Mendoza |title = Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China |url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k75292n/f2.image |year = 1585 |language = es }}
</ref><ref name="Thomas Franklin Carter">
[[Thomas Franklin Carter]], ''The Invention of Printing in China and its Spread Westward'', The Ronald Press, NY 2nd ed. 1955, pp.&nbsp;176–178
</ref><ref name="McDermott" /> For example, authoritative historians [[Frances Gies and Joseph Gies]] claimed that "The Asian priority of invention movable type is now firmly established, and that Chinese-Korean technique, or a report of it traveled westward is almost certain."<ref name="Frances&Joseph">[[Frances Gies and Joseph Gies|Gies, Frances and Gies, Joseph]] (1994) ''Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Age'', New York : HarperCollins, {{ISBN|0-06-016590-1}}, p.&nbsp;241.</ref> However, Joseph P. McDermott claimed that "No text indicates the presence or knowledge of any kind of Asian movable type or movable type imprint in Europe before 1450. The material evidence is even more conclusive."<ref name="McDermott">{{cite book |editor-last=McDermott |editor-first=Joseph P. |title=The Book Worlds of East Asia and Europe, 1450–1850: Connections and Comparisons|publisher=Hong Kong University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-988-8208-08-1 |pages=25–26}}</ref>

==== Europe ====
{{Main|History of Western typography|Spread of European movable type printing}}

[[File:Printing towns incunabula.svg|thumb|The [[Printing Revolution]] in the 15th century: Within several decades around 270 European towns took up movable-type printing.<ref name="ISTC">{{cite web | url = http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/istc/index.html | title = Incunabula Short Title Catalogue | publisher = [[British Library]] | access-date = 2 March 2011 | archive-date = 12 March 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110312185857/http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/istc/index.html | url-status = live }}</ref>]]
[[File:European Output of Printed Books ca. 1450–1800.svg|thumb|European output of movable-type printing from [[Johannes Gutenberg|Gutenberg]] to 1800<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Buringh |first1= Eltjo |last2= van Zanden |first2= Jan Luiten |title= Charting the 'Rise of the West': Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries |journal= The Journal of Economic History |volume= 69 |issue= 2 |year= 2009 |pages= 409–445 |jstor= 40263962 |postscript= p.&nbsp;417, table 2.|doi= 10.1017/S0022050709000837 |s2cid= 154362112 }}</ref>]]

[[Johannes Gutenberg]] of [[Mainz]], Germany, invented the [[printing press]], using a metal movable type system. Gutenberg, as a [[goldsmith]], knew techniques of [[Punchcutting|cutting punches]] for making coins from moulds. Between 1436 and 1450 he developed hardware and techniques for casting letters from [[Matrix (printing)|matrices]] using a device called the [[hand mould]].<ref name="meggs58-69" /> Gutenberg's key invention and contribution to movable-type printing in Europe, the hand mould, was the first practical means of making cheap copies of letterpunches in the vast quantities needed to print complete books, making the movable-type printing process a viable enterprise.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Before Gutenberg, scribes copied books by hand on scrolls and paper, or print-makers printed texts from hand-carved wooden blocks. Either process took a long time; even a small book could take months to complete. Because carved letters or blocks were flimsy and the wood susceptible to ink, the blocks had a limited lifespan.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Gutenberg and his associates developed oil-based inks ideally suited to printing with a [[printing press|press]] on paper, and the first Latin [[typeface]]s. His method of casting type may have differed from the hand-mould used in subsequent decades. Detailed analysis of the type used in his 42-line Bible has revealed irregularities in some of the characters that cannot be attributed to ink spread or type wear under the pressure of the press. Scholars conjecture that the type pieces may have been cast from a series of matrices made with a series of individual stroke punches, producing many different versions of the same glyph.<ref>{{cite conference |first = Blaise |last = Agüera y Arcas |author2= Paul Needham |title = Computational analytical bibliography |book-title = Proceedings Bibliopolis Conference ''The future history of the book'' |publisher = [[Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands|Koninklijke Bibliotheek]] |date = November 2002 |location = [[The Hague]] ([[Netherlands]])}}</ref>{{request quotation|date=January 2019}}[[File:Miklós Andor in the page-setting room of Athenaeum Printing House - cca. 1920 (1).tiff|thumb|Editing with movable metal – {{circa|1920}}]] It has also been suggested{{by whom|date=January 2019}} that the method used by Gutenberg involved using a single punch to make a mould, but the mould was such that the process of taking the type out disturbed the casting, causing variants and anomalies, and that the punch-matrix system came into use possibly around the 1470s.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.open2.net/home/view?entityID=15599&jsp=themed_learning%2Fexpanding_viewer&sessionID=-1161756493749&entityName=object |title= What Did Gutenberg Invent?—Discovery |access-date= 2006-10-25 |year= 2006 |publisher= BBC / [[Open University]] }}{{dead link|date= June 2016|bot= medic}}{{cbignore|bot= medic}}</ref>
This raises the possibility that the development of movable type in the West may have been progressive rather than a single innovation.<ref>{{cite book  |first = James L.  |last = Adams |title = Flying Buttresses, Entropy and O-Rings: the World of an Engineer |year = 1993 |publisher = [[Harvard University Press]] |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xfpj6Ad9Jh0C |page = 80 |quote = There are printed materials from Holland that supposedly predate the Mainz shop. Early work on movable type in France was also under way.|isbn = 9780674306899}}</ref>

Gutenberg's movable-type printing system spread rapidly across Europe, from the single Mainz printing press in 1457 to 110 presses by 1480, with 50 of them in [[Italy]]. [[Venice]] quickly became the centre of typographic and printing activity. Significant contributions came from [[Nicolas Jenson]], [[Francesco Griffo]], [[Aldus Manutius]], and other printers of late 15th-century Europe. Gutenberg's movable type printing system offered a number of advantages over previous movable type techniques. The lead-antimony-tin alloy used by Gutenberg had half the melting temperature of bronze,<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://letterpressprinting.com.au/page40.htm | title=Machine Composition and Type Metal | access-date=2019-03-07 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190303115141/http://letterpressprinting.com.au/page40.htm | archive-date=2019-03-03 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.onlinemetals.com/meltpt.cfm |title=Melting Points of Metals |website=Onlinemetals.com |url-status=dead |access-date=2019-03-07 |archive-date=2019-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307112302/https://www.onlinemetals.com/meltpt.cfm}}</ref> making it easier to cast the type and aided the use of reusable metal matrix moulds instead of the expendable sand and clay moulds. The use of [[antimony]] alloy increased hardness of the type compared to lead and tin<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pnjresources.com/Hardness%20of%20Lead%20Alloys.htm |title=Hardness of Lead Alloys |access-date=2019-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226222939/http://www.pnjresources.com/Hardness%20of%20Lead%20Alloys.htm |archive-date=2019-02-26 |url-status=dead }}</ref> for improved durability of the type. The reusable metal matrix allowed a single experienced worker to produce 4,000 to 5,000 individual types a day,<ref>''Scientific American'' "Supplement" Volume 86 July 13, 1918 page 26, HATHI Trust Digital Library</ref><ref>Legros, Lucien Alphonse; Grant, John Cameron (1916) ''Typographical Printing-surfaces: The Technology and Mechanism of Their Production''. Longmans, Green, and Co. p. 301</ref> while Wang Chen had artisans working two years to make 60,000 wooden types.<ref>Childressm, Diana (2009) ''Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press''. Twenty-First Century Books, Minneapolis, p. 49</ref>