On Mon, 11 Jan 2021 19:28:38 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Tue, 12 Jan 2021 07:37:00 +0700, John B.
wrote:

Not to disparage the Torah but until the 1440's all "books" were hand
written :-)

Not a problem, no offense taken, and as usual, I beg to differ
somewhat.

The first Gutenberg bible was available for purchase in 1554.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutenberg_Bible#Printing_history
Preparation of the Bible probably began soon after
1450, and the first finished copies were available
in 1454 or 1455.
There were probably prior books printed by Gutenberg that were not
bibles.

Yup. I should have written "the 1450's" "A contemporary account by a
visitor to Mainz indicates that the book was nearly ready in October
1454 and available for sale by March 1455."


Prior to the invention of the printing press, there was woodblock
printing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodblock_printing
which was invented in China in about 200 AD. Woodblock printing does
not require a scribe to put his hand on quill or paper. The European
version was the woodcut. Although text was possible, it was used
mostly for graphics:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodcut

Re Chinese, Bi Sheng (990-1051 AD) was claimed to have created the
world's first known movable type system for printing.
An entire Chinese "word" on one slug of type.

By the way a Japanese bloke invented a typewriter in 1929 that worked
in the same way. And I suspect that Japanese news print is done in a
similar way as I believe today's news papers still use both the
phonetic and traditional (Chinese) characters.

By the way, the cost of the Gutenberg bible, when it left the
printer’s workshop was believed to be about thirty florins. I can't
convert florins to modern currency but it was said to be a clerk's
salary for 3 years, so in modern U.S. terms, perhaps $100,000
https://www.averagesalarysurvey.com/united-states,

But of course, back in the day, the common people were not encouraged
to read the bible which was intended for only the Clergy. Imagine, if
one allowed the Hoi Polloi to read it think of all the different
interpretations of "The Word" that might emerge.
--
Cheers,

John B.