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The six-century-long history of printing is not confined merely to the development of technological processes. Its subject is much wider, for printing touches on almost every sphere of human activity-affecting and being affected by political, economic and sociological changes on our civilization. The article exemplifies the point by considering the importance of printing to the history of the Reformation; to the formation of the new German "standard-language", and to the publication of the first printed literature on practice oriented technology and experimental natural sciences. The second part of the article looks into the relationship between the printer and the typesetter's job profiles and into the advances which have transformed the printing process.