DANGEROUS PRINTERS / PRINTING UP TROUBLE

A Slide Lecture Presentation

It seems every time a new Printing Press was established, it caused all sorts of havoc and panic.  Even Gutenberg himself was targeted.  Religious leaders like Martin Luther made use of the power of the Press to spread his practice to the mainstream, and was viciously attacked, incidentally, through the presses supported by the Church.  Christoph Plantin and other 17th century Printers faced death-threats and persecution, Jacob de Gheyn's Drill manual helped the Dutch confederacy in their victories over the massive Spanish Empire.  In the 1640s the rise of the "Newspaper" and Magazine (Gazetter) published Royal scandals and controversies and were shutdown by Government agents.  The Printing Press was forbidden in Virginia Colony in North America in the late 1600s, and the first English press in North America was for a few decades the only press allowed to print in New England. Patriot presses, printing viciously critical Newspapers had "wars of words" with Loyalist-backed presses in Boston, Revere's "Boston Massacre" print helped push for Independence.  Caricatures became Big News in 1810s London, Abolitionist-backed presses had their shops broken into, their presses destroyed, and caused riots in the streets. 

All of this chaos caused from printed paper?   Let's take a look at the problems Printers caused in this Slide lecture presentation.

This presentation is a work in progress.  Content may not reflect what is listed above due to time constraints.

If you are interested in this program, please contact Andy. (email: avarthistory@gmail.com)

Program to be made available as both an Online / Zoom and Live In-Person Lecture presentation, 1-hour in length

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