Printing press

=== Economic conditions and intellectual climate ===
{{See also|History of capitalism|Medieval university}}
[[File:Laurentius de Voltolina 001.jpg|thumb|[[Medieval university]] class (1350s)]]

The rapid economic and socio-cultural development of [[Late Middle Ages|late medieval society]] in Europe created favorable intellectual and technological conditions for Gutenberg's improved version of the printing press: the entrepreneurial spirit of [[history of capitalism|emerging capitalism]] increasingly made its impact on medieval modes of production, fostering economic thinking and improving the efficiency of traditional work processes. The sharp rise of [[Medieval university|medieval learning]] and literacy amongst the [[middle class]] led to an increased demand for books which the time-consuming hand-copying method fell far short of accommodating.<ref>{{harvnb|Eisenstein|1980}}; {{harvnb|Febvre|Martin|1997}}; {{harvnb|Man|2002}}</ref>