From V. Moyses
Regarding Ian Gadd’s letter on the impact of the Internet compared with that of printing (Letters, 8 April): How can anyone doubt the impact of printing? Printing equals literacy.
It is estimated that in the year 1000 literacy was restricted to barely 1 per cent of the population of Europe. The literate were mostly religious and mostly men – some lawyers and few women. But those able to read were not all able to write. Book production was largely the work of monks for most of the Dark Ages – craftsmen who depended on eyesight, daylight and nimble fingers. A book could take months to make and cost £25 – in 1433’s money, not today’s.
So, printing equals large editions equals cheap books equals wider availability equals greater demand equals literacy; at least for large numbers of middle-class laity.
The problem now is to make the Internet as available, useful, and as user-friendly (that is, cheap) as books and libraries.
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