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The Printing Press

Early on, only very educated people could read and write. They usually read and wrote in classic Greek and Latin. The first books took a very long time to complete. They were handwritten, and writing materials were limited. Very old books were written on parchment, or animal skins!

Then the printing press was invented around 1440, and many more books became available. Books helped standardize the English language. (Standardize means “to make it common or the same.”) In other words, printed books helped make one form of English the accepted form. With books, more and more people learned to read and write.