This statement, which was made by Pierce Butler in 1940, describes a situation which seems current even now. Although the relationship between technology and culture in general has been the subject of a growing literature, the more specific relationship between the advent of printing and fifteenth-century cultural change has not yet been explored. This is partly because the very act of drawing connections is not as easy a task as one might think. Butler goes on to refer to an “intimate connection” which becomes apparent “the moment our thought penetrates through bare facts,” but I must confess I cannot imagine just what connection he had in mind. Although the shift from pen-written book to printed one may be taken as a known fact, it is not the kind of fact that can be said to “speak for itself.” As previous chapters suggest, a complex ensemble of many interrelated changes was involved.

When one turns to the other side of the equation, matters are no less complicated and even more obscure.