Leaf Printed by Wendelin Da Spira – Circa 1470

In the 1450s, Johannes Gutenberg launched the first media revolution with the inventions of the printing press and movable metal type. These two inventions paved the way for mass production of books and publications for the first time in history. The widespread availability of the printed word on topics such as art, philosophy, politics, science and religion profoundly influenced European intellect and culture, which was the critical movement known as the Renaissance. “One of the first printed works that might qualify as news was an Italian report on a [medieval] tournament printed in about 1470 (the press had arrived in Italy in 1464),” according to A History of News (Stephens, 1997). Similar in age and geography to what Stephens describes as the first printed news is the rare leaf shown above, which was printed in Italy circa 1470 by Wendelin Da Spira with the first movable type ever used in Venice. To help underscore the age of this printed leaf, consider this: The ink pressed on this page was done so before Michelangelo was born (1475), before the Spanish Inquisition began (1481), before Christopher Columbus’ first voyage across the Atlantic (1492), before Vasco de Gama sailed from Europe to India (1497-1499), and before Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper (1498).