New technology. What stayed?
A new way of making something does not mean everything changes at once.
Start with the context
The Library of Congress describes a Gutenberg Bible printed in Mainz around 1455. Its pages combine movable metal type with headings and capital letters decorated by hand. The text is in Latin. These details let us investigate production and continuity without assuming that one book explains every reader’s experience.
- Change
- Something becomes different over time.
- Continuity
- Something continues across a period of change.
- Inference
- An explanation drawn from evidence; it needs support.
A · Production
The book was printed using movable metal type.
B · Decoration
Some decoration was added by hand.
C · Language
This Bible’s text is in Latin.
Use the evidence
Use A and B together. What changed in production, and what practice continued?
A student says: “Once this book was printed, everyone in Europe could read it.” Which part goes beyond the evidence? Explain.
Write a two-sentence museum label. Include one change, one continuity, and a careful word such as “some,” “this,” or “could” where needed.
Close it. Recall it. Check it.
Cover the evidence. Recall one change and one continuity in this example. Then explain why a source about one book cannot establish the reading ability of a whole population.