In no former age had finer copies of books been produced; in none had so many been transcribed.

This increased demand for their production caused the processes of copying and illuminating manuscripts to be transferred from the scriptoria of the religious houses into the hands of trade-gilds like the Gild of St.John at Bruges or the Brothers of the Pen at Brussels.

It was in fact this increase of demand for books, pamphlets, or fly-sheets, especially of a grammatical or religious character, in the middle of the fifteenth century that brought about the introduction of printing.

We meet with the first records of the printer's art in rude sheets struck off from wooden blocks, "block-books" as they are now called.

Later on came the vast advance of printing from separate and moveable types.