Describe the different stages regarding coming of print technology to Europe before the development of printing press by Johann Gutenberg.

(i) In the eleventh century, chinese paper reached Europe via silk route. This helped in the production of manuscripts that were written by scribes’
(ii) In 1295 Marco Polo brought knowledge of woodblock printing from china. Books were now produced with woodblocks. From here this technology spread to other parts of Europe.
(iii) However luxury editions were still hand-written on vellum meant for aristocratic people and rich monostic libraries.
(iv) As the demand for books increased, the hand-written manuscripts could not satisfy it. Thus, woodblock printing became popular. By the early fifteenth century, woodblocks were widely used in Europe to print textiles, playing cards, and religious pictures with simple’ brief texts.