Dear Curious George,

Well, you asked what was the best thing before sliced bread. Clever question. I'm so glad you asked! Actually, the best thing before sliced bread was the printing press, invented in 1440 by Johannes Gutenburg, a stonecutter/goldsmith from Germany. Gutenburg developed an extremely durable metal alloy that would hold up to many uses; therefore, facilitating the development of moveable type. The moveable type printing press was used by Gutenburg to print 50 highly decorative Bibles, one of which is on display at the Library of Congress in my very own hometown of Washington DC. Gutenburg's printing press technology was eventually borrowed by many other printers and used to make books more prolific and affordable, which, in turn, aided in increasing the dreadfully low literacy rate of Europe, which led to the Renaissance, which led to the Enlightenment,the Reformation and the settlement of the new world. So, basically, we owe the successful progress/development of technology and philosophy of the modern world to the movable type printing press invented by Johannes Gutenburg. Not quite as tasty as sliced bread, but slighty more valuable to modern society : )


Mugs