This book presents the popular vernacular instruction, ranging from herbals to midwifery guides, as well as the collection of knowledge in the encyclopedias of the Early Modern Period, alongside the new form of the prose novel and the beginnings of newspapers and magazines. Throughout, colorful illustrations depict the various media in their historical context of communication and the intellectual climate of a pan-European educational elite around 1500. The interplay between printing and the Reformation is also discussed, whose success is largely attributed to Gutenberg. Finally, Stephan Füssel describes the history of Gutenberg's invention, which was used almost unchanged for 350 years.