History of Western typography Erhard Ratdolt c. 1486 was cut to suit Venetian taste. In 1476 William Caxton, having learned his craft on the Continent, printed the first books in England with a so-called Bâtarde type (an early Schwabacher design), but soon abandoned it. The early printers of Spain were Germans who began by printing in up-to-date roman types but soon gave these up and adopted Gothic typefaces based on the letterforms of Spanish manuscripts. Valencia in the Kingdom of Aragon was the location of the first press, established in 1473. From there printers moved to other cities to set up presses. Roman types
Press laws Press laws Press laws are the laws concerning the licensing of books and the liberty of expression in all products of the printing-press, especially newspapers . The liberty of the press has always been regarded by political writers as of supreme importance. "Give me liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all other liberties", says Milton in the "Areopagitica". Before the invention of printing, the Church assumed the right to control the expression of all opinion distasteful to her. When the printing press was invented, German printers established themselves at various important centres of