How many books could a printing press versus copyist produce in 5 months?

The printing press revolutionized the production of books, allowing for a much faster and more efficient process compared to the traditional method of hand-copying manuscripts by scribes. Here is a comparison between the productivity of a printing press and a copyist in terms of the number of books they could produce in a 5-month period:

Printing Press:

- In the 15th century, when the printing press was first introduced, a skilled printer could produce around 300 to 400 pages per day. Assuming a book of approximately 200 pages, one printer could produce around 2 books per day.

- With the help of assistants, a printing shop with multiple presses could produce up to 10 to 12 books per day. Working 6 days a week for 5 months (approximately 150 working days), a printing shop could produce:

10 books/day * 6 days/week * 150 working days = 9,000 books

Copyist:

- A skilled copyist could write around 10 to 15 pages per day. Assuming the same book size of 200 pages, a copyist could complete one book in approximately 13 to 20 days.

- Working 6 days a week for 5 months (approximately 150 working days), one copyist could produce:

1 book/15 days * 6 days/week * 150 working days = 60 books

Therefore, in 5 months, a printing press could produce approximately 9,000 books, while a copyist could produce around 60 books, demonstrating the vast difference in productivity between the two methods.