Early printing

The Chinese first developed printing, and simple forms emerged elsewhere too. However, in the Middle Ages, Gutenberg’s invention of movable, metal type made cost-effective reproduction possible at scale. Printed documents enabled information and ideas to spread more widely, and to underpin emerging democracies – as in the case of printing in Exeter during the English Civil War. Exeter’s wealth was founded on the wool trade and such growth, as in many places, brought with it a gradual increase in the use of printed products. By the 1780s, the contributions of print were well established and the first known member of the Pollard family took up the trade. It is extraordinary to think that the origins of PollardsPrint date from the era of the American War of Independence and French Revolution.

Our History / Early printing