What if Gutenberg's printing press had gone differently?

Movable-type printing begins in Mainz, collapsing the cost of the written word.

If it had gone differently: Books stay hand-copied and rare; literacy spreads at a crawl for another century.

The real history on Wikipedia ↗

Later turning points that leaned on Gutenberg's printing press. Change it in the game and the ripples reach all of these.

1. 1517The Protestant Reformation. Without it, Western Christianity stays a single church; no confessional map of Europe forms.
2. 1600The Scientific Revolution. Without it, Natural philosophy stays deferential to the ancients; no method, no acceleration.
3. 1720The Enlightenment. Without it, Absolutism keeps its intellectual cover; 'rights of man' never enters common speech.
4. 1870Compulsory mass schooling. Without it, Literacy and numeracy stay patchy; the workforce and the electorate of 1900 look much like 1800's.