Books-The Last Chapter ?.

The Gutenberg printing press in the 15th century inaugurated a new age of books and literacy.The fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453 led to a flight to the West of Byzantine scholars bringing Greek texts such as Plato with them.So by the time the printing presses were running the surviving Latin and Greek texts became the basis for the new publishing industry.Initially books were published in Latin and Greek because there was far more ancient than modern literature in existence at that time.This state of affairs continued for some time and was eventually satirized by Swift in his pamphlet The Battle Of The Books.In this satire the books of an early 18th century library dispute who should come first the Ancient or Modern books. The Ancients claiming to be original in their thoughts with the Moderns often merely commentating on the works of the past..By this time a considerable literature in the modern European languages had arisen.It is interesting to note that Caxtons printing press in England  which started in 1476 published four fifths  of its books in English.