Printing as an Agent of Change in Morocco, 1864–1912

Abstract

When we study the history of printing in Europe, we find conflicting views regarding the impact of the printing press. From the viewpoint of certain Renaissance scholars, the advent of printing came too late to be taken as the singular point of departure for the historical transition to modernity.1 For historians of printing like Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin, and Elizabeth Eisenstein, however, Gutenberg’s invention was an indispensable element in transforming European civilisation, as Europe lost its medieval aspect and assumed modern political, religious and social forms.2 Although there are disagreements over quite how much agency should be attributed to the invention of printing, there is nonetheless a broad scholarly consensus that there was some fundamental connection between the rise of printing and European modernity.