Da Vinci and his Printing Press

We have recently been studying Gutenberg’s printing press, first by familiarising ourselves with it and then by attempting to make our own.  Although Leonardo wasn’t the first to invent the printing press, he did try to improve on Gutenberg’s design.

I had bought a Make-Your-Own kit for the Da Vinci press.  I hadn’t planned on doing a whole post on it but just occasionally I stumble upon a resource which is so well put together and/or so enjoyable to do that I simply have to share!  This kit happens to fall into that category.

There are many kits from the same company which I had ummed and ahhed about getting, and in some ways I rather wish I had bought a few more. 

The kits (all Da Vinci-inspired inventions) range in price from £9 upwards.  I am only giving my family’s view of the Printing Press Kit, not any of the others:

Inside each kit are all the wooden bits organised neatly in compartments, making it very clear which part is which:

A sheet shows each part diagrammed and labelled for extra clarity, if needed.  Included in the kit are a historical booklet and an instruction booklet:

Both were beautifully and authentically designed and added a special something to the kit:

I had been a bit concerned about the instructions booklet because in some of the reviews people had stated the instructions were hard to follow.  Gary and T12 did not find this the case and stated that they were perfectly fine and fairly easy to follow:

A linen sheet of material/paper (?) was included with some of Da Vinci’s original drawings printed on it:

All in all, this was a rather special kit, incredibly well presented.  It was hard enough to present a challenge, but comprehensive enough to build through to completion. 

It took an evening, plus a short while, to finish after the glue dried. 

Everything was included in the kit, including the glue and we were all very impressed by the final product:

This was a really good addition to our study, pulling together our study on Gutenberg’s printing press with our project-based learning on Leonardo Da Vinci, and as such, I would highly recommend it.