Well, we're not precisely sure. Gutenberg seems to have invented the printing press, but the earliest official record of his doing so is a lawsuit against him from 1439: usually given as the defeinite date of its invention. But we think he probably teamed up with Andreas Dritzehan and Andreas Heilmann in 1436: though we're not sure whether that was to start building a press from the already-completed designs, or to start designing one.
And then Caxton famously brought the press to England in 1476, enabling the Elizabethan golden age of literature which followed (more people could read more books).
But perhaps the most accurate date to give for its invention is "between 1435 - 1440"!
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