How had the printing presscreared a …

<div>THE READING MANIA
(i) Increase in literacy rate : By the end of the eighteenth century, in some parts of Europe literacy rate was as high as 60 to 80 percent. As literacy and schools spread in European countries, there was a virtual reading mania.
(ii) New forms of literature : In England, penny chapbooks were sold by petty peddlers known as chapmen, for a penny, so that even the poor people could buy them easily. In France, 'Biliotheque Bleue' were printed which were low-priced small books printed on poor quality paper and bound in cheap blue covers.
(iii) Periodicals : The periodical press developed from the early eighteenth century, combining information about current affairs with entertainment, about wars and trade, as well as news of developments in other places. Ideas of scientists and philosophers ( Issac Newton, Thomas Pain, Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau etc.) now became more accessible to the common people. Ancient and medieval scientific texts were compiled and published, and maps and scientific diagrams were widely printed. Thus their ideas about science, reason and rationality found their way into popular literature.</div>