Questions: Which best describes printing before the invention of the Gutenberg printing press? a long, expensive process a short, expensive process a long, inexpensive process a short, inexpensive process

The answer is the first one: a long, expensive process.

Explanation for each option:

• a long, expensive process: This is correct. Before the invention of the Gutenberg printing press, books and other printed materials were copied by hand, which was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive process. This made the production of books both long and expensive.
• a short, expensive process: This is incorrect. The process was not short; it took a considerable amount of time to manually copy texts.
• a long, inexpensive process: This is incorrect. While the process was indeed long, it was not inexpensive due to the labor and materials required.
• a short, inexpensive process: This is incorrect. The process was neither short nor inexpensive.

Summary: Before the invention of the Gutenberg printing press, printing was a long and expensive process due to the manual labor involved in copying texts by hand.