Now that anyone is free to print whatever they wish, they often
disregard that which is best and instead write, merely for the sake of
entertainment, what would best be forgotten, or, better still be
erased from all books. And even when they write something worthwhile
they twist it and corrupt it to the point where it would be much
better to do without such books, rather than having a thousand copies
spreading falsehoods over the whole world.
-- Niccolo Perotti, (1471 -- soon after invention of printing press).
quoted in The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future,
By Robert Darnton (2009).