Printing was first done from wooden blocks. The pictures and text for an entire page were carved on a block of wood. The block was inked and pressed against paper by hand. The Chinese began making books this way in the 800's, and Europeans did so by the late 1300's.
Bi Sheng of China invented movable type in about 1045. He made a separate piece of clay type for each character. Later, the Chinese also developed metal type. But the use of movable type did not catch on in China because the Chinese language has thousands of different characters. People found it impractical to make so many different pieces of type.
Johannes Gutenberg's first printing press was constructed of presses used to make wine and cheese.