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Older Than Steam

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The Apprentice: The early Years

From printing to the steam engine (1439-1698), a time also generally known as the Early Modern Era. The arrival of movable type printing in Europe made books plentiful, and helped standardize the languages that used it. Much more survives from this period than from earlier.

Please note, that when we say steam engine we mean useful steam engine. Not Heron's first century toy, and not the store.

Notable works and authors from this time period include:

Tropes that originated in this time period:

  • Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, which implies that it was already an old aesop.
  • Don Quixote, written about eight years after The Merchant of Venice,refers to this trope as "a saying" (Ch. 33), providing another indication that it's really even older.