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Thus, the essential elements of the printing process collected slowly in western Europe, where a favourable cultural and economic climate had formed. Xylography, the art of printing from wood carving, the existence and importance of which in China was never suspected by Marco Polo, appeared in Europe no earlier than the last quarter of the 14th century, spontaneously and presumably as a result of the use of paper. It had been observed that paper was better suited than rough-surfaced parchment for making the impressions from wood reliefs that manuscript copyists used to reproduce the outline of ornamental initial capital letters. ...(100 of 26569 words)