Johannes Gutenberg
| |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg
c. 1400 |
| Died | February 3, 1468 (aged about 68) |
| Occupation | Engraver, inventor, and printer |
| Known for | The invention of the movable-type printing press |
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (/ˈɡuːtənbɜːrɡ/; c. 1400 – February 3, 1468) was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, inventor, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe with the printing press. His introduction of mechanical movable type printing to Europe started the Printing Revolution and is regarded as a milestone of the second millennium, ushering in the modern period of human history. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.
Gutenberg in 1439 was the first European to use movable type. Among his many contributions to printing are: the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink for printing books; adjustable molds; mechanical movable type; and the use of a wooden printing press similar to the agricultural screw presses of the period. His truly epochal invention was the combination of these elements into a practical system that allowed the mass production of printed books and was economically viable for printers and readers alike. Gutenberg's method for making type is traditionally considered to have included a type metal alloy and a hand mould for casting type. The alloy was a mixture of lead, tin, and antimony that melted at a relatively low temperature for faster and more economical casting, cast well, and created a durable type.
In Renaissance Europe, the arrival of mechanical movable type printing introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unrestricted circulation of information—including revolutionary ideas—transcended borders, captured the masses in the Reformation and threatened the power of political and religious authorities; the sharp increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and bolstered the emerging middle class. Across Europe, the increasing cultural self-awareness of its people led to the rise of proto-nationalism, accelerated by the flowering of the European vernacular languages to the detriment of Latin's status as lingua franca. In the 19th century, the replacement of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press by steam-powered rotary presses allowed printing on an industrial scale, while Western-style printing was adopted all over the world, becoming practically the sole medium for modern bulk printing.
The use of movable type was a marked improvement on the handwritten manuscript, which was the existing method of book production in Europe, and upon woodblock printing, and revolutionized European book-making. Gutenberg's printing technology spread rapidly throughout Europe and later the world.
His major work, the Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible), was the first printed version of the Bible and has been acclaimed for its high aesthetic and technical quality.
Early life
Gutenberg in a 16th-century copper engraving
Gutenberg was born in the German city of Mainz, the youngest son of the patrician
merchant Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden, and his second wife, Else
Wyrich, who was the daughter of a shopkeeper. It is assumed that he was
baptized in the area close to his birthplace of St. Christoph. According to some accounts, Friele was a goldsmith for the bishop at Mainz, but most likely, he was involved in the cloth trade.
Gutenberg's year of birth is not precisely known, but it was sometime
between the years of 1394 and 1404. In the 1890s the city of Mainz
declared his official and symbolic date of birth to be June 24, 1400.
John Lienhard, technology historian, says "Most of Gutenberg's early life is a mystery. His father worked with the ecclesiastic mint. Gutenberg grew up knowing the trade of goldsmithing."
This is supported by historian Heinrich Wallau, who adds, "In the 14th
and 15th centuries his [ancestors] claimed a hereditary position as ...
retainers of the household of the master of the archiepiscopal mint. In
this capacity they doubtless acquired considerable knowledge and
technical skill in metal working. They supplied the mint with the metal
to be coined, changed the various species of coins, and had a seat at
the assizes in forgery cases."
Wallau adds, "His surname was derived from the house inhabited by
his father and his paternal ancestors 'zu Laden, zu Gutenberg'. The
house of Gänsfleisch was one of the patrician families of the town,
tracing its lineage back to the thirteenth century." Patricians (the wealthy and political elite) in Mainz were often named after houses they owned. Around 1427, the name zu Gutenberg, after the family house in Mainz, is documented to have been used for the first time.
In 1411, there was an uprising in Mainz against the patricians,
and more than a hundred families were forced to leave. As a result, the
Gutenbergs are thought to have moved to Eltville am Rhein
(Alta Villa), where his mother had an inherited estate. According to
historian Heinrich Wallau, "All that is known of his youth is that he
was not in Mainz in 1430. It is presumed that he migrated for political
reasons to Strasbourg, where the family probably had connections." He is assumed to have studied at the University of Erfurt,
where there is a record of the enrolment of a student called Johannes
de Altavilla in 1418—Altavilla is the Latin form of Eltville am Rhein.
Nothing is now known of Gutenberg's life for the next fifteen
years, but in March 1434, a letter by him indicates that he was living
in Strasbourg, where he had some relatives on his mother's side. He also
appears to have been a goldsmith member enrolled in the Strasbourg militia.
In 1437, there is evidence that he was instructing a wealthy tradesman
on polishing gems, but where he had acquired this knowledge is unknown.
In 1436/37 his name also comes up in court in connection with a broken
promise of marriage to a woman from Strasbourg, Ennelin.
Whether the marriage actually took place is not recorded. Following his
father's death in 1419, he is mentioned in the inheritance proceedings.
Printing press
Early wooden printing press, depicted in 1568. Such presses could produce up to 240 impressions per hour.
Around 1439, Gutenberg was involved in a financial misadventure
making polished metal mirrors (which were believed to capture holy light
from religious relics) for sale to pilgrims to Aachen: in 1439 the city was planning to exhibit its collection of relics from Emperor Charlemagne
but the event was delayed by one year due to a severe flood and the
capital already spent could not be repaid. When the question of
satisfying the investors came up, Gutenberg is said to have promised to
share a "secret". It has been widely speculated that this secret may
have been the idea of printing with movable type. Also around 1439–40, the Dutch Laurens Janszoon Coster came up with the idea of printing. Legend has it that the idea came to him "like a ray of light".
Until at least 1444 Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg,
most likely in the St. Arbogast parish. It was in Strasbourg in 1440
that he is said to have perfected and unveiled the secret of printing
based on his research, mysteriously entitled Aventur und Kunst
(enterprise and art). It is not clear what work he was engaged in, or
whether some early trials with printing from movable type may have been
conducted there. After this, there is a gap of four years in the record.
In 1448, he was back in Mainz, where he took out a loan from his
brother-in-law Arnold Gelthus, quite possibly for a printing press or related paraphernalia. By this date, Gutenberg may have been familiar with intaglio printing; it is claimed that he had worked on copper engravings with an artist known as the Master of Playing Cards.
All that has been written to me about that marvelous man seen at Frankfurt [sic] is true. I have not seen complete Bibles but only a number of quires of various books of the Bible. The script was very neat and legible, not at all difficult to follow—your grace would be able to read it without effort, and indeed without glasses.
By 1450, the press was in operation, and a German poem had been printed, possibly the first item to be printed there. Gutenberg was able to convince the wealthy moneylender Johann Fust for a loan of 800 guilders. Peter Schöffer, who became Fust's son-in-law, also joined the enterprise. Schöffer had worked as a scribe in Paris and is believed to have designed some of the first typefaces.
Gutenberg's workshop was set up at Hof Humbrecht, a property
belonging to a distant relative. It is not clear when Gutenberg
conceived the Bible project, but for this he borrowed another 800
guilders from Fust, and work commenced in 1452. At the same time, the
press was also printing other, more lucrative texts (possibly Latin
grammars). There is also some speculation that there may have been two
presses, one for the pedestrian texts, and one for the Bible. One of the
profit-making enterprises of the new press was the printing of
thousands of indulgences for the church, documented from 1454 to 1455.
In 1455 Gutenberg completed his 42-line Bible, known as the Gutenberg Bible. About 180 copies were printed, most on paper and some on vellum.
Court case
Some time in 1456, there was a dispute between Gutenberg and Fust,
and Fust demanded his money back, accusing Gutenberg of misusing the
funds. Meanwhile the expenses of the Bible project had proliferated, and
Gutenberg's debt now exceeded 20,000 guilders. Fust sued at the
archbishop's court. A November 1455 legal document records that there
was a partnership for a "project of the books," the funds for which
Gutenberg had used for other purposes, according to Fust. The court
decided in favor of Fust, giving him control over the Bible printing
workshop and half of all printed Bibles.
Thus Gutenberg was effectively bankrupt, but it appears he
retained (or re-started) a small printing shop, and participated in the
printing of a Bible in the town of Bamberg
around 1459, for which he seems at least to have supplied the type. But
since his printed books never carry his name or a date, it is difficult
to be certain, and there is consequently a considerable scholarly
debate on this subject. It is also possible that the large Catholicon dictionary, 300 copies of 754 pages, printed in Mainz in 1460, was executed in his workshop.
Meanwhile, the Fust–Schöffer shop was the first in Europe to bring out a book with the printer's name and date, the Mainz Psalter
of August 1457, and while proudly proclaiming the mechanical process by
which it had been produced, it made no mention of Gutenberg.
Later life
In 1462, during the devastating Mainz Diocesan Feud, Mainz was sacked by archbishop Adolph von Nassau, and Gutenberg was exiled. An old man by now, he moved to Eltville where he may have initiated and supervised a new printing press belonging to the brothers Bechtermünze.
In January 1465, Gutenberg's achievements were recognized and he was given the title Hofmann (gentleman of the court) by von Nassau. This honor included a stipend, an annual court outfit, as well as 2,180 litres of grain and 2,000 liters of wine tax-free. It is believed he may have moved back to Mainz around this time, but this is not certain.
Gutenberg died in 1468 and was buried in the Franciscan church at
Mainz, his contributions largely unknown. This church and the cemetery
were later destroyed, and Gutenberg's grave is now lost.
In 1504, he was mentioned as the inventor of typography
in a book by Professor Ivo Wittig. It was not until 1567 that the first
portrait of Gutenberg, almost certainly an imaginary reconstruction,
appeared in Heinrich Pantaleon's biography of famous Germans.
Printed books
Gutenberg Bible, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Between 1450 and 1455, Gutenberg printed several texts, some of which
remain unidentified; his texts did not bear the printer's name or date,
so attribution is possible only from typographical evidence and
external references. Certainly several church documents including a
papal letter and two indulgences were printed, one of which was issued
in Mainz. In view of the value of printing in quantity, seven editions
in two styles were ordered, resulting in several thousand copies being
printed. Some printed editions of Ars Minor, a schoolbook on Latin grammar by Aelius Donatus may have been printed by Gutenberg; these have been dated either 1451–52 or 1455.
In 1455, Gutenberg completed copies of a beautifully executed folio Bible (Biblia Sacra), with 42 lines on each page. Copies sold for 30 florins each,
which was roughly three years' wages for an average clerk. Nonetheless,
it was significantly cheaper than a manuscript Bible that could take a
single scribe over a year to prepare. After printing, some copies were
rubricated or hand-illuminated in the same elegant way as manuscript
Bibles from the same period.
48 substantially complete copies are known to survive, including two at the British Library that can be viewed and compared online. The text lacks modern features such as pagination, indentations, and paragraph breaks.
An undated 36-line edition of the Bible was printed, probably in Bamberg
in 1458–60, possibly by Gutenberg. A large part of it was shown to have
been set from a copy of Gutenberg's Bible, thus disproving earlier
speculation that it was the earlier of the two.
Printing method with movable type
Movable metal type, and composing stick, descended from Gutenberg's press.
Martin Luther's 95 Theses which sparked off the Reformation
in a print edition from 1522. Within the span of only two years,
Luther's tracts were distributed in 300,000 printed copies throughout
Germany and Europe.
European output of books printed with movable types from Gutenberg to 1800
Gutenberg's early printing process, and what texts he printed with movable type,
are not known in great detail. His later Bibles were printed in such a
way as to have required large quantities of type, some estimates
suggesting as many as 100,000 individual sorts.
Setting each page would take, perhaps, half a day, and considering all
the work in loading the press, inking the type, pulling the impressions,
hanging up the sheets, distributing the type, etc., it is thought that
the Gutenberg–Fust shop might have employed as many as 25 craftsmen.
Gutenberg's technique of making movable type remains unclear. In
the following decades, punches and copper matrices became standardized
in the rapidly disseminating printing presses across Europe. Whether
Gutenberg used this sophisticated technique or a somewhat primitive
version has been the subject of considerable debate.
In the standard process of making type, a hard metal punch (made by punchcutting, with the letter carved back to front) is hammered into a softer copper bar, creating a matrix. This is then placed into a hand-held mould
and a piece of type, or "sort", is cast by filling the mould with
molten type-metal; this cools almost at once, and the resulting piece of
type can be removed from the mould. The matrix can be reused to create
hundreds, or thousands, of identical sorts so that the same character
appearing anywhere within the book will appear very uniform, giving
rise, over time, to the development of distinct styles of typefaces or fonts.
After casting, the sorts are arranged into type cases, and used to make
up pages which are inked and printed, a procedure which can be repeated
hundreds, or thousands, of times. The sorts can be reused in any
combination, earning the process the name of "movable type".
"Modern Book Printing" − sculpture commemorating its inventor Gutenberg
The invention of the making of types with punch, matrix and mold has
been widely attributed to Gutenberg. However, recent evidence suggests
that Gutenberg's process was somewhat different. If he used the punch
and matrix approach, all his letters should have been nearly identical,
with some variation due to miscasting and inking. However, the type used
in Gutenberg's earliest work shows other variations.
In 2001, the physicist Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Princeton librarian Paul Needham, used digital scans of a Papal bull in the Scheide Library, Princeton, to carefully compare the same letters (types) appearing in different parts of the printed text.
The irregularities in Gutenberg's type, particularly in simple
characters such as the hyphen, suggested that the variations could not
have come either from ink smear or from wear and damage on the pieces of
metal on the types themselves. Although some identical types are
clearly used on other pages, other variations, subjected to detailed
image analysis, suggested that they could not have been produced from
the same matrix. Transmitted light pictures of the page also appeared to
reveal substructures in the type that could not arise from traditional punchcutting
techniques. They hypothesized that the method involved impressing
simple shapes to create alphabets in "cuneiform" style in a matrix made
of some soft material, perhaps sand. Casting the type would destroy the
mould, and the matrix would need to be recreated to make each additional
sort. This could explain the variations in the type, as well as the
substructures observed in the printed images.
Thus, they speculated that "the decisive factor for the birth of
typography", the use of reusable moulds for casting type, was a more
progressive process than was previously thought.
They suggested that the additional step of using the punch to create a
mould that could be reused many times was not taken until twenty years
later, in the 1470s. Others have not accepted some or all of their
suggestions, and have interpreted the evidence in other ways, and the
truth of the matter remains uncertain.
Page-setting room - c. 1920
A 1568 history by Hadrianus Junius of Holland claims that the basic idea of the movable type came to Gutenberg from Laurens Janszoon Coster via Fust, who was apprenticed to Coster in the 1430s and may have brought some of his equipment from Haarlem
to Mainz. While Coster appears to have experimented with moulds and
castable metal type, there is no evidence that he had actually printed
anything with this technology. He was an inventor and a goldsmith.
However, there is one indirect supporter of the claim that Coster might
be the inventor. The author of the Cologne Chronicle of 1499 quotes Ulrich Zell, the first printer of Cologne, that printing was performed in Mainz
in 1450, but that some type of printing of lower quality had previously
occurred in the Netherlands. However, the chronicle does not mention
the name of Coster,
while it actually credits Gutenberg as the "first inventor of printing"
in the very same passage (fol. 312). The first securely dated book by
Dutch printers is from 1471, and the Coster connection is today regarded as a mere legend.
The 19th-century printer and typefounder Fournier Le Jeune
suggested that Gutenberg was not using type cast with a reusable
matrix, but wooden types that were carved individually. A similar
suggestion was made by Nash in 2004. This remains possible, albeit entirely unproven.
It has also been questioned whether Gutenberg used movable types
at all. In 2004, Italian professor Bruno Fabbiani claimed that
examination of the 42-line Bible revealed an overlapping of letters,
suggesting that Gutenberg did not in fact use movable type (individual
cast characters) but rather used whole plates made from a system
somewhat like a modern typewriter, whereby the letters were stamped
successively into the plate and then printed. However, most specialists
regard the occasional overlapping of type as caused by paper movement
over pieces of type of slightly unequal height.
Legacy
What the world is today, good and bad, it owes to Gutenberg. Everything can be traced to this source, but we are bound to bring him homage, … for the bad that his colossal invention has brought about is overshadowed a thousand times by the good with which mankind has been favored. American writer Mark Twain (1835−1910)
Mainz, 1840 Gutenberg Denkmal on the medal for Gutenberg's Printing Press 400th anniversary, obverse.
The reverse of this medal.
Although Gutenberg was financially unsuccessful in his lifetime, the
printing technologies spread quickly, and news and books began to travel
across Europe much faster than before. It fed the growing Renaissance, and since it greatly facilitated scientific publishing, it was a major catalyst for the later scientific revolution.
The capital of printing in Europe shifted to Venice, where visionary printers like Aldus Manutius
ensured widespread availability of the major Greek and Latin texts. The
claims of an Italian origin for movable type have also focused on this
rapid rise of Italy in movable-type printing. This may perhaps be
explained by the prior eminence of Italy in the paper and printing
trade. Additionally, Italy's economy was growing rapidly at the time,
facilitating the spread of literacy. Christopher Columbus
had a geographical book (printed by movable types) bought by his
father. That book is in a Spanish museum. Finally, the city of Mainz was
sacked in 1462, driving many (including a number of printers and punch
cutters) into exile.
Printing was also a factor in the Reformation. Martin Luther's 95 Theses were printed and circulated widely; subsequently he issued broadsheets outlining his anti-indulgences
position (certificates of indulgences were one of the first items
Gutenberg had printed). The broadsheet contributed to development of the
newspaper.
A Gutenberg press replica at the Featherbed Alley Printshop Museum, in Bermuda
In the decades after Gutenberg, many conservative patrons looked down
on cheap printed books; books produced by hand were considered more
desirable.
Today there is a large antique market for the earliest printed objects. Books printed prior to 1500 are known as incunabula.
There are many statues of Gutenberg in Germany, including the famous one by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1837) in Mainz, home to the eponymous Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and the Gutenberg Museum on the history of early printing. The latter publishes the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, the leading periodical in the field.
United States Postal Service stamp issued in 1952 commemorating the 500th anniversary of Gutenberg's first printed Bible
Project Gutenberg, the oldest digital library, commemorates Gutenberg's name. The Mainzer Johannisnacht commemorates the person Johannes Gutenberg in his native city since 1968.
In 1952, the United States Postal Service issued a five hundredth
anniversary stamp commemorating Johannes Gutenberg invention of the
movable-type printing press.
In 1961 the Canadian philosopher and scholar Marshall McLuhan entitled his pioneering study in the fields of print culture, cultural studies, and media ecology, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man.
Regarded as one of the most influential people in human history,
Gutenberg remains a towering figure in the popular image. In 1999, the A&E Network
ranked Gutenberg the No. 1 most influential person of the second
millennium on their "Biographies of the Millennium" countdown. In 1997, Time–Life magazine picked Gutenberg's invention as the most important of the second millennium.
In space, he is commemorated in the name of the asteroid 777 Gutemberga.
Two operas based on Gutenberg are G, Being the Confession and
Last Testament of Johannes Gensfleisch, also known as Gutenberg, Master
Printer, formerly of Strasbourg and Mainz, from 2001 with music by Gavin Bryars; and La Nuit de Gutenberg, with music by Philippe Manoury, premiered in 2011 in Strasbourg.
In 2018, WordPress, the open-source CMS platform, named it's new editing system Gutenberg in tribute to him.
