Printing press from 1811, exhibited in Munich, Germany

Stanhope press from 1842

A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. Typically used for texts, the invention and spread of the printing press are widely regarded as the most influential events in the second millennium AD,^[1] revolutionizing the way people conceive and describe the world they live in, and ushering in the period of modernity.^[2]

The printing press was first used in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw presses. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, developed a complete printing system, which perfected the printing process through all of its stages by adapting existing technologies to the printing purposes, as well as making groundbreaking inventions of his own. His newly devised hand mould made for the first time possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type in large quantities, a key element in the profitability of the whole printing enterprise.

The mechanization of bookmaking led to the first mass production of books in history in assembly line-style.^[3] A single Renaissance printing press could produce 3,600 pages per workday,^[4] compared to forty by typographic hand-printing and a few by hand-copying.^[5] Books of bestselling authors like Luther or Erasmus were sold by the hundreds of thousands in their lifetime.^[6]

From a single point of origin, Mainz, Germany, printing spread within several decades to over 200 cities in a dozen European countries.^[7] By 1500, printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million volumes.^[7] In the 16th century, with presses spreading further afield, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies.^[7] The operation of a press became so synonymous with the enterprise of printing that it lent its name to an entire new branch of media, the press.^[8] As early as 1620, the English statesman and philosopher Francis Bacon could write that typographical printing has "changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world".^[9]

From its beginnings, printing was practiced also as a true art form, setting a high aesthetic and artistic standard, such as in the famous 42-line Bible. Today, incunables, or books printed before 1501, are among the most prized possessions of modern libraries.

The unprecedented impact of Gutenberg-style printing on the long-term development of modern European and then world history is difficult to capture in its entirety. Attempts at analysing its manifold effects include the notion of a proper Printing Revolution and the creation of the Gutenberg Galaxy. The ready availability and affordability of the printed word to the general public boosted the democratization of knowledge and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy.

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 and (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 peoples 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.^[10]

In the 19th century, the replacement of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press by steam-powered rotary presses allowed printing on an industrial scale,^[11] while Western-style printing was adopted all over the world, becoming practically the sole medium for modern bulk printing.

History[link]

Economic conditions and intellectual climate[link]

Medieval university class (1350s)

The rapid economic and socio-cultural development of late medieval society in Europe created favorable intellectual and technological conditions for Gutenberg's invention: the entrepreneurial spirit of emerging capitalism increasingly made its impact on medieval modes of production, fostering economic thinking and improving the efficiency of traditional work-processes. The sharp rise of medieval learning and literacy amongst the middle class led to an increased demand for books which the time-consuming hand-copying method fell far short of accommodating.^[12]

Technological factors[link]

At the same time, a number of medieval products and technological processes had reached a level of maturity which allowed their potential use for printing purposes. Gutenberg took up these far-flung strands, combined them into one complete and functioning system, and perfected the printing process through all its stages by adding a number of inventions and innovations of his own:

Early modern wine press. Such screw presses were applied in Europe to a wide range of uses and provided Gutenberg with the model for his printing press.

The screw press which allowed direct pressure to be applied on flat-plane was already of great antiquity in Gutenberg's time and was used for a wide range of tasks.^[13] Introduced in the 1st century AD by the Romans, it was commonly employed in agricultural production for pressing wine grapes and (olive) oil fruit, both of which formed an integral part of the mediterranean and medieval diet.^[14] The device was also used from very early on in urban contexts as a cloth press for printing patterns.^[15] Gutenberg may have also been inspired by the paper presses which had spread through the German lands since the late 14th century and which worked on the same mechanical principles.^[16]

Gutenberg adopted the basic design, thereby mechanizing the printing process.^[17] Printing, however, put a demand on the machine quite different from pressing. Gutenberg adapted the construction so that the pressing power exerted by the platen on the paper was now applied both evenly and with the required sudden elasticity. To speed up the printing process, he introduced a movable undertable with a plane surface on which the sheets could be swiftly changed.^[18]

Movable type sorted in a letter case and loaded in a composing stick on top

The concept of movable type was not entirely new in the 15th century; sporadic evidence that the typographical principle, the idea of creating a text by reusing individual characters, was well understood and employed in pre-Gutenberg Europe had been cropping up since the 12th century and possibly before. The known examples range from Germany (Prüfening inscription) to England (letter tiles) to Italy.^[19] However, the various techniques employed (imprinting, punching and assembling individual letters) did not have the refinement and efficiency needed to become widely accepted.

Gutenberg greatly improved the process by treating typesetting and printing as two separate work steps. A goldsmith by profession, he created his type pieces from a lead-based alloy which suited printing purposes so well that it is still used today.^[20] The mass production of metal letters was achieved by his key invention of a special hand mould, the matrix.^[21] The Latin alphabet proved to be an enormous advantage in the process because, in contrast to logographic writing systems, it allowed the type-setter to represent any text with a theoretical minimum of only around two dozen different letters.^[22]

Another factor conducive to printing arose from the book existing in the format of the codex, which had originated in the Roman period.^[23] Considered the most important advance in the history of the book prior to printing itself, the codex had completely replaced the ancient scroll at the onset of the Middle Ages (500 AD).^[24] The codex holds considerable practical advantages over the scroll format; it is more convenient to read (by turning pages), is more compact, less costly, and, in particular, unlike the scroll, both recto and verso could be used for writing − and printing.^[25]

A paper codex of the acclaimed 42-line Bible, Gutenberg's major work

A fourth development was the early success of medieval papermakers at mechanizing paper manufacture. The introduction of water-powered paper mills, the first certain evidence of which dates to 1282,^[26] allowed for a massive expansion of production and replaced the laborious handcraft characteristic of both Chinese^[27] and Muslim papermaking.^[28] Papermaking centres began to multiply in the late 13th century in Italy, reducing the price of paper to one sixth of parchment and then falling further; papermaking centers reached Germany a century later.^[29]

Despite this it appears that the final breakthrough of paper depended just as much on the rapid spread of movable-type printing.^[30] It is notable that codices of parchment, which in terms of quality is superior to any other writing material,^[31] still had a substantial share in Gutenberg's edition of the 42-line Bible.^[32] After much experimentation, Gutenberg managed to overcome the difficulties which traditional water-based inks caused by soaking the paper, and found the formula for an oil-based ink suitable for high-quality printing with metal type.^[33]

How a printing press works[link]

This woodcut from 1568 shows the left printer removing a page from the press while the one at right inks the text-blocks. Such a duo could reach 14,000 hand movements per working day, printing around 3,600 pages in the process.^[4]

A printing press, in its classical form, is a standing mechanism, ranging from 5 to 7 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 7 feet tall. Type arranged into pages is placed in a frame to make a forme, which itself is placed onto a flat stone or 'bed'. The type is inked, and the paper is held between a frisket and tympan (two frames covered with paper or parchment). These are folded down, so that the paper lies on the surface of the inked type. The bed is rolled under the platen, using a windlass mechanism, and the impression is made with a screw that transmits pressure through the platen. Then the screw is reversed, the windlass turned again to move the bed back to its original position, the tympan and frisket raised and opened, and the printed sheet removed. Such presses were always worked by hand. After around 1800, iron presses were developed, some of which could be operated by steam power.

Gutenberg's press[link]

Johannes Gutenberg's work on the printing press began in approximately 1436 when he partnered with Andreas Dritzehn—a man he had previously instructed in gem-cutting—and Andreas Heilmann, owner of a paper mill.^[34] However, it was not until a 1439 lawsuit against Gutenberg that an official record exists; witnesses' testimony discussed Gutenberg's types, an inventory of metals (including lead), and his type molds.^[34]

Having previously worked as a professional goldsmith, Gutenberg made skillful use of the knowledge of metals he had learned as a craftsman. He was the first to make type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, which was critical for producing durable type that produced high-quality printed books and proved to be much better suited for printing than all other known materials. To create these lead types, Gutenberg used what is considered one of his most ingenious inventions,^[34] a special matrix enabling the quick and precise molding of new type blocks from a uniform template. His type case is estimated to have contained around 290 separate letter boxes, most of which were required for special characters, ligatures, punctuation marks, etc.^[35]

Gutenberg is also credited with the introduction of an oil-based ink which was more durable than the previously used water-based inks. As printing material he used both paper and vellum (high-quality parchment).

In the Gutenberg Bible, Gutenberg made a trial of coloured printing for a few of the page headings, present only in some copies.^[36] A later work, the Mainz Psalter of 1453, presumably designed by Gutenberg but published under the imprint of his successors Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, had elaborate red and blue printed initials.^[37]

The Printing Revolution[link]

The phenomenon of the Printing Revolution can be approached from a quantitative perspective which has its focus on the printing output and the spread of the related technology. It can also be analysed in terms of how the wide circulation of information and ideas acted as an "agent of change" (Eisenstein) in Europe and global society in general.

Mass production and spread of printed books[link]

Spread of printing in the 15th century from Mainz, Germany

The European book output rose from a few million to around one billion copies within a span of less than four centuries.^[38]

The invention of mechanical movable type printing led to an explosion of printing activities in Europe within only a few decades. From a single print shop in Mainz, Germany, printing had spread to no less than around 270 cities in Central, Western and Eastern Europe by the end of the 15th century.^[39] As early as 1480, there were printers active in 110 different places in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Bohemia and Poland.^[7] From that time on, it is assumed that "the printed book was in universal use in Europe".^[7]

In Italy, a center of early printing, print shops had been established in 77 cities and towns by 1500. At the end of the following century, 151 locations in Italy had seen at one time printing activities, with a total of nearly three thousand printers known to be active. Despite this proliferation, printing centres soon emerged; thus, one third of the Italian printers published in Venice.^[40]

By 1500, the printing presses in operation throughout Western Europe had already produced more than twenty million copies.^[7] In the following century, their output rose tenfold to an estimated 150 to 200 million copies.^[7]

European printing presses of around 1600 were capable of producing 3,600 impressions per workday.^[4] By comparison, movable type printing in the Far East, which did not know presses and was solely done by manually rubbing the back of the paper to the page,^[41] did not exceed an output of forty pages per day.^[5]

The vast printing capacities meant that individual authors could now become true bestsellers: Of Erasmus's work, at least 750,000 copies were sold during his lifetime alone (1469–1536).^[42] In the early days of the Reformation, the revolutionary potential of bulk printing took princes and papacy alike by surprise. In the period from 1518 to 1524, the publication of books in Germany alone skyrocketed sevenfold; between 1518 and 1520, Luther's tracts were distributed in 300,000 printed copies.^[43]

The rapidity of typographical text production, as well as the sharp fall in unit costs, led to the issuing of the first newspapers (see Relation) which opened up an entirely new field for conveying up-to-date information to the public.^[44]

A lasting legacy are the prized incunable, surviving pre-16th century print works which are collected by many of the most prestigious libraries in Europe and North America.^[45]

Circulation of information and ideas[link]

"Modern Book Printing" sculpture, commemorating its inventor Gutenberg on the occasion of the 2006 World Cup in Germany

The printing press was also a factor in the establishment of a community of scientists who could easily communicate their discoveries through the establishment of widely disseminated scholarly journals, helping to bring on the scientific revolution.^{[citation needed]} Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful and profitable. It was suddenly important who had said or written what, and what the precise formulation and time of composition was. This allowed the exact citing of references, producing the rule, "One Author, one work (title), one piece of information" (Giesecke, 1989; 325). Before, the author was less important, since a copy of Aristotle made in Paris would not be exactly identical to one made in Bologna. For many works prior to the printing press, the name of the author has been entirely lost.^{[citation needed]}

Because the printing process ensured that the same information fell on the same pages, page numbering, tables of contents, and indices became common, though they previously had not been unknown.^{[citation needed]} The process of reading also changed, gradually moving over several centuries from oral readings to silent, private reading.^{[citation needed]} The wider availability of printed materials also led to a drastic rise in the adult literacy rate throughout Europe.^{[citation needed]}

The printing press was an important step towards the democratization of knowledge.^[46][47] Within fifty or sixty years of the invention of the printing press, the entire classical canon had been reprinted and widely promulgated throughout Europe (Eisenstein, 1969; 52). Now that more people had access to knowledge both new and old, more people could discuss these works. Furthermore, now that book production was a more commercial enterprise, the first copyright laws^{[citation needed]} were passed to protect what we now would call intellectual property rights^{[citation needed]}. On the other hand, the printing press was criticized for allowing the dissemination of information which may have been incorrect.^[48][49]

A second outgrowth of this popularization of knowledge was the decline of Latin as the language of most published works, to be replaced by the vernacular language of each area, increasing the variety of published works. The printed word also helped to unify and standardize the spelling and syntax of these vernaculars, in effect 'decreasing' their variability. This rise in importance of national languages as opposed to pan-European Latin is cited as one of the causes of the rise of nationalism in Europe.

Book printing as art form[link]

For years, book printing was considered a true art form. Typesetting, or the placement of the characters on the page, including the use of ligatures, was passed down from master to apprentice. In Germany, the art of typesetting was termed the "black art," in allusion to the ink-covered printers. It has largely been replaced by computer typesetting programs, which make it easy to get similar results more quickly and with less physical labor. Some practitioners continue to print books the way Gutenberg did. For example, there is a yearly convention of traditional book printers in Mainz, Germany.

Some theorists, such as McLuhan, Eisenstein, Kittler, and Giesecke, see an "alphabetic monopoly" as having developed from printing, removing the role of the image from society. Other authors stress that printed works themselves are a visual medium. Certainly, modern developments in printing have revitalized the role of illustrations.

Industrial printing presses[link]

Koenig's 1814 steam-powered printing press

At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the mechanics of the hand-operated Gutenberg-style press were still essentially unchanged, although new materials in its construction, amongst other innovations, had gradually improved its printing efficiency. By 1800, Lord Stanhope had built a press completely from cast iron which reduced the force required by 90%, while doubling the size of the printed area.^[50] With a capacity of 480 pages per hour, it doubled the output of the old style press.^[51] Nonetheless, the limitations inherent to the traditional method of printing became obvious.

Two ideas altered the design of the printing press radically: First, the use of steam power for running the machinery, and second the replacement of the printing flatbed with the rotary motion of cylinders. Both elements were for the first time successfully implemented by the German printer Friedrich Koenig in a series of press designs devised between 1802 and 1818.^[52] Having moved to London in 1804, Koenig soon met Thomas Bensley and secured financial support for his project in 1807.^[50] Patented in 1810, Koenig had designed a steam press "much like a hand press connected to a steam engine."^[50] The first production trial of this model occurred in April 1811. He produced his machine with assistance from German engineer Andreas Friedrich Bauer.

Koenig and Bauer sold two of their first models to The Times in London in 1814, capable of 1,100 impressions per hour. The first edition so printed was on November 28, 1814. They went on to perfect the early model so that it could print on both sides of a sheet at once. This began the long process of making newspapers available to a mass audience (which in turn helped spread literacy), and from the 1820s changed the nature of book production, forcing a greater standardization in titles and other metadata. Their company Koenig & Bauer AG is still one of the world's largest manufacturers of printing presses today.

The steam powered rotary printing press, invented in 1843 in the United States by Richard M. Hoe,^[53] allowed millions of copies of a page in a single day. Mass production of printed works flourished after the transition to rolled paper, as continuous feed allowed the presses to run at a much faster pace.

Also, in the middle of the 19th century, there was a separate development of jobbing presses, small presses capable of printing small-format pieces such as billheads, letterheads, business cards, and envelopes. Jobbing presses were capable of quick set-up (average setup time for a small job was under 15 minutes) and quick production (even on treadle-powered jobbing presses it was considered normal to get 1,000 impressions per hour [iph] with one pressman, with speeds of 1,500 iph often attained on simple envelope work).^{[citation needed]} Job printing emerged as a reasonably cost-effective duplicating solution for commerce at this time.

By the late 1930s or early 1940s, printing presses had increased substantially in efficiency: a model by Platen Printing Press was capable of performing 2,500 to 3,000 impressions per hour.^{[citation needed]}

• 

  Hoe's 6-cylinder rotary printing press (1864)

• 

  The Miehle P.P. & Mfg. Co. 1905

• 

  A late 1930's Platen printing press model

Printing capacity[link]

The table lists the maximum number of pages which the various press designs could print per hour.

See also[link]

General

• Printing
• Typography

Printing presses

• Adana Printing Presses
• Albion press
• Columbian Printing Press
• Flexography
• Vertical print press

Other inventions

• Color printing
• Lithography
• Offset printing
• Desktop publishing
• Electronic publishing
• Computer printer
• Composing stick

Notes[link]

References[link]

On the effects of the printing press

• Buringh, Eltjo; van Zanden, Jan Luiten (2009), "Charting the “Rise of the West”: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries", The Journal of Economic History 69 (2): 409–445 
• Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. (1980), The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-29955-1 
• Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. (2005), The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe (2nd, rev. ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-60774-4  [More recent, abridged version]
• Febvre, Lucien; Martin, Henri-Jean (1997), The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450–1800, London: Verso, ISBN 1-85984-108-2 
• Man, John (2002), The Gutenberg Revolution: The Story of a Genius and an Invention that Changed the World, London: Headline Review, ISBN 978-0-7472-4504-9 
• McLuhan, Marshall (1962), The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1st ed.), University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-0-8020-6041-9 

Technology of printing

• Bechtel, G. (1992), Gutenberg et l'invention de l'imprimerie, Paris: Fayard, ISBN 2-213-02865-6 
• Bolza, Hans (1967), "Friedrich Koenig und die Erfindung der Druckmaschine", Technikgeschichte 34 (1): 79–89 
• Borsa, Gedeon (1976), "Druckorte in Italien vor 1601", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 311–314 
• Borsa, Gedeon (1977), "Drucker in Italien vor 1601", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 166–169 
• Brekle, Herbert E. (1995), "Eine weitere Spur einer typographischen Werkstatt beim Kloster Prüfening im 12. Jahrhundert", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 70: 23–26 
• Brekle, Herbert E. (1997), "Das typographische Prinzip. Versuch einer Begriffsklärung", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 72: 58–63, http://www.typeforum.de/news_332.htm 
• Brekle, Herbert E. (2005), Die Prüfeninger Weihinschrift von 1119. Eine paläographisch-typographische Untersuchung (brief summary), Regensburg: Scriptorium Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, ISBN 3-937527-06-0, http://www.typeforum.de/news_308.htm 
• Burns, Robert I. (1996), "Paper comes to the West, 800–1400", in Lindgren, Uta, Europäische Technik im Mittelalter. 800 bis 1400. Tradition und Innovation (4th ed.), Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, pp. 413–422, ISBN 3-7861-1748-9 
• Childress, Diana (2008), Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press, Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, ISBN 978-0-7613-4024-9 
• Ch'on Hye-bong: "Typography in Korea", Koreana, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1993), pp. 10–19
• Citation from The Encyclopedia of World History Sixth Edition, Peter N. Stearns (general editor), © 2001 The Houghton Mifflin Company, at Bartleby.com.
• Crompton, Samuel Willard (2004), The Printing Press. Transforming Power of Technology, Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, ISBN 0-7910-7451-X 
• Duchesne, Ricardo (2006), "Asia First?", The Journal of the Historical Society 6 (1): 69–91 
• Fontaine, Jean-Paul (1999), L'aventure du livre: Du manuscrit medieval a nos jours, Paris: Bibliothèque de l'image 
• Gerhardt, Claus W. (1971), "Warum wurde die Gutenberg-Presse erst nach über 350 Jahren durch ein besseres System abgelöst?", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 43–57 
• Gerhardt, Claus W. (1978), "Besitzt Gutenbergs Erfindung heute noch einen Wert?", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 212–217 
• Hanebutt-Benz, Eva-Maria (2000), "Gutenbergs Erfindungen", Gutenberg. Aventur und Kunst: Vom Geheimunternehmen zur ersten Medienrevolution, Mainz: Stadt Mainz, pp. 158–189 
• Hellinga, Lotte (2007), "The Gutenberg Revolutions", in Eliot, Simon; Rose, Jonathan, A Companion to the History of the Book, Blackwell Publishing, pp. 207–220, ISBN 978-1-4051-2765-3 
• Hind, Arthur M., An Introduction to a History of Woodcut, Houghton Mifflin Co. 1935 (in USA), reprinted Dover Publications, 1963 ISBN 0-486-20952-0
• Issawi, Charles (1980), "Europe, the Middle East and the Shift in Power: Reflections on a Theme by Marshall Hodgson", Comparative Studies in Society and History 22 (4): 487–504 
• Kapr, Albert (1996), Johannes Gutenberg. The Man and his Invention, Aldershot: Scolar, ISBN 1-85928-114-1 
• Koch, Walter (1994), Literaturbericht zur mittelalterlichen und neuzeitlichen Epigraphik (1985–1991), Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Hilfsmittel, 14, München, p. 213, ISBN 978-3-88612-114-4 
• Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut (1940), "Englische Holzstempelalphabete des XIII. Jahrhunderts", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 93–97 
• Lipinsky, Angelo (1986), "La pala argentea del Patriarca Pellegrino nella Collegiata di Cividale e le sue iscrizioni con caratteri mobili", Ateneo Veneto 24: 75–80 
• Lucas, Adam Robert (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", Technology and Culture 46 (1): 1–30 
• Mahnke, Helmut (2009), Der kunstreiche Johannes Gutenberg und die Frühzeit der Druckkunst, Norderstedt: Books on Demand, ISBN 978-3-8370-5041-7 
• Needham, Joseph: "Science and Civilisation in China", Physics and Physical Technology (Vol. 4), Mechanical Engineering (Part 2), Cambridge University Press, 1965
• Onken, Björn (2009), "Presses", in Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, Brill's New Pauly 
• Encyclopædia Britannica 2006: "Printing", retrieved November 27, 2006
• Roberts, Colin H.; Skeat, T. C. (1983), The Birth of the Codex, London: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-726024-1 
• Schneider, Helmuth (2007), "Technology", in Scheidel, Walter; Morris, Ian; Saller, Richard, The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World, Cambridge University Press, pp. 144–171, ISBN 978-0-521-78053-7 
• Schulte, Alfred (1939), "Papierpresse, Druckerpresse und Kelter", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 52–56 
• Thompson, Susan (1978), "Paper Manufacturing and Early Books", Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 314: 167–176 
• Tsien, Tsuen-Hsuin (1985), Paper and Printing, Science and Civilisation in China, Chemistry and Chemical Technology (Vol. 5, Part 1), Cambridge University Press 
• Weber, Johannes (2006), "Strassburg, 1605: The Origins of the Newspaper in Europe", German History 24 (3): 387–412 
• White, K. D. (1984), Greek and Roman Technology, London: Thames and Hudson 
• Widmann, Hans (1974), "Der koreanische Buchdruck und Gutenbergs Erfindung", Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 32–34 
• Wolf, Hans-Jürgen (1974), Geschichte der Druckpressen (1st ed.), Frankfurt/Main: Interprint 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Printing press

• Centre for the History of the Book
• Gutenberg printing − Photos of Incunabula and the Gutenberg Bible (1455)
• BGDP − Safety on printing presses
• Internet Archive: Printing (1947) − a film from the Prelinger Archives explaining the printing industry
• Careers for the 21st Century: Printing Press Operators[[zh:印刷机]

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg
Born	c. 1398 Mainz, Electorate of Mainz
Died	February 3, 1468(1468-02-03) (aged 70) Mainz, Electorate of Mainz
Cause of death	Natural Causes
Occupation	Engraver, Inventor, and Printer
Religion	Catholic
Spouse	Else Wirick zum Gutenburg

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( /joʊˌhɑːnɨs ˈɡuːtənbɜrɡ/ yoh-HAH-nəs GOO-tən-burɡ; c. 1398 – February 3, 1468) was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period.^[1] 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.^[2]

Gutenberg was the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439. Among his many contributions to printing are: the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink; 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 which 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 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), has been acclaimed for its high aesthetic and technical quality.

Early life[link]

Gutenberg in a 16th century copper engraving

Gutenberg was born in the German city of Mainz, the youngest son of the upper-class merchant Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden, and his second wife Else Wyrich, who was the daughter of a shopkeeper. According to some accounts Friele was a goldsmith for the bishop at Mainz, but most likely, he was involved in the cloth trade.^[3] Gutenberg's year of birth is not precisely known but was most likely around 1398.

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."^[4] This is supported by historian Heinrich Wallau, who adds, "In the 14th and 15th centuries his [descendants] claimed a hereditary position as ...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."^[5]

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."^[5] Patricians (aristocrats) 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.^[3]

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 Strassburg (Strasbourg), where the family probably had connections."^[5] 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.^[6][7]

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.^[8] 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[link]

Early wooden printing press, depicted in 1568. Such presses could produce up to 240 impressions per hour.^[10]

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.^[11] Legend has it that the idea came to him "like a ray of light".^[12]

Until at least 1444 he lived in Strasbourg, most likely in the St. Arbogast parish. It was in Strasbourg in 1440 that Gutenberg is said to have perfected and unveiled the secret of printing based on his research, mysteriously entitled Kunst und Aventur (art and enterprise). 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.^[13]

By 1450, the press was in operation, and a German poem had been printed, possibly the first item to be printed there.^[14] Gutenberg was able to convince the wealthy moneylender Johann Fust for a loan of 8000 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 1454–55.^{[citation needed]}

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[link]

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, may have been 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[link]

In 1462, during a conflict between two archbishops, 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 litres of wine tax-free. It is believed he may have moved back to Mainz around this time, but this is not certain.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Printed books[link]

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. Realizing the value of printing in quantity, seven editions in two styles were ordered, resulting in several thousand copies being printed.^[15] 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,^[16] 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 the text, 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.^[17] 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 1458-1460, 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 may have been the earlier of the two.^[18]

Printing method with movable type[link]

Movable metal type, and composing stick, descended from Gutenberg's press.

Gutenberg's early printing process, and what tests he may have made 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.^[19] 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". (For details, see Typography).

Was Gutenberg's type produced by punches and copper matrices?[link]

"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 variations due to miscasting and inking. However, the type used in Gutenberg's earliest work shows other variations.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[20][21] The irregularities in Gutenberg's type, particularly in simple characters such as the hyphen, suggested that the variations could not have come from either ink smear or from wear and damage on the pieces of metal on the types themselves. While 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 may have 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 feel that "the decisive factor for the birth of typography", the use of reusable moulds for casting type, might have been a more progressive process than was previously thought.^[22] They suggest 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 very uncertain.^[23]

Other hypotheses about European origins[link]

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,^[18][24] 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,^[24] and the Coster connection is today regarded as a mere legend.^[25]

The 19th century printer and typefounder Fournier Le Jeune suggested that Gutenberg might not have been using type cast with a reusable matrix, but possibly wooden types that were carved individually. A similar suggestion was made by Nash in 2004.^[26] 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[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

European output of books printed with movable types from Gutenberg to 1800^[28]

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.^[29]

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.

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 later publishes the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, the leading periodical in the field.

Project Gutenberg, the oldest digital library,^[30] commemorates Gutenberg's name.

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.

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.^[1]

In space, he is commemorated in the name of the asteroid 777 Gutemberga.

A French opera on his life, by Philippe Manoury, was staged in Strasbourg in September 2011.^[31]

See also[link]

• Typography
• Incunabulum
• History of the book

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Childress, Diana (2008). Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 978-0-7613-4024-9 
• Duchesne, Ricardo (2006). "Asia First?". The Journal of the Historical Society 6 (1): 69–91. DOI:10.1111/j.1540-5923.2006.00168.x 
• Juchhoff, Rudolf (1950). "Was bleibt von den holländischen Ansprüchen auf die Erfindung der Typographie?". Gutenberg-Jahrbuch: 128−133 
• Wolf, Hans-Jürgen (1974). Geschichte der Druckpressen (1st ed.). Frankfurt/Main: Interprint 

Further reading[link]

Standard biographic works on Gutenberg[link]

• Albert Kapr, Johann Gutenberg: the Man and his Invention. Translated from the German by Douglas Martin, Scolar Press, 1996. "Third ed., revised by the author for...the English translation.

On the effects of Gutenberg's printing[link]

• Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. (1980). The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29955-1 
• Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. (2005). The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe (2nd, rev. ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-60774-4  [More recent, abridged version]
• Febvre, Lucien; Martin, Henri-Jean (1997). The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450-1800. London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-108-2 
• Man, John (2002). The Gutenberg Revolution: The Story of a Genius and an Invention that Changed the World. London: Headline Review. ISBN 978-0-7472-4504-9 
• McLuhan, Marshall (1962). The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1st ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-6041-9 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Johannes Gutenberg

• English homepage of the Gutenberg-Museum Mainz, Germany.
• The Digital Gutenberg Project: the Gutenberg Bible in 1,300 digital images, every page of the University of Texas at Austin copy.
• (French) Biographie de Johannes Gutenberg, inventeur de l'Imprimerie (a biography of Gutenberg at the Histoire et Geographie site).
• Treasures in Full – Gutenberg Bible View the British Library's Digital Versions Online
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Gutenberg, Johannes". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  • James Wood (1907). "Gutenburg, Johannes". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. 
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gutenberg, Johann". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
  •  "Johann Gutenberg". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
  • Beach, Chandler B., ed. (1914). "Gutenberg, Johannes". The New Student's Reference Work. Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co.. Wikisource 
  • "Gutenberg, Johannes". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 
  • "Gutenberg, Johannes". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. 

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