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Johannes Gutenberg

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Engineers and inventors

   CAPTION: Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg

      Born    c. 1398
              Mainz, Germany
      Died    c. February 3, 1468
   Occupation goldsmith and inventor

   Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (c. 1398 – c. February 3,
   1468) was a German goldsmith and inventor credited with inventing
   movable type printing in Europe (ca. 1450). His major work, the
   Gutenberg Bible, also known as the 42-line bible, has been acclaimed
   for its high aesthetic and technical quality.

   Although movable type was known in Korea in the 13th century,
   Gutenberg's printing technology was most likely an independent
   invention. Among Gutenberg's specific contributions were the design of
   movable type, the invention of a process for making such type, the use
   of oil-based ink, and the use of a wooden printing press similar to the
   screw olive and wine presses of the period. His truly epochal invention
   was the combination of these elements into a practical system.
   Gutenberg may have been familiar with printing, it is claimed that he
   had worked on copper engravings with an artist known as the Master of
   the Playing Cards. 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 woodblock
   printing in use for two centuries and revolutionized European
   book-making. Gutenberg's printing technology spread rapidly throughout
   Europe and is considered a key factor in the European Renaissance.
   Gutenberg remains a towering figure in the popular image; in 1999, the
   A&E Network ranked Gutenberg #1 on their "People of the Millennium"
   countdown.

Life

   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, 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. Gutenberg's year of birth is not known; it
   was certainly between 1394 and 1404, most likely around 1400.

   At the time, patricians in Mainz were often named after the houses they
   owned, and around 1427, the name zu Gudenberg, after the family house
   in Mainz, is documented for the first time. This house had previously
   been known as "Judenberg," Jewish Hill. According to historian John
   Man, "In the 1282 pogrom, fifty-four Jewish properties were abandoned
   and were grabbed by the rich and powerful. It seems that the Gutenberg
   house fell to the archbishop's treasurers... It was later acquired by
   the great-great-grandfather of our inventor and stayed in the family."

   In 1411, there there was an uprising in Mainz against the patricians,
   and more than a hundred families were forced to leave. The Gutenbergs
   may have moved to Eltville am Rhein (Alta Villa), where his mother had
   an inherited estate. He may have studied at the University of Erfurt,
   where there is a record of a student in 1419 named Johannes de Alta
   villa. Following his father's death in 1419, he is mentioned in the
   inheritance proceedings.

   Nothing is 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.

Printing Press

   Around 1439, Gutenberg was involved in a misadventure making mirrors
   for pilgrims to Aachen, and when the question of repaying the money
   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. Legend has it that the idea came to him
   "like a ray of light".

   At least up to 1444, he lived in Strasbourg, most likely in the St.
   Arbogust suburb. 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, presumably for a printing press.

   By 1450, the press was most likely 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 Schoeffer, who became Fust's son-in-law, also
   joined the enterprise. Shoeffer had worked as a scribe in Paris and
   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 profitmaking
   enterprises of the new press was the printing of thousands of
   indulgences for the church, documented from 1454-1455.

   In 1455 Gutenberg brought out the 42-line Bible, of which about 180
   were printed, on paper and vellum.

Court Case

   Sometime in 1455, there was a dispute between Gutenberg and Fust, and
   Fust demanded his money back, accusing Gutenberg of embezzling funds.
   Meanwhile the expenses of the Bible project had proliferated, and
   Gutenberg's debt now exceeded 2000 guilders. Fust sued at the the
   archbishop's court. A November 1455 legal document records that there
   was a partnership for a "project of the books" the funds of which
   Gutenberg had used for other purposes, according to Fust. The court
   decided in favour of Fust, giving him control over the Bible printing
   workshop and half of all printed Bibles.

   Thus Gutenberg was effectively bankrupted, but it appears he retained
   (or re-started) a small printing shop, and participated in the printing
   of a bible in Bamberg around 1459, for which he at least 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 literature. It is also possible that the large Catholicon
   dictionary, 300 copies of 744 pages, printed in Mainz in 1460, may have
   been executed in his workshop.

   Meanwhile, the Fust-Schoeffer shop were the first 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 a conflict between two archbishops, Mainz was sacked by
   archbishop Adolf 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 Adolf von Nassau.
   This honour included a stipend, an annual court outfit, as well as 2180
   liters of grain and 2000 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 Franziskanerkirche, Mainz,
   his contributions largely unknown. This church and the cemetery were
   later destroyed, and Gutenberg's grave is 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 Pantaleons biography of famous Germans.

Gutenberg's printed books

   Between 1450 and 1455, Gutenberg printed several texts, but details are
   not known; his texts did not bear the printer's name or date, so
   attribution is possible only through external references. Certainly
   several church documents including a papal letter and two indulgences
   were 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 1451-1452 or 1455.

   In 1455 (possibly starting 1454), Gutenberg brought out copies of a
   beautifully executed folio Bible (Biblia Sacra), with 42 lines on each
   page. The pages of the books were not bound, and the date 1455 is
   documented on the spine by the binder for a copy bound in Paris.

   The Bible sold for 30 florins each, which was roughly three years'
   wages for an average clerk. Nonetheless, it was significantly cheaper
   than a handwritten Bible that could take a single scribe over a year to
   prepare. After printing the text portions, each book was hand
   illustrated to mimic the elegant work of scribes.
   Gutenberg Bible, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
   Enlarge
   Gutenberg Bible, Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

   At least 59 early copies exist, including one in the Library of
   Congress and two at the British Library that can be viewed and compared
   online. As of 2003, the Gutenberg Bible census includes 11 complete
   copies on vellum, 1 copy of the New Testament only on vellum, 48
   substantially complete integral copies on paper, with another divided
   copy on paper, and an illuminated page (the Bagford fragment). The text
   lacks modern features such as pagination, word spacing, indentations,
   and paragraph breaks.

   Another, 36-line edition of the Bible was also printed, most likely
   some years after the first edition, although there is speculation that
   this may have been an earlier work.

Gutenberg's method of printing with movable type

   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 six pages at a time, and would have required 100,000 pieces of
   type—making the type alone would take two man years. Setting each page
   would take at least half a day, and considering all the work in loading
   the press, inking the type, hanging up the sheets, etc., it is thought
   that the Gutenberg–Fust shop might have employed about 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 (with the
   letter carved back to front) is hammered into the soft metal copper,
   creating a mould or matrix. This is then placed into a holder, and cast
   by filling with hot type-metal, which cooled down to create a piece of
   type. The matrix can now be reused to create hundreds of identical
   letters, so that the same type appearing anywhere in the book will
   appear similar, giving rise to the growth of fonts. Subsequently, these
   letters are placed on a rack and inked; using a press, many hundred
   copies can be made. The letters can be reused in any combination,
   earning the process the name of 'movable type'. (For details, see
   Typography).

Was the type produced by punches and copper matrices?

   Such is the process that has been widely attributed to have been
   Gutenberg's invention, but it appears from recent evidence that
   Gutenberg's actual process was somewhat different. If he used the punch
   and matrix approach, all his letters should have been identical, within
   some variation possibly due to inking. However, the type used in
   Gutenberg's printed Bibles were quite irregular.

   In 2001, the physicist Blaise Aguera y Arcas and Princeton librarian
   Paul Needham, used digital scans of the Gutenberg Bible in the Scheide
   Library, Princeton, to carefully compare the same letters (types)
   appearing in different parts of the Gutenberg 42-line Bible . The
   irregularities in Gutenberg's type, particularly in simple characters
   such as the hyphen, made it clear that the variations couldn't 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, made for only one conclusion: that they could not have been
   produced from the same matrix. They hypothesized that the method used
   involved using the punch to make a mould, but that the process of
   taking the type out would disturb the mould, resulting in non-identical
   type.

   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 (also see Adams 91
   Chapter 4). They suggest that the additional step of using the punch to
   create a mould that could be reused many times was not taken until 20
   years later, in the 1470s.

Other hypotheses

   The 19th c. 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. However, this
   appears unlikely given the uniformity of the bulk of the type he used.

   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.

Claims of other European inventors

   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 to Mainz. While Coster appears to have
   experimented with moulds and cast-able metal type, there is no evidence
   that he had actually printed anything with this technology. There is
   even less evidence for other claimants such as Panfilo Castaldi.

Was Gutenberg influenced by East Asian printing?

   Since the use of printing from movable type arose in East Asia well
   before it did in Europe, it is relevant to ask whether Gutenberg may
   have been influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Korean or Chinese
   discoveries of movable type printing, or their earlier discoveries of
   block printing.

   In Joseph Needham's Science and Civilization in China a chapter on
   Paper and Printing suggests that "European block printers must not only
   have seen Chinese samples, but perhaps had been taught by missionaries
   or others who had learned these un-European methods from Chinese
   printers during their residence in China."

   Movable types made from clay were introduced in China by Bi Sheng,
   between 1041 to 1048. Cast metal movable type was introduced during the
   Goryeo dynasty of Korea and is associated with Chae Yun-eui (around
   1230). A set of ritual books, Sangjong Gogeum Yemun were printed with
   the movable metal type in 1234. The oldest surviving book printed with
   movable type is from Korea, dated 1377.

   By the 1300s the Mongol Empire stretched from Korea to Damascus and
   Kiev, and movable type printing radiated westward out of Korea. Among
   the people known to have used movable type are the Uighurs of Central
   Asia, whose written script was adopted for the Mongol script. There has
   been considerable conjecture whether some news of this technology, if
   not printed samples, had reached Europe, e.g. in this article by Tom
   Christensen :

     What is certain, however, is that printing with movable wooden type
     is documented from the eleventh century; that printing with movable
     metal type had been an active enterprise in Korea since 1234; that
     other printing technologies had Asian origins and were subsequently
     transmitted to the West; that a single empire (the Mongol khanates)
     stretched from Korea to Europe through much of the thirteenth and
     fourteenth centuries, facilitating cross-cultural exchange across a
     large region; that there was considerable East-West travel, contact,
     and exchange during this period; that the written record of such
     contacts records only a fraction of what actually occurred; and that
     there was awareness of Asian printing in Europe in the centuries
     before Gutenberg....[but] as Eva Hanebutt-Benz properly observes,
     “We do not know if Johannes Gutenberg had any kind of knowledge of
     the fact that long before his invention printing with moveable type
     was done in East-Asia.”

   However, there were key differences between the European technologies
   and that in Korea. Gutenberg used a press, unlike in East Asia, and
   used matrices (type holding frames), oil-based inks, and other devices
   that were significantly different. Whatever the facts regarding Asian
   influences in this invention, there can be no doubt about Gutenberg's
   genius in putting together the technologies that eventually went on to
   fuel the European renaissance.

Legacy

   Gutenberg statue by Bertel Thorvaldsen in Mainz, Germany
   Enlarge
   Gutenberg statue by Bertel Thorvaldsen in Mainz, Germany

   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, but this may perhaps be explained by the prior
   eminence of Italy in the paper and printing trade, and also the
   dispersal of Gutenberg's compositors and typefounders (like Nicolas
   Jenson) after the sack of Mainz in 1462.

   Printing was also a factor in the Reformation: Martin Luther found that
   the 95 Theses, which he posted on the door of his church, were printed
   and circulated widely; subsequently he also issued broadsheets
   outlining his anti- indulgences position (ironically, indulgences were
   one of the first items Gutenberg had printed). The broadsheet evolved
   into newspapers and defined the mass media we know today.

   In the decades after Gutenberg, many conservative patrons looked down
   on cheap printed books; books produced by hand were considered more
   desirable. At one point the papal court debated a policy of requiring
   printing presses to obtain a license, but this could not be decreed.

   Today there is a large antique market for the earliest printed objects.
   Books printed prior to 1500 are known as incunabulum.

   There are many statues of Gutenberg in Germany, including the famous
   one by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1837) in Mainz, home to the Gutenberg Museum
   and the eponymous Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. The Gutenberg
   Galaxy and Project Gutenberg also commemorate Gutenberg's name. Matthew
   Skelton's book Endymion Spring explores a controversial theory about
   Johann Gutenberg and his partner Fust.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Gutenberg"
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