Gutenberg, Johannes, << GOOT uhn `burg, yoh HAHN uhs` >> (1395?-1468?), invented processes that made printing from movable metallic type practical for the first time. His printing method used a supply of the letters that were uniformly cast on equal metal bodies. Gutenberg and others used his invention to produce books in Mainz, Germany, during the mid-1400’s.
Gutenberg was born in Mainz, a member of the aristocratic Gensfleisch family. He used his mother’s name. He may have learned the necessary skills in metalwork from an uncle who was master of the mint. At that time, Mainz was a center for many goldsmiths and jewelers. As an aristocrat, Gutenberg did not have to serve a regular apprenticeship.
Because of his family’s involvement in local political squabbles, Gutenberg spent a number of years in exile in Strasbourg. He carried on experiments there to develop a method for printing books that would replace handwritten copying. Gutenberg produced types that could be ranged in even lines of composition. Then, they could be locked firmly together under the pressure of quoins (wedges) to make up a form (unit). A number of pages containing thousands of types could easily be put on and taken off the press. After printing, the types could be separated and used again to set up other pages. Gutenberg adapted the ink for his press from materials known to early Flemish painters.
Long before Gutenberg’s time, the Chinese and Koreans had been printing text and pictures cut on wood blocks. They had even invented movable type made of porcelain and metal. But their languages required so many different characters for printing that they had not fully developed the method for practical, widespread use. Europeans developed movable type independently in the 1400’s. Others besides Gutenberg were struggling to solve the problem. At least one Dutch printer was well along the road to successful typography. But Gutenberg and his associates, Johannes Fust and Peter Schoffer, perfected it. Their magnificent Bible, known as the Mazarin Bible and Gutenberg Bible, shows that these pioneer printers had mastered every technical detail.
