Gutenberg Prints Bible: Movable Type Changes Everything

Johannes Gutenberg produced the first copies of his 42-line Bible in his Mainz workshop around 1455, using a system of movable metal type, oil-based ink, and a wooden press adapted from a wine press. The Bible was printed on vellum and paper in editions of roughly 180 copies, of which 49 survive today. Gutenberg's innovation was not the concept of printing, which the Chinese had practiced for centuries, but the creation of a complete system: individual metal letters cast from durable alloy, arranged in a composing stick, locked into a form, and pressed uniformly onto paper. A single press could produce 3,600 pages per day, compared to a monk's output of roughly two pages. The cost of books dropped by roughly 80 percent within a generation. By 1500, an estimated 20 million volumes had been printed in Europe. The monopoly on knowledge held by the Catholic Church and literate elite collapsed, enabling the Protestant Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and mass literacy.