Historical Figure
Johannes Gutenberg
d. 1468
German inventor and craftsman (c. 1393–1406 – 1468)
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Biography
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg was a German inventor and craftsman who invented the movable-type printing press. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's invention of the printing press enabled a much faster rate of printing. The printing press later spread across the world, and led to an information revolution and the unprecedented mass-spread of literature throughout Europe. It had a profound impact on the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, and humanist movements.
Timeline
The story of Johannes Gutenberg, told in moments.
Develops movable type printing in Strasbourg. The key innovation isn't the press itself. It's the alloy for the type, the oil-based ink, and the hand mold that lets him cast identical letters quickly. He tells almost nobody what he's doing.
The Gutenberg Bible rolls off the press in Mainz. 180 copies. 42 lines per page. Two columns. The type is so precise that scholars initially think the books are handwritten. It takes three years to produce the full run.
Johann Fust sues him for unpaid loans. Wins. Takes the printing press, the type, and the workshop. Fust goes into business with Gutenberg's assistant, Peter Schoffer. Gutenberg keeps the technology that will change the world but loses the shop that makes money from it.
Dies in Mainz, likely blind and certainly poor. The Archbishop of Mainz had granted him a pension in his last years: a court suit, grain, and wine. Within 50 years of his death, 20 million volumes will be printed across Europe.
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