Gutenberg Dies: Printing Press Creator Changes World

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1440, borrowed heavily to build it, and was sued into near-ruin by the man who financed the project. Born around 1398 in Mainz, Germany, Gutenberg was trained as a goldsmith, and it was his metalworking skills that enabled the critical innovation: individual metal type pieces that could be cast in quantity, arranged into pages, printed, and then disassembled and reused. Previous printing technologies in Europe and Asia used carved wooden blocks. Gutenberg's movable type made it economically feasible to print different texts without carving new blocks each time. He also developed an oil-based ink that adhered to metal type better than the water-based inks used for woodblock printing, and he adapted a wine press mechanism to apply even pressure across the type surface. The development took years and consumed enormous amounts of capital. Johann Fust, a Mainz businessman, provided the financing. When Gutenberg could not repay the loans, Fust sued him in 1455 and won the lawsuit, walking away with the press, the type, and most of the materials, including the partially completed Bible. Gutenberg kept going with a smaller workshop. The Bible he printed, known as the Gutenberg Bible, consisted of approximately 180 copies in two volumes totaling 1,282 pages. Each page was set by hand from roughly 290 different characters. Forty-nine copies survive, complete or in part, and they are among the most valuable books in the world. He died in Mainz on February 3, 1468, having received a modest pension from the Archbishop. The press had already spread to Italy, France, and Spain. Within 50 years of his death, an estimated 20 million volumes had been printed across Europe, more books than in all of European manuscript history combined.