Naimbento ni johannes gutenberg biography

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Infinitely more practical than carving complete wood blocks for printing, each type was a single letter or character. Many of the city’s typographers fled to other parts of Germany and Europe, taking their techniques and technology with them. In 1450, Gutenberg obtained backing from the financier, Johann Fust, whose impatience and other factors led to Gutenberg's loss of his establishment to Fust several years later.

His first working printing press was revealed in around 1450 in Strasbourg.

Replica of the Gutenberg Press

The key element of the printing press was the use of moveable type printing – adjustable wooden characters (later metal), the use of an oil-based ink and a wooden printing press derived from the screw presses used in agriculture.

With the new invention, 42 lines could be printed at once, dramatically reducing the labour and cost of creating books (which previously had been handwritten manuscripts).

180 copies of the original Gutenberg Bible were produced, mostly on paper and some on vellum. “Biography of Johannes Gutenberg”, Oxford, UK biographyonline.net 28 Dec. 2012. He started his working life as a merchant but then moved into work as a blacksmith and goldsmith. This printing press was soon influential in the development of the Renaissance, The Reformation and The Age of Scientific Enlightenment.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Johannes Gutenberg
BORN: c. Updated 11 Jan 2018.

Gutenberg: How One Man Remade the World with Words

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Hart, from his book 100 most influential people in the world. The Archbishop granted him the title of Hofmann (gentleman of the court) in 1465, which provided a salary and privileges for services rendered. The Psalter is decorated with hundreds of two-color initial letters and delicate scroll borders using an ingenious method based on multiple inking on a single metal block.

Already familiar with bookmaking, Gutenberg perfected small metal type. His printing presses were later used to mass produce Bibles – helping to spread the most influential book of the era. He had borrowed 800 guilders from local financier Johann Fust to purchase specific tools and equipment needed for his unique typography method.

It is also said the idea for the printing press, came like a flash of light, though this may have been an embellished story – added at a later day.

The genius of Gutenberg’s printing press is that it incorporated various technologies from different fields into a practical and affordable way of printing books. He died on February 3, 1468, and was buried in the church of the Franciscan convent in the nearby town of Eltville, Germany.

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