The art of printing, like the making of paper, had long been known to the Chinese, but it was not till about 1450 that printing was used in Europe. Johann Gutenberg a German was the first European to print from movable metal type.
Johann Gutenberg was born in 1400 in Mainz, Germany. His father was Friele Zurn Gensfleis and mother, Elsgen Wyrich. His mother hailed from a well to do family in the province of Gutenberg. For some reason Johann Gensfleis dropped his original surname and took the one Gutenberg. Some unknown but serious reason made the Gensfleis family move to Strasborg from Mainz.
Johann Gutenberg was a goldsmith by profession. Being a dexterous man with a genius in producing superfine filigree ornaments out of metal, he tried his hand in cutting metallic letters.
He experimented with printing, making use of these letters in the 1430 s. Finally he was able to invent the printing press with movable metallic letters.
Gutenberg made the first printed Bible, known as the ‘Gutenberg Bible’ or ‘Mazarin Bible’ in 1455.
Hitherto, all Western books had been ‘manuscripts’ written by hand, like the books of the Alexandrian library in Egypt and Florentian library in Italy. These manuscript books were very costly and confined to a few. Soon printing presses of the Gutenberg model were produced first in Germany and then in Italy.
The great printers of Venice, Italy, with their 200 presses were soon publishing fine copies of the old Greek books.
William Caxton (1432-1491) an Englishman was the first English printer who followed Gutenberg’s technology. From 1470 to 1472 he was in Cologne, Germany, mastering the art of printing. He returned to England and set up his own press at Westminister, in 1476. He published more than 100 items, many of them his own translations from French, Latin and Dutch.
Gradually books became cheaper and available for all, and Gutenberg’s invention thus had far-reaching results. It is no wonder that the invention of printing has been called ‘the greatest event’ in history.
Gutenberg passed away in Strasborg in 1468.