HISTORY   >  INVENTION FACTS
AND MYTHS

Fascinating facts about the invention of the
Printing Press
by Johannes
Gutenberg
in 1450.

PRINTING
PRESS

Basically, printing
is the process of making multiple copies of a document by the use of
movable characters or letters. The process was developed
independently in China and Europe. Before the invention of printing,
multiple copies of a manuscript had to be made by hand, a laborious
task that could take many years. Printing made it possible to
produce more copies in a few weeks than formerly could have been
produced in a lifetime by hand. Invented by Johann Gutenberg in c1450, the
printing press made the mass publication and circulation of
literature possible. Derived from the presses farmers used to make
olive oil, the first printing press used a heavy screw to force a
printing block against the paper below.

An operator worked a
lever to increase and decrease the pressure of the block against the
paper. The invention of the printing press, in turn, set off a
social revolution that is still in progress. The German printing
pioneer Johannes Gutenberg solved the problem of molding movable
type. Once developed, printing spread rapidly and began to replace
hand-printed texts for a wider audience.

Thus,
intellectual life soon was no longer the exclusive domain of church
and court, and literacy became a necessity of urban existence. The
printing press stoked intellectual fires at the end of the Middle
Ages, helping usher in an era of enlightenment. This great cultural
rebirth was inspired by widespread access to and appreciation for
classical art and literature, and these translated into a renewed
passion for artistic expression. Without the development of the
printing press, the Renaissance may never have happened. Without
inexpensive printing to make books available to a large portion of
society, the son of John Shakespeare, a minor government official in
rural England in the mid-1500s, may never have been inspired to
write what are now recognized as some of history's greatest plays.
What civilization gained from Gutenberg's invention is incalculable.

To Learn
More

RELATED
INVENTION:
Johannes
Gutenberg, Inventor Profile
from
The Great Idea Finder
History of the Gutenberg Bible
from
The Great Idea Finder

ON THE
BOOKSHELF:
100 Inventions That Shaped World History

by Bill Yenne, Morton, Dr. Grosser (Editor) /
Paperback - 112 pages (1983) / Bluewood Books
This book contains inventions from
all around the world from microchips to fire. This is a really good
book if you are going to do research on inventions.

Popular Patents
by
Travis Brown / Paperback - 224 pages / Scarecrow Press (September 1,
2000)
Eighty stories of America's first inventions. Each includes
a sketch of the invention, a profile of the inventor and a glimpse
of how the invention has found its way into American
culture.
The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an
Electronic Age
Sven P. Birkerts / Paperback / Fawcett Books
-1985
Birkerts, a renowned critic, examines the practice of
reading with an eye to what the future will bring. Fine Print : A Story About Johann
Gutenberg
Joann Johnson Burch / Paperback - 64 pages /
Carolrhoda Books - 1992
This interesting book about Gutenberg's
struggles to complete and perfect his printing
process gives a
vivid picture of life in the Middle Ages.
The Gutenberg Bible : Landmark in Learning
by
James E. Thorpe / Hardcover - 48 pages 2nd edition (1997) / H E
Huntington Library & Art
The Huntington Library holds one of
the three vellum copies of the Gutenberg Bible in the United States.
Details the early history of printing and how the Gutenberg Bible
was printed. .
Gutenberg (Limited availability.)
Leonard
Everett Fisher / Library Binding - 28 pages / Simon & Schuster -
1993
Fisher's biography of Johann Gutenberg, the
creator of movable type and the printer of the Gutenberg Bible, is
marked by careful research, clear writing, and striking
illustrations.

ON THE WEB:
Landmark Inventions of the Millennium
by Herb Brody
The last 1,000
years have produced an incredible number and variety of scientific
and technological breakthroughs¾but which of these were the most
important?
(URL:
encarta.msn.com/EncartaHome.asp)
Johannes Gutenberg and The Printed
Book
The printing press had developed from the wine
press in the Rhine Valley. It was there in 1440 that Johannes
Gutenberg (c.1397-1468) began using the printing press in
conjunction with a series of blocks each bearing a single letter on
its face.
(URL:
www.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0228.html)
Invention of the Printing
Press
Printing has an illustrious history starting
when Gutenberg built the first press in 1436.
(URL: www.dotprint.com/fgen/history1.htm)
Project Gutenberg
Fine Literature Digitally
Re-Published
(URL: www.gutenberg.net)
Johannes Gutenberg Biography
¢The Bible¢
published by Fust is still known as Gutenberg's Bible and for the
sake of
posterity, he has been hailed as the inventor of the
printing press.
(URL: top-biography.com/9122-Gutenberg/ataglance.htm)
The
Catholic Encyclopedia
Detail on the Gutenberg bible. Henne
Gänsfleisch zur Laden, commonly called
Gutenberg
(URL:
www.newadvent.org/cathen/07090a.htm)
Gutenberg College
Its "great books" curriculum
emphasizes the development of basic learning skills (reading,
writing, mathematics, and critical thinking) and the application of
these skills to profound writings of the
past.
(URL: www.mckenziestudycenter.org/guten/)
Johannes Gutenberg - "Man of the Millennium"
In
honor of his invention, Gutenberg was recently chosen by an
international panel of scientists as the "most outstanding
personality of the millennium."
(URL: www.germany-tourism.de/e/1586.html)
History of the Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg
Bible, may have been finished and perfected by Johann Fust, a
wealthy financier who gained Gutenberg's share of the business in a
lawsuit.
(URL:
orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/books/medbook2.html)
History of Printing
Printing has an illustrious
history starting when Gutenberg built the first press in 1436,
PIERRE DE LA MARE begins a series on the history of
print.
(URL:
www.dotprint.com/fgen/history1.htm)
History of Printed Books
Medieval and
Renaissance Book Production - Printed Books
(URL:
orb.rhodes.edu/encyclop/culture/books/medbook2.html)
Gutenberg Apprentice Speaks
Peter Schoeffer,
once an apprentice to Gutenberg and now partner in his own business.
explains what fueled the invention of the printing press. School
project.
(URL:www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/Renaissance/guildhall/printer/printingguild.html)

Reference Sources in
BOLD Type

This page revised
August 15th,
2002.