Think and Write
Imagine you were present at that time when Johannes Gutenberg announced that
he had printed the Bible.
Describe the event, the information Gutenberg revealed about the process, the
reaction of the people and members of the church. Include any other details that
you can imagine.
Answers
Answer:
i dont know
Explanation:
Answer:
JOHANNES GUTENBERG
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Johannes Gutenberg
German printer
BY Hellmut E. Lehmann-Haupt View Edit History
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Discover how Johannes Gutenberg's printing press increased the literacy and education of the public
Discover how Johannes Gutenberg's printing press increased the literacy and education of the public
A history of the printing press, including a discussion of Johannes Gutenberg's work.
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Johannes Gutenberg, in full Johann Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, (born 14th century, Mainz [Germany]—died probably February 3, 1468, Mainz), German craftsman and inventor who originated a method of printing from movable type. Elements of his invention are thought to have included a metal alloy that could melt readily and cool quickly to form durable reusable type, an oil-based ink that could be made sufficiently thick to adhere well to metal type and transfer well to vellum or paper, and a new press, likely adapted from those used in producing wine, oil, or paper, for applying firm even pressure to printing surfaces. None of these features existed in the European technique used up to that time for stamping letters on various surfaces or in woodblock printing. Gutenberg’s printing press was considered a history-changing invention, making books widely accessible and ushering in an “information revolution.”
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg
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Born: c.1390 or 1399 Mainz Germany
Died: February 2, 1468? Mainz Germany
Gutenberg was long thought to have also invented the punch-matrix system of casting metal type (in which a character engraved on one end of a hard metal rod, the punch, was used to strike an impression into a softer metal plate, the matrix, into which molten metal was poured to form any number of virtually identical pieces of type). However, in the early 2000s a computer-aided analysis of Gutenberg’s printed work showed that there was too much variation in characters of a given sort (e.g., the letter i) for his type to have been cast that way. Some scholars now think that the punch-matrix system emerged several years after Gutenberg’s death.
Life
Gutenberg was the son of a patrician of Mainz. What little information exists about him, other than that he had acquired skill in metalwork, comes from documents of financial transactions. Exiled from Mainz in the course of a bitter struggle between the guilds of that city and the patricians, Gutenberg moved to Strassburg (now Strasbourg, France) probably between 1428 and 1430. Records put his presence there from 1434 to 1444. He engaged in such crafts as gem cutting, and he also taught a number of pupils.
Some of his partners, who became aware that Gutenberg was engaged in work that he kept secret from them, insisted that, since they had advanced him considerable sums, they should become partners in these activities as well. Thus, in 1438 a five-year contract was drawn up between him and three other men: Hans Riffe, Andreas Dritzehn, and Andreas Heilmann. It contained a clause whereby in case of the death of one of the partners, his heirs were not to enter the company but were to be compensated financially.
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Fust won a suit against him, the record of which is preserved, in part, in what is called the Helmaspergersches Notariatsinstrument (the Helmasperger notarial instrument), dated November 6, 1455, now in the library of the University of Göttingen. Gutenberg was ordered to pay Fust the total sum of the two loans and compound interest (probably totaling 2,020 guilders). Traditional historiography suggested that this settlement ruined Gutenberg, but more recent scholarship suggests that it favoured him, allowing him to operate a printing shop through the 1450s and maybe into the 1460s.
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Printing of the Bible of Johannes Gutenberg
There is no reason to doubt that the printing of certain books (werck der bucher, specifically mentioned in the record of the trial, refers to the Forty-two-Line Bible that was Gutenberg’s masterpiece) was completed, according to Gutenberg’s major biographers, in 1455 at the latest. It has been estimated that the sale of the Forty-two-Line Bible alone would have produced many times over the sum owed Fust by Gutenberg, and there exists no explanation as to why these tangible assets were not counted among Gutenberg’s property at the trial.