Johannes Gutenberg. Johannes Gutenberg and the first printing press. Diffusion of new technology

• Mainz, Electorate of Mainz, Holy Roman Empire

Biography

Due to the very limited documentary sources on Gutenberg's life, it is not possible to reconstruct a coherent biography of him. During the years of his life, as a rule, only the biographies of prominent political figures and church leaders were honored to be listed in trustworthy sources. In this regard, Gutenberg was like many others, that is, he was not of particular interest. His invention, however, contributed to the fact that some facts of his life were reflected in the book responses of his contemporaries.

1400-1448. Early activities

Johann (Johann - Henne, Hengin, Hanssen) Gutenberg was born in the family of the Mainz patrician Friel Gensfleisch and Elsa Wirich. Patricians in Medieval Germany were called citizens belonging to the upper strata of the urban burghers. The mother belonged to a family of cloth merchants, so the marriage of Johann's parents, concluded in 1386, was a misalliance. Mainz was a very important city, since it was here that the archbishop of the German church, the elector, was elected. The city was one of many cities where clashes between the patriciate and the workshops took place, which forced the Johann family to temporarily leave the city during periods of defeat of the patriciate.

Authorship of the invention

Gutenberg studies

A very significant number of scientific and popular works are devoted to the study of Gutenberg's life, his personality, the facts of his biography and his significance for the history of printing and history in general. By the middle of the twentieth century, the number of essays on the Gutenberg theme already exceeded three thousand units, and in the future it only increased. The revolutionary nature of Gutenberg's invention made him, on the one hand, a popular subject of research, which contributed to the development of knowledge about him and the historical period in which he lived. On the other hand, the extraordinary importance of the moment when printing began prompted some researchers to interpret the facts not in the most correct way in an attempt to attribute the invention to other persons, to challenge the place of origin of printing and other distortions, in the hope of benefiting from such an important event in world history.

Attempts to “take away” the authorship of the invention from Gutenberg began almost during his lifetime. From the very beginning there was a dispute, which city should be considered the cradle of printing: Mainz or Strasbourg? Who actually made such an important shift in world history: Johann Fust and Peter Schaeffer, Johann Mentelin? Or was it someone in China who discovered the printed book?

In Germany, for a long time, Gutenberg was considered only an assistant to supposedly true inventors - Fust and Schaeffer. This view was supported by many (in particular, Johann Gottsched). Despite the fact that the primacy of Gutenberg was confirmed back in the eighteenth century (D. Koehler, D. Shepflin), both Mentelin and Fust are still mentioned in this regard, although already mostly in a non-scientific environment.

The main problem in Gutenberg studies is the lack of books published by Gutenberg, in which his colophon (a mark on old books about the author, time and place of publication) would be present. The fact that the book was published by Gutenberg is confirmed only with the help of secondary signs, of which the font used in printing is the key. This main problem is supplemented by side ones: a small amount of documentary evidence (there are only 34 documentary evidence about Gutenberg), the absence of personal correspondence, records, and the absence of a reliable portrait.

Identification of ancient printed books by font is a well-known practice in the field of historical book science. At the inception of printing, almost every publisher found his own font, thanks to which it is possible, even from nameless fragments, to find out which printer's hand this or that page belongs to. The typological method has played an important role in Gutenberg studies. It was with his help that the legacy of Gutenberg was established.

Another significant factor in trying to study the history of the famous German was the desire to create a kind of “legend” out of him, to build his image in such a way that it corresponded to the role assigned to him in history. In the nineteenth century, such a legend was successfully created. Gutenberg was presented as an educated representative of the elite, carried away by the idea of ​​enlightenment, who, observing his financial interests, gave his strength to the development of printing. However, compiled under this legend, the image did not stand the test of time, which led to a split in Gutenberg studies at the beginning of the twentieth century. Excessive concentration of attention on various aspects of the inventor's life led to distortions: sometimes the issue of a mercantile nature was put at the forefront of research, only monetary aspects of activity were taken into account, sometimes all attention was focused on questions of origin, confirmation of Gutenberg's belonging to the elite estates. Some researchers focused entirely on the analysis of fonts, which paid off, but, again, led to a too narrow view of the problem as a whole.

A group of researchers ( Otto Hupp, Paul Schwenke) saw in Gutenberg only the most talented practitioner, the creator of the first skillful types, who was only a typographer and was not in the least concerned with the goals of education. Johann Zedler considered Gutenberg even more limitedly. In his view, he was only a technically educated person who created one of the first printed books, and, due to the novelty of technology for his time, Zedler considered these publications to be very imperfect, especially compared to further developments in this area. This point of view fit in well with the idea of ​​Gutenberg as an instrument, an integral part in the mechanism of historical development, the appearance of which was predetermined by the laws of history.

Viewing Gutenberg's contribution from this perspective has spurred the development of research on the technical background of the invention, and this aspect has received proper disclosure (works by Victor Scholderer) Helmut Lehmann-Haupt

Technically, the essence of the typography's invention was to decompose the letter into its constituent elements - letters, punctuation marks, etc., including white space material, to provide the most rational way for the unlimited production of each character (letter) and the ability to compose a printed print out of them in any sequence. form, which requires standardization and interchangeability of letters by size (letter height) and height (leg length).

The key problem was the way the font was produced. To solve it, it was necessary to create a permanent sample of each letter - a mirror and convex engraved punch, with which the mold (matrix) for casting was minted, and a type-casting tool that ensured casting in the same size and height, which, due to the different height and width of the letters of the alphabet, should was to have sliding walls. It was necessary to find the composition of the metal - hard and non-brittle for a punch, softer for a matrix, fusibility was required from the type alloy so that it took the form of the thinnest lines of a letter, sufficient hardness, but without brittleness, so that it could withstand pressure without deforming or breaking, but didn't tear the paper. For printing from metal, a different - fatty ink composition was needed than water-based ink suitable for woodcuts. It was necessary to mechanize imprinting - a printing press, not counting the incoming solutions - a method of fixing paper during printing.

Johannes Gutenberg dealt with all these problems. As a result, his invention covered the whole range of typographic problems, and the world received a revolutionary new way of obtaining a printed impression on a sheet of paper. This was the beginning of printing.

The basis of Gutenberg's invention is the creation of what is now called type, i.e. metal letters with a bulge at one end, giving the imprint of the letter.

He began, apparently, with a simple division of a wooden board into movable wooden letters. However, this material, due to its fragility, changes in shape from moisture and the inconvenience of fixing in a printed form, quickly proved unsuitable for solving the problems that the inventor faced.

The emergence of the idea of ​​a metal type did not predetermine the achievement of the necessary results. Most likely, Gutenberg began by carving letters directly on metal plates and only later mastered the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe enormous advantage of casting exactly the same type of letters in a once created form.

But there was one more detail on which the inventor had to work hard - this is the creation of a punch.

It is possible, of course, to cut the shape of a letter or word deep into the metal and then, pouring fusible metal into the forms prepared in this way, to obtain letters with a convex point of the letter.

However, it is possible to greatly simplify the task if you make one model of a convex letter on solid metal - a punch. With a punch, a series of inverse in-depth images of the desired letter are imprinted in softer metal, matrices are obtained, and then a quick casting of any number of letters is organized.

The next step is to find an alloy that provides both ease of manufacture (casting) and sufficient strength of the type to withstand repeated printing.

He created the first typographical equipment, invented a new way of making type and made a type mold. Stamps (punsons) were made of hard metal, cut in a mirror image. Then they were pressed into a soft and pliable copper plate: a matrix was obtained, which was filled with an alloy of metals. The composition of the alloy developed by Gutenberg included tin, lead, antimony. The essence of this method of manufacturing letters was that they could be cast in any quantity. In the production of a book, this is significant, given that one average book page requires approximately 200 letters. To equip a printing house, it was no longer a press that was required, but a printing press and a type-setting cash desk (an inclined wooden box with cells). They contained letters and punctuation marks.

Gutenberg obviously owns the introduction of the first type-setting cash desk and a major innovation in printing - the creation of a printing press. The Gutenberg printing press is extremely simple - it is a simple wooden screw press, which was made entirely of wood, its productivity was small. The printing press, as a mechanism that transmits pressure along the screw from the handle, is nothing more than a spinning press used in winemaking or in the production of printed fabric. The technology for making matrices and casting the font is reminiscent of the technique of mirror production of that time.

Johannes Gutenberg mechanically reproduced only the text; all kinds of decorations and illustrations were drawn in ready-made prints by hand. In 1457, Peter Schaeffer (c. 1425-1503) on the pages of the "Psalter" managed to reproduce multicolored initials - initials and his publishing mark.

This whole path of searching was extremely long and difficult, and Gutenberg went through it for almost the entire fifteen-year period of Strasbourg life.

Johann Gutenberg Johann Gutenberg Johann Gutenberg (. 1399 1468) German printer, inventor of the European method of printing. In the middle of the XV century. first printed in the city of Mainz 42 line Bible (). Released the so-called. Mainz Psalter, ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary "World History"

Gutenberg, Johann- Johannes Gutenberg GUTENBERG (Gutenberg) Johann (circa 1399 1468), German printer, inventor of the European method of printing. In the middle of the 15th century first printed a 42-line Bible in Mainz (recognized as a masterpiece of early printing). Released like this... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Gutenberg Johann- (circa 1399 1468) German printer, inventor of the European method of printing. In the middle of the 15th century He first printed a 42-line Bible in the city of Mainz (it is recognized as a masterpiece of early printing). Released the so-called. Mainz Psalter, textbooks, ... ... Historical dictionary

Gutenberg Johann- (Gutenberg, Johann) (c. 1398 1468), German. master printer, inventor of the European. way of printing. In 1438 he entered into an agreement with three partners in order to develop printing methods. In 1450 he received money from a merchant from Mainz ... ... The World History

GUTENBERG Johann- (Gutenberg, Johann) JOHANN GUTENBERG (between 1397 and 1400 1468), a German artisan, who is considered to be the inventor of book printing using a set of movable cast metal letters, as well as a printing press and ... ... Collier Encyclopedia

Gutenberg Johann- [between 1394 1399 (or in 1406) 1468], German inventor of printing. In the middle of the XV century. in Mainz, he printed the so-called 42-line Bible, the first full-length printed edition in Europe, recognized as a masterpiece of early printing. * * * GUTENBERG… … encyclopedic Dictionary

Gutenberg Johann- Gutenberg Johann [b. between 1394-99 (or in 1406) ≈ died 3.2.1468], German inventor who created the European method of printing, the first printer in Europe. ═ G.'s method (printed set) made it possible to obtain an arbitrary number of identical ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Gutenberg Johann- "Guttenberg" redirects here. See also other meanings. Johannes Gutenberg Johannes Gutenberg Date of birth: between 1397 and 1400 ... Wikipedia

Gutenberg Johann- [between 139499 (or in 1406) 1468], German inventor of printing. In the middle of the XV century. in Mainz printed the so-called 42-line Bible the first full-length printed edition in Europe, recognized as a masterpiece of early printing ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Gutenberg Johann- (real name Gensfleisch; born 1394/99 or 1406 - d. 1468) - German. inventor of printing in Europe. I chose fam. mothers, because fam. father, Gensfleisch, was dissonant and meant goose meat. All R. XV century in Mainz printed the so-called. 42 line ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Nicknames

Books

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Evidence about Gutenberg's life is fragmentary; some stages of his life can only be guessed at. The contribution that the pioneer printer made to the development of the culture of Germany and Europe cannot be overestimated.

Childhood and youth of Gutenberg

Johannes Gutenberg was born between 1393 and 1403. Scientists conditionally consider the year of his birth to be 1400. The inventor's family belonged to an ancient noble family and lived in one of the largest and richest Rhine cities - Mainz. Gutenberg's parents Frile Gensfleisch and Else Wierich had four children. The Hensfleisch-Gutenberg family belonged to the urban patricians who were the political and economic elite of Mainz. In the earliest documents, Johannes Gutenberg is referred to as Henne Gensfleisch or Henne zur Laden.

Little is known about Gutenberg's childhood and youth. The youngest among several brothers and sisters, the boy apparently studied at a church school. This is evidenced by Gutenberg's extensive knowledge of Latin, which was useful to him for his subsequent publishing activities.

Strasbourg taught Gutenberg how to earn

In 1434 Gutenberg settled in Strasbourg. This city opened wide opportunities for enterprising people to earn money. Gutenberg's business activity suggests that he had an extraordinary ability to attract capital and qualified employees for his projects.

From 1437, Gutenberg was engaged in teaching wealthy citizens to polish precious stones. Some time later, Gutenberg founded a small pilgrimage mirror factory that produced pewter frames to which small convex mirrors were attached with brackets. Pilgrims pinned these devices to their headdresses, hoping with their help to catch the fertile and healing energy emanating from the holy relics and take some of it with them for relatives and friends. However, most likely, they did not mean real mirrors, but illustrated books of an instructive nature called “Mirrors”, which were very popular at that time.

But Gutenberg failed: the pilgrimage took place a few years later than planned, and the invested capital remained without movement for a long time. Another invention brought him more income. Gutenberg engraved the stamp used to print indulgences.

Invention of the printing press

In the late 40s of the 15th century, Gutenberg again settled in Mainz. The most important period in the life of Johannes Gutenberg passed here - it was in Mainz that he invented the method of printing with movable letters. Thanks to a relative, Gutenberg secured a loan of 150 guilders (roughly equivalent to five years' wages for the average peasant) and used the money to set up a workshop.

The first books to emerge from the Gutenberg press were Latin grammar books. Later, Guttenberg planned to prepare a labor-intensive edition of the Bible and borrowed for this purpose from the big businessman Johann Fust, a huge amount for those times.

The loss printing houses

Bible published by Gutenberg

When the printing of the Bible was actually completed, disagreements arose between Gutenberg and Fust. Fust accused his partner of embezzlement and demanded the return of the debt with interest - more than two thousand guilders in total. With this money in Mainz it was possible to build up a whole street with stone houses. Gutenberg had to give away the workshop, along with the invention and half of the printed copies of the Bible.

Fust took over the printing press and successfully continued the work begun by the inventor. Gutenberg was left with another workshop, smaller and less technically capable. Since then, Johannes Gutenberg has taken on only small commissions that are neither technically nor aesthetically comparable to the first edition of the Bible.

After the loss of the workshop, Gutenberg's attitude towards his invention changed. If earlier he hid the technology from outsiders in every possible way, not wanting to share the benefit with anyone, then after the loss of the workshop, Gutenberg began to participate in various publishing projects. For example, he helped in the publication of the Bible in Bamberg.

last years of life

The turbulent political events in Mainz in the 1460s, the struggle between the old and new archbishops of the city led to the fact that Johannes Guttenberg, who supported the old archbishop, was expelled from his native city with the advent of the new one.

The inventor of printing settled in Eltville, where at first he lived in poverty. But in 1465, the new archbishop of Mainz, determined to restore justice, appointed Gutenberg his courtier and granted him a lifetime annuity. The inventor received a court dress, plus 2180 liters of bread vodka and 2000 liters of wine, and was also exempt from paying taxes.

Three years later, at the end of January 1468, Johannes Gutenberg died and was buried in the church of St. Francis. Later, this church was destroyed, and since then the burial place of the first printer is unknown.

Until the middle of the fifteenth For centuries, books were considered an unprecedented luxury, because their correspondence, decoration with illustrative miniatures and binding took a lot of time and money. Therefore, libraries in Europe, except for monasteries and universities, were owned by only a few aristocrats.

Everything changed thanks to Johannes Gutenberg. An amazing thing is that the whole world knows about his invention, while not so much information has been preserved about him.

Gutenberg figured out how to use movable wooden letters to form words and whole pages of text, then take it apart again to make new text from the same letters.

Nevertheless, it is one thing to invent, and quite another to put an invention on a commercial basis. The early printer Gutenberg needed money to carry out his enterprise.

One of the first printing presses

Therefore, returning to his native Mainz, around 1450 he accepted a loan from Johann Fust and founded a printing workshop. Fust's son-in-law, Peter Schaeffer, soon joined him. The latter was a calligrapher and it is he who is credited with the invention of cast metal letters to replace the wooden ones.

The enterprising Fust, seeing that the finished printing press promises good profits, decided to use the invention himself. In 1455, he sued Gutenberg, demanding the return of funds invested in the business. The court's decision was simple: either return the debt or cover it by transferring the printing press to Fust's ownership.

Johann Fust

Johannes Gutenberg had no choice but to part with his invention. Although he was still able to continue with printing and even received financial assistance in 1465 from the Archbishop of Mainz, Fust reaped the profits from the invention of the printing press.

The first book that Fust published with his brother-in-law in 1455 was the Bible. It is believed that work on its printing began even before the aforementioned trial, so it went down in history as the Gutenberg Bible. It consists of two volumes, each page of which has 42 lines. Only 16 copies of the Gutenberg Bible, printed on paper or parchment, have survived.

Gutenberg and Fust in print Russian

At first, the secret of the invention was kept a great secret. Fust demanded from the artisans an oath on the Gospel that they would not tell anyone about the new method of book production.

Perhaps he would have succeeded at the end of the contsov to take full credit for the invention of the printing press, if his son-in-law had not later made the following entry in one of the books presented as a gift to Emperor Maximilian:

"In 1450, in Mainz, an amazing typographic art was invented by the talented Gutenberg, which was subsequently improved and disseminated in posterity by the works of Fust and Schaeffer."

As predicted by Johann Fust, printed books brought him a good income, as he sold them at the cost of handwritten ones. After his death, the workshop passed to Peter Schaeffer.

But after Mainz was taken by storm and Schaeffer died, the workers of his workshop fled to other lands, thus spreading the art of printing throughout Europe.

Despite the fact that at first the new method was met with caution - they saw the machinations of Satan in it - gradually the Gutenberg printing press spread to almost all European countries.