Gutenberg, Johannes (c. 1398-1468)

A reconstruction of an early printing press. The invention of these presses in the late 15th century brought books to thousands of people. The press had movable print, which was laid in a form and inked. The press was then lowered onto the paper by winding down the huge screw.

The printing press invented by the German printer Johannes Gutenberg (c.1400-1468). He invented the technique of printing from moveable type, and is regarded as the originator of the first printed bible, which has come to be known as the Gutenberg Bible (c. 1455).

German printer, the inventor of European printing from movable metal type (although Laurens Janszoon Coster has a rival claim).

Gutenberg began work on the process in the 1440s and in 1450 set up a printing business in Mainz. By 1456 he had produced the first printed Bible (known as the Gutenberg Bible). Much of the information available about Gutenberg is controversial and it is not known what other books he printed.

He punched and engraved a steel character (letter shape) into a piece of copper to form a mould which he filled with molten metal. The letters were in Gothic script and of equal height.

Gutenberg was born in Mainz and set up a printing firm in Strasbourg in the late 1430s, where he may have invented movable type. This business folded, as did the subsequent one in Mainz with Johann Fust (c. 1400-1466) as a backer: Fust seized the press for nonpayment of the loan. Gutenberg is believed to have gone on to set up a third press and print the Mazarin and Bamberg Bibles. In 1462 Mainz was involved in a local feud, and in the upheaval Gutenberg was expelled from the city for five years before being reinstated, offered a pension, and given tax exemption.