Johanes GutenbergMany consider Johans Gutenberg to be the most important man in the history of communication. His grand invention was the printing press. People today may not see this as something that large but it has affected the entire world. In the times of Gutenberg books were exspensive and very hard to come by. The reason is because all books had to be hand written. This took so much time that it took long periods of time for one book to be finished. But with the invention of the printing press books quickly became available to more and more people.
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The Time of Johanes Gutenberg
The 15th century was one of social and political change. There were several good events happening in this time such as technical innovations, an increase in written communication even outside monastery walls, attempts to reform the church, a first spread of humanistic thought, as well as new art forms. But not everything in this time period was good like horrible inquisition proceedings and many long-lasting wars. |
Gutenberg's Invention
Before Gutenberg woodblock printing was common. A sheet of paper was laid over the inked woodblock and an impression taken by rubbing. Gutenberg's press was different by the splitting up of the text into individual components such as lower and upper case letters, punctuation marks, ligatures and abbreviations, based upon the tradition of medieval scribes. These figures were then put together to form words, lines and pages. Another important part of the invention was the screw press. This was a press that allowed an effective way to put the ink on the paper. |
Gutenberg's Invention
Gutenbergs most famous work was the "42 Line Bible." This 2 volume set of the Bible is so famous because of how beautifully it was done. On every single page of the bible there are exactly 42 lines. The designs on the outter parts of the page were done by an artist instead of a press. Out of the 180 copies of his 42 Line Bible only 48 remain in existence. 2 of these Bibles are being kept at the Johanes Gutenberg Museum. These Bibles are considered one of the best books in creation. |
