Question

Analyse the contribution of Gutenberg to printing in Europe.

Hint:

Build the answer around what he invented, what he printed first, how he made printed books acceptable to buyers, and how quickly printing then spread across Europe.

Answer 1

Concept:

• Before the 1430s books in Europe were copied by hand or printed from carved wooden blocks, which made them slow and costly to produce.
• Johann Gutenberg, the son of a merchant who grew up on a farm, turned machines he already knew, the olive press and the wine press, into a printing machine.

Step 1: He built the first printing press in Europe.
Gutenberg developed his press by 1448 at Strasbourg. He adapted the olive press into the printing press, and used moulds to cast the metal types for the letters of the alphabet.
For the first time letters could be arranged, printed and then rearranged for a new page.

Step 2: He printed the Bible as the first major book.
The first book he printed was the Bible. About 180 copies were produced, and it took three years to finish them. For that time this was an extraordinary speed, because a hand-copied manuscript could take months for a single copy.

Step 3: He kept the printed book looking like a handwritten one.
Printed books at first closely resembled written manuscripts in appearance and layout. The metal letters imitated the ornamental handwritten style, borders were illuminated by hand, and space was left blank on the page so that buyers could add decoration to their own taste.
This helped the new product win acceptance from readers used to manuscripts.

Step 4: He set off a print revolution.
Within about fifty years of his press, printing had spread to most countries of Europe, and roughly twenty million copies of printed books were flooding the markets. In the sixteenth century the number rose to about two hundred million copies.
Books became cheaper, time and labour were saved, and reading spread far beyond the small circle of the clergy and the rich.

Final Answer: Gutenberg gave Europe its first printing press with movable metal type, printed the Bible on it, shaped printed books so that readers would accept them, and by doing so began the print revolution that made books cheap and widely available.