A little video about this invention

Get this!

Imagine that you are writing a book that you want to sell. You can go to a print shop to reprint them as many times as you would like. But get this, way before modern printing technology, books would be written by hand and written over again to reproduce them. 2 Bibles would take two years to complete by hand. Gutenberg was the one that changed the world, mainly in printing, media and advertising.

Handwritten script copying. Painfully long way to reproduce texts.

Who is Gutenberg and he invent what?

Johannes Gutenberg. The inventor who’s name sounds like my home town, Johannesburg Gauteng.

Johannes Gutenberg was a 14th-century German inventor and craftsman. He was skilled in metalwork. And he had learnt a lot about goldsmithing growing up, which would come in handy later in his years. It helped with creating movable type and how machinery worked at that time. Gutenberg invented the first movable type printing press. A cheaper and more efficient way to reproduce books and other written material. The press helped make reading and education more affordable for the lower classes. It was an “information revolution,” a start in machine-operated production. Most of all, it was highly profitable.

Movable type that is put into rows

Whats the interest?

Gutenberg with Schoeffer and Fust.

Well, Gutenburg was in the middle of what ws essentially a financial love affair. His foreman, Peter Schoeffer, and his business partner/ investor, Johann Fust figuratively stabbed Gutenburg in his back. The printing business was underway. The first copies of the printed bible were nearly ready for sale when Fust demanded a return on his investment plus the interest. Gutenberg couldn’t pay because the books hadn’t sold yet, so the matter went to court. Gutenberg lost the case and later lost all his rights to his business, press, type, premises and the physical pages he had printed. Fust and Schoeffer took the company over and made a lot of money without recognizing Gutenberg for his invention. When Fust dies, Schoeffer inherits the business from him and marries his daughter. A little weird I would say.

Is that a Book Torture Device? Still a printing press.
Gutenberg Printing Press

References

https://www.biography.com/video/johannes-gutenberg-the-printing-press-26300995752
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Gutenberg/Printing-of-the-Bible
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiM0NSh5vDzAhUMHjQIHVoADxIQFnoECAUQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FJohannes_Gutenberg&usg=AOvVaw08zYK845IT6ly22hLAsP3_
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjAwd2v5vDzAhVRLX0KHU1bBM84ChAWegQIERAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fhistory-biography.com%2Fjohannes-gutenberg%2F&usg=AOvVaw1gYWiDsr_wHgb4SMQPSNdR