Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg was a German craftsman of the fifteenth century who developed movable type printing in Europe, making books far cheaper to produce than hand-copying allowed.
The Gutenberg Bible, printed around 1455, demonstrated the technology that would transform literacy, religion, and the spread of ideas across the Western world.
Reconfigurable printing components
- printing pressMechanical text reproduction device
- typesettingArranging text for print
- letterpressPrinting from raised surfaces
- typefaceLettering style design
font · punch · matrix · lead alloy · composing stick · galley · platen · impression
Made visible by light
- vellumPrepared calfskin for writing
- parchmentTreated hide for manuscripts
- bindingLegally or morally required
- colophonBook's production statement
blackletter · Gothic script · sacred text · Church · liturgical · collector · auction · rare book
Precious metal artisan
- patricianHighborn Roman elite
- GermanCentral European language
- fifteenth centuryYears 1401-1500
- StrasbourgAlsatian regional capital
bankruptcy · lawsuit · blindness · inventor · craftsman · entrepreneur · metalworker · engraver
Mechanized text reproduction transformation
- mass communicationConveying information to multitudes
- literacyAbility to read, write
- ReformationReligious movement splitting Christianity
- RenaissanceEuropean cultural reawakening
democratization · book culture · publishing · propaganda · censorship · Index · public sphere · scientific revolution
Three-dimensional sculpted likeness
- monumentStructure honoring someone remembered
- postage stampAdhesive indicating paid mail
- anniversaryRecurring memorial date
- celebrationFestive event marking occasion
movable type
Reconfigurable printing components
- printing pressMechanical text reproduction device
- typesettingArranging text for print
- letterpressPrinting from raised surfaces
typeface · font · punch · matrix · lead alloy · composing stick · galley · platen · impression · edition
illuminated
Made visible by light
- vellumPrepared calfskin for writing
- parchmentTreated hide for manuscripts
- bindingLegally or morally required
colophon · blackletter · Gothic script · sacred text · Church · liturgical · collector · auction · rare book
goldsmith
Precious metal artisan
- patricianHighborn Roman elite
- GermanCentral European language
- fifteenth centuryYears 1401-1500
Strasbourg · bankruptcy · lawsuit · blindness · inventor · craftsman · entrepreneur · metalworker · engraver · mint
printing revolution
Mechanized text reproduction transformation
- mass communicationConveying information to multitudes
- literacyAbility to read, write
- ReformationReligious movement splitting Christianity
Renaissance · democratization · book culture · publishing · propaganda · censorship · Index · public sphere · scientific revolution · Enlightenment
statue
Three-dimensional sculpted likeness
- monumentStructure honoring someone remembered
- postage stampAdhesive indicating paid mail
- anniversaryRecurring memorial date
- German FiguresOtto von Bismarck, Bach, Beethoven, Albert Einstein, Goethe
- InventorsThomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, Benjamin Franklin, Eli Whitney
- 15th Century FiguresChristopher Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci, Joan of Arc, Isabella I, Henry VII
- printing historyprinting press, typographers, block printing, letterpress, printers
- HumanistsErasmus, Petrarch, Aldus Manutius, Thomas More, secular humanists
- Renaissance WritersWilliam Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Marlowe, Jonson
Johannes Gutenbergoral tradition
Culture passed by speech
Homer · book burning · illiteracy · censorship · samizdat
Johannes GutenbergNazi book burnings
State-organized destruction of literature