The Middle Ages were a time of superstition and ignorance. Very few people were educated and literate, because only the wealthiest nobles and clergy could afford books. Many people couldn’t even read and write, and most people owned few to none books. Books were incredibly expensive because every single book had to be written by hand. Each book took a very long time and was very laborious.
In the late 1300s and early 1400s, a new, faster method of printing was invented, called block printing. All the words on a page were carved into a wooden block, which was then dipped in ink and used as a stamp. Because of this advancement, making 10 copies or even 100 copies of a book took no longer than making the first copy. However, it was still slow because a different block had to be made for each page, which was very tedious.
In 1395, a boy named Johannes Gutenberg was born in Mainz, Germany. His family was well off and he learned to read. He loved reading the books his family and their rich friends possessed, but he was sad that only the wealthy could afford books. He wanted everyone to enjoy reading.
Gutenberg decided that he would create a way for books to be produced quickly and cheaply. He didn’t want any neighbors learning about his invention, and so he looked for a place where he could work in secret. He found that place in an abandoned building in the town of Strasbourg, where he now lived. Gutenberg obtained the right to turn one room in the building into his workshop.
Gutenberg worked long hours every day, trying to develop a better way to make books. No one knew what he was working on or where he went each day, and rumors started that he was a wizard who worked with the devil. Gutenberg ignored the gossip and worked hard on his project, but none of his attempts succeeded, leaving him sad and discouraged at the end of each long day.
Unfortunately, Gutenberg ran out of money and had to return to his old home in Mainz. There he met a successful goldsmith named Faust, and Gutenberg told him about his fruitless struggle to develop a cheap method of printing. Becoming interested, Faust gave Gutenberg some money and Gutenberg resumed his labors. However, he was still unsuccessful, and Faust soon became impatient. The two men quarreled, and Faust sued Gutenberg. The judge ruled in favor of Faust, who took everything Gutenberg had, even the tools he was using.
Although Gutenberg had lost all his possessions, he still had determination, and he still had friends. One of these friends bought Gutenberg new tools and a new workshop, and Gutenberg got back to work. Finally his hard work paid off, and Gutenberg developed the first draft of his invention. He made hard wood types, which were stamps like the blocks, but were only one letter instead of a whole page. Since each type was only one letter, they could be moved around within a frame to create any pages for any book. However, Gutenberg’s types were made of wood, which wouldn’t always print clearly. Giving up on the wood types, Gutenberg had a breakthrough when he used metal types made from a lead-based alloy. He used these metal types and a new hand-mound called a matrix to form his claim to fame: the Gutenberg printing press!
By the early 1450s, Gutenberg had printed a Latin Bible with his invention. Soon news spread that a man in Mainz had a new way of printing that was much more efficient than any previous method. By the time of Gutenberg’s death in 1468, his printing presses were in every major city in Europe, and the continent was flooded with books like it had never been before.
In conclusion, Johannes Gutenberg drastically changed the history of printing, education, learning, and communication, giving all Europeans access to knowledge. Because of him, discoveries and information were preserved better and spread faster, helping the Renaissance flourish. Books are now as cheap as a restaurant meal, but that wouldn’t be true without Gutenberg.
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