Bookmaker Johann Gutenberg: Biography

German Johann Gutenberg, whose biography is described in this article, had a tremendous impact on the entire surrounding world. His invention really turned the course of history.

The ancestors of Johann Gutenberg

Since the famous inventor was born and lived in the fifteenth century, there is very little information about him. In those days, only prominent political and ecclesiastical figures were honored to be listed in documentary sources. However, Johann was lucky. Contemporaries appreciated his work, information about him is found in various historical descriptions of the time.

It is known for certain that Johann Gutenberg was born in the well-to-do family of Frile Gansfleisch and Elsa Virich. It happened about 1400 years.

His parents married in 1386. The mother came from a family of clothers, so their union was considered unequal. In the city, from time immemorial, there was a struggle between patricians (the upper layers of the burghers, the father's family) and workshops (artisans, the mother's family). When the confrontation in Mainz was aggravated, the family had to leave, so as not to endanger the children.

In Mainz, the family had an estate named after Father Gensfleis, and the farmstead Gutenberghof.

Perhaps the inventor had a knighthood, although the origin of his mother and his own activities contradicted it. However, there is an ordinance, signed by the French King Charles Seventh, in which the name of Gutenberg is listed.

Childhood and youth

A short biography of Johann is not contained in any of the ancient sources. It can be restored only by fragmentary data. That is why there is simply no reliable information about the first years of his life.

There are no records of his baptism. However, some researchers believe that his birthday is June 24, 1400 (the day of John the Baptist). Also, there is no exact information about the place of his birth. It can be either Mainz or Strasbourg.

Johann was the youngest child in the family. The eldest son was called Frile, there were also two girls - Elsa and Patze.

After graduation, the young man was trained in craftsmanship, deciding to follow in the footsteps of his mother's ancestors. It is known that he reached the highest craftsmanship and was awarded the title of master, since subsequently he studied apprentices.

Life in Strasbourg

Since 1434, Johann Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg. He was engaged in jewelry business, polished precious stones and produced mirrors. It was there that the idea of creating a machine that would print books was born in his head. In 1438, he even created an organization under the mysterious name "Enterprise with art." The cover was the manufacture of mirrors. This partnership was organized in conjunction with his pupil Andreas Dritsen.

Around this time, Gutenberg and the team stood on the verge of a brilliant discovery, but the death of the companion delayed the release of his invention.

The invention of printing

The starting point for modern printing is 1440, although there are no printed documents, books and sources of that time. There are only indirect proofs, according to which a certain Waldfogel since 1444 sold the secret of "artificial writing". It is believed that this was John Gutenberg himself. Thus, he tried to obtain funds for the further development of his machine. While he was only a convex letter, created from metal and carved in his mirror image. In order for an inscription to appear on the paper, it was necessary to use a special paint and press.

In 1448, the German returns to Mainz, where he makes a deal with usurer I. Fust, who paid him eight hundred gulden per year. The profit from the printing house was to be divided as a percentage. But in the end this arrangement began to work against Gutenberg. He stopped receiving the promised money for technical support, but he still shared profits.

Despite all the turmoil, Johann Gutenberg's machine found several different fonts by 1956 (a total of five). At the same time, the first grammar of Elijah Donat was printed, several official documents and, finally, two Bibles, which became historical monuments for printing.

The 42-line Gutenberg Bible, printed no later than 1455, is considered Johann's main work. It has survived to the present day and is kept in the Museum of Mainz.

For this book, the inventor created a special typeface, a kind of gothic writing. It turned out quite similar to the manuscript and due to the many ligatures and abbreviations that were used to apply to scribes.

Since the existing colors were not suitable for printing, Gutenberg had to create his own. Due to the addition of copper, lead and sulfur, the text in the book turned blue-black, with unusual brilliance, red ink was used for the rubrication. To combine two colors, you had to skip one page twice through the machine.

The book came out in 180 copies, but it has not reached our days. The largest number is in Germany (twelve pieces). In Russia there was one copy of the first printed Bible, but after the revolution the Soviet government sold it at an auction in London.

In the fifteenth century, this Bible was sold for 30 florins (3 grams of gold in one coin). Today one page from the book is estimated at 80 thousand dollars. There are 1272 pages in the Bible.

Litigation

Johann Gutenberg was twice summoned to justice. For the first time this happened in 1439, after the death of his friend and companion A. Drytsen. His children claimed that the machine is in fact the invention of their father.

Gutenberg easily won the case. And thanks to his materials, researchers learned at what stage of readiness was the invention. The documents included words such as "embossing", "typing", "press", "this work". This clearly indicated the readiness of the machine.

It is known for certain that the process stopped due to the lack of some details left by Andreas. Johann had to restore them on his own.

The second court was held in 1455, when the inventor filed a lawsuit I. Fust for non-payment of interest. The court ruled that the printing house and all its components pass to the plaintiff. Johann Gutenberg invented printing in 1440, and after fifteen years he had to start everything from scratch.

Last years

Hardly surviving the consequences of the court, Gutenberg decided not to give up. He came to the company to K. Gumery and published in 1460 the composition of Johann Balba, as well as Latin grammar with a dictionary.

In 1465, he went to the service of Elector Adolf.

At the age of 68 the book printer died. He was buried in Mainz, but at the present time the whereabouts of his grave are unknown.

Distribution of printing

What became famous Johann Gutenberg, attracted many. I wanted everyone to have easy money. Therefore, there were many people who pretended to be inventors of printing in Europe.

The name of Gutenberg was fixed in one of his documents by Peter Schaeffer, his apprentice. After the destruction of the first printing house, its employees dispersed throughout Europe, introducing new technologies in other countries. Their teacher was Johann Gutenberg. Typography quickly spread in Hungary (A. Hess), Italy (Svehneim), Spain. Oddly enough, not one of Gutenberg's students went to France. Parisians themselves invited German printers to work in their country.

The final point in the history of the creation of printing was put in his work by Antony Van der Lind in 1878.

Gutenberg Science

The identity of the European first printer was always popular. Researchers in many countries have not missed the opportunity to write any work on his biography or activities. During his lifetime, disputes about the authorship of the invention and the place (Mainz or Strasbourg) began.

Some connoisseurs called Gutenberg the apprentice of Fust and Scheffer. And despite the fact that Schaeffer himself called Johann the inventor of printing, these rumors did not abate for a long time.

Modern researchers call the main problem that in the first printed books there is no colophon, that is a mark about authorship. Having done this, Gutenberg could have avoided many problems and would not have allowed his heritage to vegetate.

About the identity of the inventor is known a little more and because there is no personal correspondence, a reliable image. The number of documentary evidence is inadequate.

Johann Gutenberg invented unique fonts, through which he managed to establish and confirm his legacy.

In Russia, interest in studying the life of the first printer appeared only in the middle of the twentieth century. Then the 500th anniversary of the invention of printing was celebrated. The first researcher was Vladimir Lublinsky, a representative of the scientific community of Leningrad.

In total, more than 3,000 scientific works have been written and published in the world (including a brief biography of Gutenberg).

Memory

Unfortunately, Johann's portraits have not survived. The first engraving, dated 1584, was written in Paris on the description of the appearance of the inventor.

Mainz is considered not only the hometown of Johann, but also the place of invention of a printing press. Therefore, there is a monument to Gutenberg, its museum (opened in 1901).

His name is an asteroid and a crater on the moon.