Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg was born in the German city of Mainz in the year 1398. His father was Friele zum Gensfleisch and his mom was Elsgen Wyrich. Johannes is said to have adopted the last name “Gutenberg”, which was his birthplace. When he was young, he learned to read and write, but the books he read were different from what we have now. The books he read while he was young were handwritten and very expensive. Also, handwritten books took a long time to make. Johannes introduced Europe to printing.
A new way to print and make books came about when Johannes Gutenberg was growing up. That new way was called block-printing. Block printing required you to cut from a block of wood to the size of the page in the book. Next, you had to cut out every word you were going to use on that page, which you had to be cautious with. After this, the letters could be painted over with ink then pressed onto the paper, leaving the words that you wanted on that page. Every block of wood that you would cut only printed one page, so this process also took quite a bit of time. Johannes Gutenberg once said that it was a pity that only rich people could own books, because he loved books and he thought that everyone should have the chance to experience reading them. During this time, it was true that only wealthy people had books, because books were expensive and the poor couldn’t afford them. This was when Johannes Gutenberg set out to find a new way to print books that would be quick and simple, but also a way that everyone could be afford. While working on this process, he decided to keep it a secret and thought he would be better off if everyone didn’t know what he was up to. He decided to have his workshop in Strasburg, which was an old ruined town, so it was the perfect spot to stay hidden. Even though neighbors wondered what he was up to, he never cared for their questions or concerns.
After a while, Gutenberg could not succeed and he was running out of money. So, he went back to Mainz and talked his way into getting money from a wealthy blacksmith. The blacksmith was Joahann Fust and he was very interested in his idea of printing books cheaply, so he decided to provide the money to Gutenberg. Johannes Gutenberg got rid of the woodblock ideas and tried to work with metal. He decided it worked very well and was completing the first book ever printed by his new invention, which was movable type. The first book was the Bible, which was printed in Latin. His invention was called the printing press. Soon enough the blacksmith that Johannes Gutenberg was working for lost faith in him and decided to take him to court. The judge favored with Fust, so everything Gutenberg worked on and owned belonged to Fust.
Johannes Gutenberg ended up dying in Mainz, Germany in 1468. His invention made sure that everyone that wanted to read books could, because they were now affordable and easy to print. Even though he wasn’t provided the reward for making the printing press in his lifetime, we now recognize him as one of the main people in history. Also, we give him the honor he should’ve had in his lifetime. He changed the world for books and authors during the Renaissance and sadly, he ended up not making a profit and dying without acknowledgement and without wealth.
Even though Johannes Gutenberg wasn't given credit, he had a huge impact on the Renaissance. He caused a huge spread of knowledge all across the Middle-East. Before the printing press was invented, there was lack of knowledge and books, which meant that big power holders and organizations could control the motion of information. Also, the people who could read and afford books held high positions and so they could easily manipulate people. Once the printing press was created, it caused a lot of people to publish books and books started to become more common, which was basically Gutenberg's whole point of creating this machine. The spread of technology and information caused people to have ideas and start experimenting. The printing press lead to a scientific change, because now people could record what worked and what didn't and test new ideas. In my opinion, the Renaissance could never have occurred without being able to spread ideas throughout cities and countries. Without knowledge, you can't get far, so the printing press has to be on of the most important inventions. Also, the printing press made it easy for people to record activities and ideas. So without this invention, we might not have known everything about that time period.
A new way to print and make books came about when Johannes Gutenberg was growing up. That new way was called block-printing. Block printing required you to cut from a block of wood to the size of the page in the book. Next, you had to cut out every word you were going to use on that page, which you had to be cautious with. After this, the letters could be painted over with ink then pressed onto the paper, leaving the words that you wanted on that page. Every block of wood that you would cut only printed one page, so this process also took quite a bit of time. Johannes Gutenberg once said that it was a pity that only rich people could own books, because he loved books and he thought that everyone should have the chance to experience reading them. During this time, it was true that only wealthy people had books, because books were expensive and the poor couldn’t afford them. This was when Johannes Gutenberg set out to find a new way to print books that would be quick and simple, but also a way that everyone could be afford. While working on this process, he decided to keep it a secret and thought he would be better off if everyone didn’t know what he was up to. He decided to have his workshop in Strasburg, which was an old ruined town, so it was the perfect spot to stay hidden. Even though neighbors wondered what he was up to, he never cared for their questions or concerns.
After a while, Gutenberg could not succeed and he was running out of money. So, he went back to Mainz and talked his way into getting money from a wealthy blacksmith. The blacksmith was Joahann Fust and he was very interested in his idea of printing books cheaply, so he decided to provide the money to Gutenberg. Johannes Gutenberg got rid of the woodblock ideas and tried to work with metal. He decided it worked very well and was completing the first book ever printed by his new invention, which was movable type. The first book was the Bible, which was printed in Latin. His invention was called the printing press. Soon enough the blacksmith that Johannes Gutenberg was working for lost faith in him and decided to take him to court. The judge favored with Fust, so everything Gutenberg worked on and owned belonged to Fust.
Johannes Gutenberg ended up dying in Mainz, Germany in 1468. His invention made sure that everyone that wanted to read books could, because they were now affordable and easy to print. Even though he wasn’t provided the reward for making the printing press in his lifetime, we now recognize him as one of the main people in history. Also, we give him the honor he should’ve had in his lifetime. He changed the world for books and authors during the Renaissance and sadly, he ended up not making a profit and dying without acknowledgement and without wealth.
Even though Johannes Gutenberg wasn't given credit, he had a huge impact on the Renaissance. He caused a huge spread of knowledge all across the Middle-East. Before the printing press was invented, there was lack of knowledge and books, which meant that big power holders and organizations could control the motion of information. Also, the people who could read and afford books held high positions and so they could easily manipulate people. Once the printing press was created, it caused a lot of people to publish books and books started to become more common, which was basically Gutenberg's whole point of creating this machine. The spread of technology and information caused people to have ideas and start experimenting. The printing press lead to a scientific change, because now people could record what worked and what didn't and test new ideas. In my opinion, the Renaissance could never have occurred without being able to spread ideas throughout cities and countries. Without knowledge, you can't get far, so the printing press has to be on of the most important inventions. Also, the printing press made it easy for people to record activities and ideas. So without this invention, we might not have known everything about that time period.