Guttenberg

__ Johannes Gutenberg __ Sophia Elek

The only reason people are able to type today is due to Johannes Gutenberg. Gutenberg lived during the 15th century. He was a very important person back then, and still remains one today. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. When he was born, only the Church used scrolls because nobody knew how to make books. Scrolls took a long time to write. So, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press! Johannes Gutenberg was born somewhere between the years 1394 and 1399. He was born into a wealthy family, in Mainz, Germany. His father, Friele Gensfleisch, was “an old family,” which meant that he was rich. His family had been there a long time. His mother, Else Gensfleisch, did not come from wealth. When Gutenberg’s father died, Johannes and his mother and siblings were no longer called “an old family.” This meant that Johannes and his family did not get the same privileges they once had. After Johannes lost both of his parents, he moved to Strasbourg, Germany. There he worked at a mint making metal coins. When war came to Strasbourg in 1444, Johannes moved back to Mainz. There, he started making mirrors. Johannes made the mirrors to raise money for his secret project. People believed that the mirrors would give healing energy when the mirrors were held up to religious objects. During the Black Death, people stopped traveling to sacred places, and no longer had a purpose for the mirrors. This also meant that money stopped being raised. Johannes did not have enough money for the secret project. So, Johannes borrowed money from a man named Mr. Fust. The secret project was a machine that Johannes called “type.” To make a word with the machine, Johannes would put pieces of type together. Each letter was one piece of type. Johannes spread ink on the type, pressed against the piece of paper, and the word was stamped onto the paper. With Johannes’s creation, words could be printed over and over again. Even though the type was better and more efficient, Gutenberg thought that there was still more to be done. Johannes wanted the type to print perfect letters, which of course was the hardest part, considering that __NOTHING__ is perfect. Also, making the letters was hard to do and took a long time to do. So, Johannes also invented a tool, he called “hand held model” to help make the letters quicker. Heated metal was poured into the hand held model, so each letter was the same. The hand held model showed creative thinking, and was better than other metal works at the time. Johannes designed and invented a press. The press was two table tops tightly pressed together. One of the tables had frames to hold paper in place, while the other table top had frames to hold the type in place. The ink was rubbed on to the second frame that held the type. Each page had to be arranged just right to form the right words. When Johannes pressed the two tables together, the ink went onto the paper. Once one page was done, Gutenberg removed the type that was on the frame, and put new type in. Once Johannes had completed the press, he started on a huge project. Johannes wanted to make a bible. To get himself ready, Johannes practiced by making Latin school book. When he was done with the school book, he began his big project. Johannes printed 180 copies of the bible. Each book had 1,275 pages per book. The bibles were designed beautifully with pictures that helped tell the stories that were inside. Gutenberg wanted the bible to look pretty, so he had the type in color. On the sides of the paper, were detailed designs making a border. The type was all in Latin, because that was what the church scrolls were in .Johannes had two shops that had 20-30 people working in them. The bibles took Johannes and his coworkers two years to complete. Since the bibles were so decorative, they were expensive, and lots of church leaders all over the world were asking for Johannes’ bibles. Since so many people wanted the bibles, and the bibles were expensive to make, there was a money problem that Johannes had. Johannes did not have enough money to continue with the bibles, so again he had to borrow money from Mr. Fust. The people that were buying the bibles did not pay Johannes right away, so that was a huge problem for Johannes because then he had nothing to pay Mr. Fust back with! As time past, Mr. Fust still did not have his money back. Finally Mr. Fust toke Johannes to court and made a deal that Mr. Fust got one of Johannes’s shops, but Johannes was hired to run the shop that he had given to Mr. Fust. Writing went a lot faster with Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. People who were not rulers or monks were now able to have bibles or books at their homes. The invention was a great success for the Renaissance, and continues to improve. __ Bibliography __ Fisher, Leonard Everett. __Gutenberg.__ New York: Maxwell Macmillan, 1993. Beckham, Robert. __The Story of Johannes Gutenberg.__ Peace Hill Press, 2005