Movable Type That Moved History - Museum of the City of New York

The Invention of the Printing Press:
Movable Type That Moved History
Walter Graham
Junior Division
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Introduction
Imagine if you only read one or two books in your lifetime. This was the case in the
year 1450, when there were only about thirty thousand books throughout Europe. Within the
next fifty years, however, there were over ten million (Harry Ransom Center, 2010).
During the Middle Ages, before the printing press, bookmaking was slow because
the only methods of making books were woodblock printing and writing by hand.
Woodblock printing was slow because printers had to carve each page into a wood block
that they used to print. As a result, books were expensive and rare.
When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1453, he made
bookmaking much faster and more efficient. Gutenberg invented metal movable type,
which allowed printers to reuse and rearrange the type again and again, unlike
woodblocks. In the time it took for a scribe to write one page, a printer could set the entire
page’s type, and could then print many copies of the page in a very short amount of time.
The invention of the printing press led to more books being produced, and a steady rise in
literacy. In the next fifty years, the number of books grew exponentially. Gutenberg’s
invention of the printing press with metal movable type was an important turning point in
bookmaking because it led to greater access to knowledge among a large number of
people.
Bookmaking Before the Printing Press
Before the invention of the printing press, the most common method used in Europe
to make books was to write them by hand. This was very slow and tiring: “before printing,
you would have a whole room full of scribes and illuminators copying text by hand”
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(Osborne, 2012). This process could take years and was very costly. Because of this, only
very rich people owned books.
Printing in China, Japan, and Korea wasn’t any more effective. East­Asian printers
used woodblock printing in which each page was carved into a block of wood, then the
wood block was brushed with ink and paper was pressed against it. This was very tedious
and often took longer than handwriting. It was also only good for one­page items that would
be printed many times, like posters.
In the year 1066, a Chinese printer named Pi Sheng invented clay moveable type,
but it never became very popular. It was very difficult for Asian printers to use movable type
because the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages had thousands of characters. A
printer would need thousands of little clay blocks in order to print. It was soon forgotten and
woodblock printing continued. In Asia, printing methods were slow, and books were
expensive and rare.
Since all methods of making books were primitive in the Middle Ages, there weren’t
many opportunities for writers. Because of this, there were not many books for pleasure
reading. Most books were about religion, philosophy, and law (Burch, p.12). Many families
owned only a few books, but one book almost all families owned was the Bible. Since
medieval life was based so much on religion, the Bible was one of the most popular books
in Europe. Many people tried to own a Bible even if they did not have a lot of money. When
the Bible was the most read book, it influenced everyones lives and European culture, and
most Europeans used its teachings throughout their daily lives.
People wanted to remember events that happened in the past, so scribes wrote
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chronicles (Burch, p.12). Chronicles were stories of important events and famous people.
A chronicle was the closest thing to a history book that there was in the Middle Ages, and
people often read chronicles for pleasure.
Gutenberg’s Printing Press
Gutenberg’s printing press used metal movable type, which were small blocks of
metal that had a letter raised out of the top. The raised letter was backwards because it
printed a mirror image on paper. Compositors set type in a frame, called a chase (Meltzer,
p.63). Compositors did not actually do the printing and press the letters on paper. In order
to make sure it was aligned properly, the compositors used “furniture,” metal strips that
came in different widths. They were stacked around the edges of the chase so that they
wedged the type in the right spots.
Johannes Gutenberg was twelve years old in the year 1411. Although his father was
wealthy, he had relatively few books and Gutenberg read them all fairly quickly. Even
though his father could afford more books, there were not many to buy and satisfy
Gutenberg during the harsh winter of 1410­1411. Since Gutenberg thought it was wrong
that books were so difficult to obtain, this motivated him to later invent the printing press.
There were many things that influenced the way Gutenberg made his type. When he
was young, Gutenberg watched his father make coins at the Mainz Mint. The Mint workers
carved the coin imprint into a block of steel. After that, they hammered the imprint on the
steel block into a copper plate, and poured the coin metal into the copper plate mold.
Gutenberg learned a variety of metalworking skills at the Mint like this one. He would later
use the skills he learned to make his metal movable type, and eventually “what Gutenberg
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invented was the fact that if he cut the letters apart, then he would have them all the time
and he could reuse them, and so of course he could print as many copies as he wanted
(Kner, Andrew, 2013).
Gutenberg had tried making a sand mold to make his metal type. He made a wax
model of the type, then pressed it halfway into a block of compacted sand. Another block of
compact sand was pressed on the top of the wax model, and then both sand blocks were
removed. Then there would be a specially shaped sand mold in which molten metal was
poured into. Making a sand mold to make type didn’t work, because the sand was uneven
so the type would print uneven letters.
He next tried using a harder mold made of strong metal. Even though the mold was
hard enough, the type was still too soft, because it was made out of lead. He tried many
different metal combinations, until finally, he found a combination that wasn’t too hard or too
soft, and it stuck to the ink well. This was very important because otherwise the ink would
drip all over the paper. The combination of lead and antimony worked best.
Gutenberg was almost finished with his printing press when he needed more
money. He asked the brother of a man that he knew, named Johann Fust. Fust was a
wealthy businessman and lawyer. Gutenberg convinced Fust to give him 800 guilders, a
huge amount of money at the time, but Gutenberg agreed to pay him back with interest. As
much as it was, Gutenberg spent the 800 guilders on ink, paper, blocks of metal for type,
and hiring helpers before he had to pay it back. He asked Fust for another 800 guilders.
Fust gave it to him, but under the condition that he took Fust as his partner.
Finally, after thirty years of experimenting with techniques for making type and
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printing, making type from different combinations of metals, and buying supplies, like ink,
paper, and metal, Gutenberg was ready to print. The process of inventing the printing press
was hard and tiring. He was left with a huge sum of money when his parents died, but he
used it all up on his experimenting. Because of this, he had to make money somehow and
struggled to do it while he was working on the printing press and movable type.
Gutenberg had printed about 100 copies of his Bible when he had to pay back Fust
the money he owed. He had spent all of the money on printing supplies and hiring
assistants. He could not pay Fust back, and he was forced to hand over all of his printing
equipment to Fust, which was all of the money he spent on his idea, and nearly 30 years of
experimenting. Fust set up his own printing company, and he sold the Bibles that
Gutenberg had printed.
The Effect of the Printing Press
The printing press and movable type played a major role in improving many different
fields and helping start the Renaissance. Reading became more popular after the invention
of the printing press. Printers did not only print books, they also printed advertisements and
pamphlets (Meltzer, p.51). Picture books were printed to teach children proper behavior.
There were also more schoolbooks. This led to greater access to knowledge because
more people received a better education. Even maps were printed (Tames, p.14). This
was important to explorers who sailed to America and people who were interested in ‘The
New World.’
After the invention of the printing press and movable type, more people became
writers. With more people owning books, writers felt like they now had a chance to get their
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ideas out to more people. Writers also got more inspiration because they could read more
books themselves. Some people printed Greek and Roman classics because it was
easier to make books with the printing press. These people were called Humanists. Those
Humanists taught themselves Greek and Latin in order to read the classics. They were
scholars who were not guided by the Church, and this was new after the invention of the
printing press.
The printing press had a major effect on religion. The time period following the
printing press was called the Reformation because so many new religions were formed.
Martin Luther was a monk, but he didn’t agree with some of the Catholic Church’s ideas.
He wrote a list of 95 theses, which were 95 things he thought were wrong with the Church,
and pinned them to the door of his local church. (Meltzer, p.45) The Church would have
punished him, but since his 95 Theses were printed, many people had read them. Other
people had similar ideas before, but they failed because they could not spread their ideas
enough (Tames p.12). The Church knew that punishing Martin Luther would not effectively
stop the Protestant Religion from forming.
Before the invention of the printing press and movable type, the Church had control
over most books that were made.The only people who wrote out the books were scribes,
who worked for the Church. Therefore, if the Church didn’t want a book published they
could prevent their scribes from writing it. After the invention of the printing press, the
Church could not stop the mass­producing of books.
The invention of the printing press not only affected religion, but also science. With
the printing press able to spread knowledge, new scientific discoveries were quickly
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printed. (Meltzer, p.67) Since books became more affordable more people could read
about science. This meant that people could contribute their efforts to helping scientists if
they were working towards something that the contributors liked. Also, scientists read
about other scientists’ discoveries, and were stimulated to discover new things.
One scientist who became very famous was Nicolaus Copernicus because he was
able to spread his ideas with the printing press. He discovered that the Sun and other
planets in the Solar System did not revolve around the earth. Instead, the Earth and other
planets revolved around the Sun. (Wishnia, p.1) By discovering this, he proved the Catholic
Church’s teachings wrong. If the printing press was not yet invented, the Church would have
punished him and no one would know that he ever discovered it. This was because the
information wouldn’t have been spread to enough people. The Church did not like ideas
like this, because it made people start to doubt the Church.
Some people might say that the invention of the printing press was not a positive
turning point because it harmed the reputation of the Catholic Church. Martin Luther did not
intend to start a whole new religion, he just wanted a scholarly debate. The reason it was
harmful to the Church was because when his theses were printed, many people could read
and be influenced by them. Even scientific discoveries like Copernicus’ could harm the
Church. If this continued, the Church would be ruined, because “the Church and probably
other institutions were against printing because for one, it put all those calligraphers out of
business, and it was also viewed as this scary thing because suddenly people can spread
ideas really quickly and get ideas to all these people and subvert the Church’s power”
(Osborn, 2012). In 1501, Pope Alexander VI even threatened to excommunicate anyone
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who printed without notifying the Church (Wishnia, p.1). By the time he did this, there were
printing shops in 252 European cities and towns, so the Church didn’t have much control of
the books that were printed (Crompton, p.24).
How the Printing Press Benefitted Society
The invention of the printing press was harmful to the Catholic Church because it
made people question their teachings. This was good however, because some of the
ideas that the Church promoted were proven wrong by scientists. One example is that the
Church taught everyone to believe that the Sun and other planets revolved around the
Earth. Astronomers wouldn’t have been as educated about the Solar System today if that
hadn’t changed. If Nicolaus Copernicus’ discoveries were not printed, people would not
know until later that all the planets including the Earth revolved around the Sun. If we did not
know this, we would not go on to discover more things that we know today about the Solar
System. Because of the printing press, discoveries that were actually right could be
spread.
Conclusion
After the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press, a massive amount of knowledge
was spread to a large quantity of people. Therefore, it was an extremely important turning
point in bookmaking. Before 1450, the only methods of bookmaking were writing by hand
and printing with woodblocks. These methods were slow and tiring and only the nobility and
clergy could own books. When the rich were the only people to own books, they had
greater influence over the poorer classes. With the printing press, printing did not need to
be done by hand, and movable type could be used more effectively. After the invention,
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books could be mass­produced, and were much more affordable allowing more people to
own books. With more people owning books, and more educational books, far more of the
general public were more knowledgeable. This was a huge advancement throughout the
whole world and it contributed to improvement in many aspects of culture, education, the
arts, and science.
Appendix I
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Froissart, Jean. The Chronicles. 1450s. Harry Ransom Center. 13 December
2012. http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/books/before
This page from a story about the hundred years war shows how fancy manuscripts
were. This helped me to further explain that manuscript books were very expensive. Based
on the time it was written, it was one of the last books made before the printing press
became extremely popular.
Appendix II
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Chaucer, Geoffrey. Canterbury tales. 1478. Harry Ransom Center. 13 December
2012. http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/books/legacy/
This artifact helped me by showing me that what a printed page looked like. This
illustrated that printed books were more plain than manuscripts. Although plain, these
printed books were more affordable to buy.
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Author not found. The Gutenberg Bible. 1455. British Library. 9 December 2012
http://molcat1.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/search.asp
This primary source book helped me by showing me the way Gutenberg thought
printed books should look because he printed it himself. This illustrated what Gutenberg
wanted when he invented the printing press; two even columns of forty two lines each.
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Bibliography
Primary Sources
Author not found. The Gutenberg Bible. 1455. British Library. 9 December 2012
http://molcat1.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/search.asp
This Primary Source book helped me by showing me the way Gutenberg thought
printed books should look because he printed it himself. This illustrated what Gutenberg
wanted when he invented the printing press.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. Canterbury tales. 1478. Harry Ransom Center. 13 December
2012. http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/books/legacy/
This artifact helped me by showing me that what a printed page looked like. This
illustrated that printed books were more plain than manuscripts. Although plain, these
printed books were more affordable to buy.
Froissart, Jean. The Chronicles. 1450s. Harry Ransom Center. 13 December
2012. http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg/books/before
This page from a story about the hundred years war shows how fancy manuscripts
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were. This demonstrates how manuscript books were very expensive.
Helmasperger, Ulrich. Helmasperger’s Notarial Instrument. 1455. Gutenberg
Digital. 16 November 2012. http://www.gutenbergdigital.de/gudi/eframes/index.htm
This primary source is a recording of the court case between Johann Gutenberg
and Johann Fust and it helped me by showing me that Fust got all the fame and money
from the invention of the printing press. This was something I had never heard before, and it
showed that Gutenberg was not rewarded for his invention in his lifetime.
Ser Angelus Gradenico, Ser Bertuccius Contareno, Ser Angelus Venerio, Ser
Lacobus Mauroceno, Ser Franciscus Dandulo. Johannes of Speyer’s Printing Monopoly.
18 September 1469. Primary Sources on Copyright 1450­1900. 15 November 2012.
http://copy.law.cam.ac.uk/cam/tools/request/showRepresentation?id=representation_i_14
69&pagenumber=1_1&show=translation
This primary source showed how in 1469, people in Venice liked Johannes of
Speyer’s books so much, they didn’t let any other printers harm his business by competing.
This helped me to further explain that most people liked the printing press.
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Secondary Sources
Author not found. Renaissance, Printing and Thinking. 2012. Annenberg Learner.
6 November 2012. http://www.learner.org/interactives/renaissance/printing.html
This article helped me by showing me how the invention of the printing press helped
start the Renaissance. It also helped start Humanism. This helped me to further explain that
the invention of the printing press had a major effect on religion.
Burch, Joann Johansen, and Kent Alan Aldrich. Fine Print: A Story about Johann
Gutenberg. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda, 1991.
This book helped me by showing me a detailed description of Johann Gutenberg’s
life. This helped me to further explain how he was motivated to invent the printing press.
Crompton, Samuel Willard. The Printing Press: Transforming Power of
Technology. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004.
The Printing Press, by Samuel Willard Crompton, is a helpful source because it
gave me a variety of information which I used in most sections of my project. This helped
me to further explain that the printing press was an important turning point in bookmaking.
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Harry Ransom Center. 2010. University of Texas. 21 December 2012.
http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/educator/modules/gutenberg
This website helped me by showing me a lot of pictures of artifacts like books that
were made before the invention of the printing press. It also has a lot of helpful text next to
the pictures.
Heinrichs, Ann. The Printing Press. New York: Franklin Watts, 2005.
This book helped me by showing me that there weren’t any changes in the printing
press until 1801. This illustrated that the printing press had a very long lasting effect
because of the effectiveness of the printing press.
Kner, Andrew. Personal interview. 13 January 2013.
This interview helped me by showing me how the invention affected different
classes of people. It also showed me a printing press from 1904. This helped me to further
explain that the printing press was not as good for some people as it was for others.
Meltzer, Milton. The Printing Press. New York: Benchmark, 2004.
The Printing Press, by Milton Meltzer, was a useful source because it showed me
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how the invention of the printing press affected science and religion, and which books were
made after the printing press. This helped me to further explain that with Gutenberg’s
printing press, people were able to spread their ideas.
Osborn, Ali. Personal interview. 12 January 2013.
This interview helped me by showing me different printing presses and different
methods of printing which I used in the description of topic section of my project. This
illustrated how printing evolved from different presses.
Rubinstein, Geoffrey. Printing, History and Development. 1999. Karmak. 4
November 2012. http://www.karmak.org/archive/2002/08/history_of_print
This article is helpful because it talked about early printing all the way through
modern printing advances. This illustrated how the printing press slowly got more advanced
until it became the computer.
Tames, Richard. The Printing Press: A Breakthrough in Communication. Chicago,
IL: Heinemann Library, 2001.
This book helped me because it gave me a lot of information on how the printing
press had an effect on what was written and how that affected different classes of people.
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This helped me to further explain that many different types of books were made after the
printing press when before, there were few.
Wishnia, Steven. How Did the Printing Press Change History? 30 March 2009.
Junior Scholastic. 5 December, 2012.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=59&ved=0CG
sQFjAIODI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fteacher.scholastic.com%2Fscholasticnews%2Fmagazin
es%2Fjunior%2Fpdfs%2FJUNIOR­033009­REPRO­01.pdf&ei=f_4DUfvjJYbl0QGNsIGwC
g&usg=AFQjCNHlzH_m3cOFxVoc9b0zb5VL5h7paQ&bvm=bv.41524429,d.dmQ
This article helped me because it showed me an overview of the invention’s effect in
various fields. It also tells how a pope tried to control everything that was printed. This
helped me to further explain that the church was unhappy about the invention of the printing
press.
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