Third instalment of our saga of the press. This time, after studying the appearance of the written press in the form of the Acta Diurna (read our first article) and the evolution of written information in the Middle Ages, riddled with fakes to the benefit of the lords and clergy, (read our second article), we're going to pause for a moment to look at Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press, which, among other things, enabled the organisation and periodicity of a more intense written press at the end of the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance period.
The printing press, the catalyst for organised print media
Johannes Geinfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, known simply as Gutenberg, was born into an upper middle-class family (his father was a goldsmith and cloth merchant) in Mainz in the Holy Roman Empire around 1400, where he died in 1468. He became famous for his invention of movable metal type in printing, a veritable revolution at the time, which had a hugely positive impact on the reproduction of texts and the spread of knowledge in Europe.
The first book printed by Gutenberg, the Bible
Intellectuals and academics had a constant need for their writings to be reproduced in large numbers. Paper mills (water-powered mills used to make paper) developed. In 1451, the Gallizani brothers from Piedmont moved to Basel in Switzerland, where they imported (as well as to France) their technique for making printing paper, which was much cheaper than the chancery paper used at the time.
In the meantime, Gutenberg joined forces with the banker Johann Fust (1400-1466), who drew up a very elaborate contract to his advantage, before advancing him 800 florins, a very large sum for the time.
The opening of new schools and the ever-increasing needs of libraries and universities motivated Gutenberg, who was based in Strasbourg, the commercial and intellectual crossroads of Europe, to find new techniques and perfect his invention for reproducing and multiplying texts, thereby lowering the price of books by spreading the production costs over several copies.
1- He improved his technique for producing interchangeable and equal metal printing characters
2- He invented the hand press, which had previously been used in the printing industry for rubbings
3- He used a new printing ink, based on linseed oil and resin pigments, unlike the copyists who used water-based ink.
Using these new tools, Gutenberg and his workers, including his associate Pierre Schoeffer (1425-1503) (who testified against Gutenberg in his trial against Johann Fust, whose daughter Christina he married in 1466) printed small documents, poems, the Latin grammar of Donatus (310-380) and the Turkish calendar (Türkenkalender). They also printed letters of indulgence for the Church.
To cover their considerable costs, Gutenberg and his creditor, Fust, had to choose a book with a large print run that would enable them to recover the sums involved. They chose the Latin version of the Bible by Saint Jerome (347-420), the Vulgate. To increase his success, Gutenberg decided to imitate the layout of handwritten books.
While it took a copyist three years to copy a whole Bible, Gutenberg printed 180 copies of the Bible in the space of... three years.
A time of disillusionment
Unfortunately, the revenues were not enough to cover the costs, and in 1454 Gutenberg's creditor, Johann Fust, again put up money for the business. At the same time, he was angry with Gutenberg, who had promised him fortune and success. The Bibles did not produce the expected results.
Fust decided to sue Gutenberg and won, forcing Gutenberg to leave his workshop to his creditor.
Johann Fust, together with Pierre Schoefer, continued the business and were fairly successful, particularly with the black and red printing of the Psalmorum Codex, published on 14 August 1457, where the quality of the printing and the regularity of the font were unequalled.
The two partners, Fust and Schoeffer, then decided to diversify, aiming for smaller editions that would be easier to sell. They moved to Paris where, in 1463, there was still no printing works. Schoefer did not benefit from his success, as he died three years later in 1466, even though he had witnessed the arrival of a large number of printers of German origin in the rue Saint-Jacques.
Ruined, Gutenberg tried to relaunch a printing workshop by reprinting an edition of the Bible in Bamberg. He also wrote the 744-page Catholicon dictionary, which he printed in 300 copies in 1460.
Gutenberg returned to a modest hospice in Mainz in January 1465. He was appointed a gentleman to the Archbishop of Mainz, Adolphe II de Nassau (1422-1475), and received an annuity and various benefits in kind. He died on 3 February 1468, unknown to his contemporaries, and was buried in a Mainz cemetery that was later destroyed.
The invention of printing, a true cultural revolution
The invention of the printing press is considered to be one of the key elements that shaped the Renaissance and the modern era in Europe. However, it should be noted that the development of the written press was considerably slowed down by illiteracy, which was prevalent throughout Europe, and by the often prohibitive cost of printing.
With the advent of printing, knowledge was no longer the exclusive preserve of clerics. Access to knowledge undoubtedly developed the sharing of ideas, critical thinking and humanism.
A veritable cultural revolution that spread throughout Europe, and especially Italy and the Netherlands, the invention of the printing press made books available to the public and led to an increase in the number of printing workshops in commercial and university towns, thereby boosting book production. It also facilitated the emergence of an organised, periodical press.
The fourth part of the history of the press will look at the first periodicals published at the end of the Middle Ages and their development during the Renaissance.
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