JOHN GUTENBERG.

It is believed that the Chinese may have begun printing as early as the 7th century A.D. In the library of the British Museum in London is the earliest surviving printed 'book', it is an ancient Chinese manuscript called the Diamond Sutra. It was printed from wood blocks in AD 868. (The date is known since it is inscribed on the manuscript)

The use of movable types was known to the Chinese, a man named Pi-Sheng did make some wooden movable type in the 11th century, but as the Chinese language is not an alphabetical one and use's many characters, the idea was never developed.

The process of block printing, used in those early days continued to be employed in Europe right up to the 15th century. The the surface of the wood around the letters was cut away in reverse until they appeared standing out in relief, the raised letters were then inked and an impression made, as a method it was costly and took a long time. The wooden blocks cut for printing each page of a "block-book" may have given the idea to the inventor of movable type, but these books were quite different, and the demand for them continued in spite of the new invention.

The invention of, metal moulds into which hot liquid war poured to produce separate letters, of movable type, was made in the West about the middle of the fifteenth century. This really speeded up printing and made possible the production of a number of copies of a single book.

Both Lawrence Coster of Haarlem in Holland and John Gutenberg of Mainz in Germany used the art of printing from movable type . The two men seem to have discovered the great secret at about the same time (this was in 1436) .

The earliest known specimen of printing of movable type, is probably by John Gutenberg (d. 1468), produced at Mainz in 1454. Two years later, Gutenberg finished, with the help of Fust and Sehoeffer, the famous 42-line Bible known as the Mazarine Bible.

When copies were issued, people could not understand how they had been produced. All the books were exactly alike. They were produced with marvellous rapidity in comparison with the length of time taken by an ordinary copyist. As much as we value the art of printing, it was not welcomed at that time, the only explanation the folk could offer was that the printers were prompted and assisted by the devil himself

Printing was beginning to pay its way, and buyers began to realize the great advantages of printed books over manuscripts. Gutenberg who had secretly made metal types and a rude printing-press at Strasburghe, had to flee for his life, leaving the product of all his labour to be broken to pieces by the ignorant priests and the scribes, or copyists, who saw in the new invention a means of depriving them of their livelihood.

In his native city Gutenberg again set up a printing press. The first printed book was issued at Mainz c. 1457; it was a Latin version of the Psalms.

		Then Gutenberg commenced to print the Bible, assisted by a wealthy goldsmith named Fust, or Faust, and Peter Schoffer, a designer and copyist. These two partners did not behave very well to the inventor. Fust took possession of his printing-press and his metal types, in return for money which he had advanced for the furtherance of the work, and Gutenberg was obliged to leave Mainz. Gutenberg found in Nassau a refuge and a patron, here he once more set up a press, and pursued his work in peace. Fust and Schoffer then carried on the work of printing the Bible. By 1469 Schoeffer was able to issue a catalogue of books for sale, to the number of twenty-one; this was in the form of a single sheet advertisement to be fixed up in different towns, showing where the books might be bought.
Johann Gutenberg using moveable type

The far-reaching results of his invention were not immediately appreciated at the time, in his celebrate description of the library at Urbino, Vespasiano writes: "Had there been one printed book, it would have been ashamed in such company." Vespasiano da Bisticci (d.1498), was an old man, and from his shop in Florence had come many of the most beautiful and artistic manuscripts the world has ever seen. He was "a prince among booksellers," and it is not surprising to find that he resented and hated and despised the art of printing, then in its infancy.

Vespasiano might scoff, and as late as 1492 the scholar Trithemius wrote a Treatise "In Praise of Scribes," but the importance of the art of printing cannot be over-estimated in the history of civilization.

Apart from the reduction in price, which commended printed books to buyers, printing made possible an infinitely higher standard of accuracy. Even the most perfect manuscripts abounded in mistakes, and although writers did their best to look over and correct from the "archetype" all the copies of their work they could, it was not humanly possible to avoid occasional error.

From Germany the art of printing spread to all countries of Europe, and soon Sweynheym and Pannartz were printing at Subiaco, Colard Mansion in Bruges, and William Caxton at Westminster. Later in the century the most elegant of early printers, Jenson, began to print the classics, and then came the greatest of them all - Aldus Manutius at Venice, where he set up his press in 1494. The Aldine editions of both Greek and Latin classics are things of the greatest beauty, and an inestimable to scholars.