This invention of the mass printing process is regarded by many as the invention of the century. Not only did it make a huge impact in everyday life such as medicine, education and religion but it also dramatically changed the design of typefaces, opening new abilities and a new feel to type design.
Before type was carved into stone like in Greek or Roman lettering or was written by scribes which took a great length of time. Letters were carved in wood but they were also time consuming and not very durable, the ink gave the wooden blocks a limited life span.
The process - "He made metal moulds, by the use of dies, into which he could pour hot liquid metal, in order to produce separate letters as the same shape as those written by hand. These letters were similar, more readable, and more durable than wooden blocks. Such letters could be arranged and rearranged many times as the printer wished to create different pages from the same letters.Gutenberg also introduced the use of printing press to press the type against paper. For this he used a hand press used in his times by wine industry. Ink was rolled over the raised surfaces of the hand-set letters held within a wooden frame, and the frame was then pressed against the paper. The press enabled sharp impressions on both sides of a sheet of paper and many repetitions. After a page was printed, the type could be reused for printing other pages."
The 42 line bible which is also known as the Gutenberg bible or Mainz bible (where it was produced) is generally known as the worlds first book created using this movable type process.
However many experts believe that Gutenberg was wrongly accredeted with the invention of moveable type:
"Bruno Fabbiani, an expert in printing who teaches at Turin Polytechnic, said the 15th-century German printer used stamps rather than the movable type he is said to have invented between 1452 and 1455. So, Johannes Gutenberg may be wrongly credited with the production of the first western book printed in movable type, according to the Italian researcher."
According to a BBC website there was a similar system of moveable type in Korea over a century before Gutenberg's invention, there is however no evidence that it was brought into Western Europe.
Even if Gutenberg had based his idea on the Koreans process the BBC define his invention as;
"Invention requires putting together disparate elements in a novel way, making a cohesive, coherent process that can then be carried on by many different people. It was Gutenberg’s combination of the printing press, type, paper and ink that made the invention a success."
It can be summarised therefore that Gutenberg turned what was an impractical printing process to a practical, readily used worldwide process. Over the next 500 years though there was much development to the mechanics of printing the fundamental process has remained the same, evidence of how big an accomplishment is was and how accepted it had become.
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