История письма и чтения. Асафова Г.К. - 80 стр.

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UNIT 13

CASTING THE TYPE THAT WOULD SPREAD THE WORD

How Gutenberg created Europe’s first printing press

It was one of the great triumphs of the Western world. In 1455, Johann

Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany, produced the first printed book in Europe using

movable type – rows of reusable metal letters. Up until the mid 15

century, all

books had been handwritten – a highly labour-intensive and time-consuming

process. By making it possible to produce multiple copies of books, Gutenberg’s

printing presses enabled new ideas in politics and religion to spread rapidly across

Europe. His great achievement went beyond technological ingenuity and opened

the floodgates of literature to a Renaissance world eager for knowledge.

Gutenberg’s first major work was no ordinary book, but a Latin Bible – a

vast project that had taken 15 years of toil. Furthermore, he was determined to

keep his revolutionary invention a secret until his work was complete.

Striking the master-set

Gutenberg’s first challenge was to produce a complete master-set of letters

and characters – some 270 in all, including capitals, lower case (small) letters,

punctuation marks and various special characters and abbreviations. The letters and

characters were carved in relief and reverse on the tips of steel rods, which were

later hardened by heating and then plunging into cold water. Gutenberg could now

cast individual letters and characters comparatively quickly.

The next stage was to sort the letters into compartments in a tray. The printer

then picked out the letters and assembled the words line by line, ensuring that each

line was the same length. This process could take a whole day to complete. When