Antiquity. Gutenberg

you are: Antiquity

In XIV century in Europe paper manufacturing has extended, but books still did not suffice.

About a life of the German inventor of the European way of publishing, a press, the founder of the first printing house of Johann Gutenberg few data have reached. It is known that he was born in the end of XIV century (1394 or 1399) in the city of Mainz, in a family belonging to a family of great antiquity, and has died in 1468.

In 1434-1444 Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg and these years was engaged in publishing adjustment.

In IX century in the east of (in China, Tibet) the way of printing from wooden boards on which the whole pages of the manuscript were engraved was known. This way in Europe has received the name ' a xylographie '. Johann Gutenberg with partners was engaged in manufacturing ksilograficheskih books. He has decided to engrave not the whole pages at once, it is possible to remove from each of which very few good prints, and to do separate letters and then of them to put words and lines. Gutenberg has thought up a way of manufacturing of a font. At first at an end face metal bruska - a punch - engraved the return convex image of the letter, and then beat out it on a soft copper plate. This plate - a matrix - inserted into the bottom part of a hollow tube, and through open top filled in a special alloy which later began to name a metal. As a result it was possible to make some exact copies of a punch - letters. And from letters the line after line was typed the book.

About 1445 Gutenberg has published the first printing book. Since then publishing began to extend quickly in Europe. There was possible an edition of books in the big circulations. The book became gradually cheaper and more accessible to the mass reader.