The Invention of the Printing Press

Page from the Gutenberg Bible

Approximately 30,000 books existed in the world when Johannes Gutenberg created the printing press around 1450. Just fifty years later, that number exploded to an estimated twelve million. The book and reading revolution had begun.

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Some might call Gutenberg a fanatic. For nearly twenty years, he poured his money and devoted his time to building a printing press. He went into debt, borrowed from a wealthy backer, and then lost his invention after being taken to court for the money he owed. Unlike Gutenberg, his investor ran out of patience.

But the invention had been made. And the first major product — the book that would become known as the Gutenberg Bible — had already been printed.

Perhaps the investor taking control of the operation helped accelerate the technology's advancement. The early seeds of capitalism were beginning to take root in Europe, and the investor likely saw a business opportunity in the printing industry. He wanted to capitalize on it. Soon, others did as well. And printing presses began to appear in cities across Europe.

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The idea of a printing press first came to Gutenberg sometime in the early or mid-1430s. It's unclear how or why he decided to pursue building one. He wasn’t a scholar or a monk, or part of any field typically associated with book creation. Gutenberg was a craftsman, a man trained in metalwork and goldsmithing. He knew the precise trades of shaping and casting.

He was also already in debt after manufacturing polished metal mirrors to sell to religious pilgrims. The venture failed when a plague swept the region and the pilgrimage was canceled. Debts now lingered for Gutenberg. He needed a new idea that could generate income.

Books at the time were still typically copied painstakingly by hand. They were rare and costly to make and thus expensive to purchase. Gutenberg began to imagine a system that could change that: metal letters, reusable and cast in molds; ink thick enough to cling to the metal and hold to the page; and a press strong enough to leave an even impression.

He was not the first to pursue such a dream. In China, printers had been using carved wooden blocks and movable type for centuries. In Korea, a fully developed metal movable type system was in use more than a hundred years before Gutenberg. These innovations were extraordinary. But Gutenberg’s press would be something new.

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As is often the case with inventions, Gutenberg’s vision arrived at an opportune moment. One of the most critical ingredients that would make printing possible had recently emerged: oil-based ink.