| Show american Arn erian Newspaper dorn joins in honoring johann gutenberg who gave the world the invention of printing from movable type a J by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western newspaper union HE american press during THE tage 1940 is paying homage to johann gutenberg who years ago in a little workshop in the free city of strasbourg now in germany invented the art that makes possible the modern newspaper gutenbergs invention the discovery of a technique for casting from lead individual types bearing individual letters which can be arranged into lines for the printing of words and sentences makes it possible for you to read what is on this page citywide city wide celebrations honoring the father of printing in which newspapers are actively participating are being held during the year 1940 throughout the western hemisphere as the result of the outstanding promotional work of douglas C chairman of the invention of printing anniversary committee for the international association of printing house craftsmen an organization made up of printing foremen and superintendents ten dents and leaders of other graphic arts groups the significance of gutenbergs invention can best be evaluated by looking backward into the world before the invention of printing there were books before gutenberg invented printing with movable types but each of them had to be laboriously hand lettered by a scribe or copyist months were required to produce a book the size of the average novel when a scribe completed his work he had not the several thousand copies that make up an edition today but only one copy to show for his efforts the price of this single copy had to include the several years salary for the scribe the cost of parchment on which the book was written and other expensive materials plus profit A man who owned a book in the days before gutenberg owned an object of curiosity to his neighbors bibles were so expensive even few churches could afford a copy because of the scarcity and costliness of books there was no popular efi education cation as we know it today and many successful business men in the days before gutenberg could neither lead read nor write they had to call in in professional scribes to perform those simple tasks for them inventor born in mainz johann gutenberg the inventor of an economical process of printing which made possible public education and the modern newspaper was born of aristocratic parents in the free city of mainz about the year 1400 during his youth he was forced to flee mainz and seek refuge in strasbourg about a hundred miles down the rhine because of an uprising of tradesmen and craftsmen against the aristocratic families in his native city there is evidence that gutenberg was engaged in his printing experiments in strasbourg at least as early as 1436 this fact is brought to light in testimony in m a lawsuit at strasbourg in 1439 which was occasioned over a partnership dispute in this court case settled in favor of gutenberg a witness for the inventor testified that three years previous he had been paid a sum of money solely for what had to do with printing when the inventor stated his printing experiments at strasbourg he had many principles and ideas at his disposal which helped assure the success of his endeavors he had a counterpart of the printing press in the presses that had been used for centuries in vineyards for the pressing of grapes to make wine oil paints which were being used by bv the artists of the period would adhere abere to metal and with slight adaptation serve as printers ink in the year A D the chinese tsai lun lim invented paper and although it took a thousand years for the secret of paper making to reach europe there were paper mills in all parts of europe by the time of gutenberg paper gave the inventor an inexpensive material on which to print and did away with the expensive parchment on which had been printed the costly manuscript books the chinese had also invented the process of wood block printing which was known in europe by the time of gutenberg by this slow and cumbersome process the portions of a wooden block bearing text or pictures or both which were to appear on a page were cut away the carved face of this block was inked with watercolor water color ink a sheet of paper was placed atop the inked surface f ace and the text or pictures were imprinted upon the paper by rubbing the back of the she sheet e t j 1 I 10 i the first printing press such as the one used by johann gutenberg who years ago invented printing as we know it today constructed almost entirely of wood the inked form was placed on the drawer board of the press in the foreground a sheet of paper was placed over the types and the form pushed under the press pressure was applied by the turning of the iron bar and screwing the platen or suspended flat surface against the paper and types only single page impressions a day could be printed with this press modern newspaper presses can turn out complete newspapers every hour with a padded block it was much more practical for the chinese because of the thousands of symbols in their written language to carve out an entire page and then dispose of it after using it than to work out a system for the use of movable types there is evidence that the chinese had experimented with movable or individual types before the time of gutenberg but they had to abandon them because of the multiplicity of symbols in their language there is no evidence that knowledge of these chinese experiments with movable types reached europe before the time of gutenberg the latin donatus it is interesting to note that among the very first products of gutenbergs printing press were 17 successive editions of the donatus a latin grammar so called from the name of its author this inexpensive printed book enabled schoolboys of the early renaissance to speak and write the language which was then the universal language among educated people in every country in europe contrary to popular opinion he completed the printing of these editions of the latin donatus before he attempted to start work on his earliest known portrait of gutenberg from a copperplate engraving published in paris in 1581 courtesy ludlow typo graph company first famous gutenberg bible which is sometimes erroneously referred to as the first printed book what is believed to be the earliest still existent specimen of printing produced by gutenberg is the fragment of a german poem on the last judgment it was printed about 1445 and of it there is preserved for posterity only two sides of one leaf measuring about three and one half by five inches because of its subject matter it is known to students of printing as the fragment of the world judgment after gutenberg had developed his experiments with printing to a stage of practicable perfection around 1440 he returned to his native city of mainz following his return to mainz gutenberg started making plans for production of his first bible all of the wealth left him by his aristocratic father had been used up on his earlier experiments and in order to carry out production of this bible gutenberg was forced to make two large loans from johann fust a capitalist of mainz in 1455 the same year in which is believed to have been completed the famous bible fust demanded repayment of his loans plus interest gutenberg was un able to meet busts demands and as the result of a lawsuit which followed gutenberg was dispossessed of his work shop and printing equipment and the exclusive right to his invention following the tragic court battle with fust gutenberg is known to have set up another smaller printing shop and to have printed a latin dictionary and at least one other edition of the bible the inventor however never prospered in this enterprise and in his last days he was dependent on a financial pension granted him by the archbishop of mainz presumably for his work in pioneering printing after wresting the printing shop and equipment from gutenberg fust took with him into partnership a lad named peter who had been one of the scribes of the manuscript books and later one of gutenbergs helpers the firm of fust and was an outstanding financial success and went on to produce some of the most beautiful books of the fifteenth century friend claims press following gutenbergs death early in 1468 the press and equipment in his possession at that time were claimed by a friend dr konrad who had bought them for him no one knows where the father of printing is buried there was a story that his body had been interred in the church of st francis at mainz but a search for it several years ago proved unavailing gutenbergs claim to the honor of being the inventor of printing with movable types has been questioned in the past and the claims of some rival contenders based largely on legend have been advanced however no competent historian today questions the specific documentary evidence on which rests the fame of johann gutenberg although gutenberg never received the financial rewards of the and the fords and many other inventors of this modern era he undoubtedly had the satisfaction in his last days of seeing mankind carrying on the work he had so successfully pioneered in the twilight of his life he saw printers he had trained go into italy and switzerland to establish the first presses there the seventeenth century saw the rise of the most powerful modern manifestation of gutenbergs invention in the form of the printed newspaper the very first printed newspaper in the world was started in germany in 1612 A newspaper began publication in england in the year 1622 americas first printed newspaper to go beyond one date of publication was the weekly boston news letter which first saw the light of day on april 24 1704 the day of the month appears to be a good one on which to start a newspaper for on january 24 1775 there appeared benjamin townes philadelphia evening post americas first daily new newspaper townes paper had previous y been a weekly publication from these pioneers have descended the thousands of amerl can newspapers including this one which have had and are daily ex exerting exalting such a profound influence on the lives of everyone every word printed in these modern newspapers during printings paintings prin tings anniversary year of 1940 is a monument to the inventive genius of nf johann gutenberg |
