Johannes Guttenberg Essay

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I learned that Gutenberg’s mother was Else Wirich Gutenberg and his father’s name was Friele Grensfleisch zur Laden. They were an aristocratic family. Gutenberg was born in 1395, in Mainz, Germany. “Very little is known about the life of Johannes Gutenberg. Mostly, we have records of court cases in which Gutenberg was involved.” (Rees 30) I found that as an aristocrat, he didn’t have to serve a regular apprenticeship. He learned skills in metal work from an uncle, plus he was the son of a goldsmith. Gutenberg’s date of death was February 3, 1468. He was buried in Mainz, Germany. In 1437, a young lady sued Gutenberg for breach of promise of marriage. In 1465, he was appointed to the court of Archbishop of Nassau. He was then exiled after having a heated argument with two archbishops. Gutenberg spent a number of years in exile in Strasbourg. While in exile, he supervised the building of a new printing press belonging to the brothers Bechtermünz. I also learned that he was sued by his lender and ended up virtually bankrupt. Johannes Gutenberg did not have a steady income, so he borrowed money. Gutenberg began working on his printing press in 1436. By 1438, he started experimenting with printing with some of his own books he wrote. I found that Gutenberg formed a partnership with the wealthy Johann Fust in 1450. In 1455, Fust gained control of the printing business. Gutenberg had to start over with the aid of Conrad Humery in 1460 in which he reestablished himself in the printing business. Gutenberg moved from his native town, Mainz, to Strasburg. In 1444, he returned to Mainz and sets up a printing shop. Before the printing press books were copied by hand and took a few months to copy, but with the printing press it copies 300 pages in one day, which made books cheaper. “Without Gutenberg’s press, Christopher Columbus would have not have had the geographical book

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