OUGD601 - Gutenberg & The Gutenberg Press

Johannes Gutenberg was born 1395, in Mainz, Germany. He started experimenting with printing by 1438. He obtained backing in 1450 from the financier Johann Fust, whose impatience and other factors led to Gutenberg's loss of his establishment to Fust in 1455. Gutenberg's masterpiece, and the first book ever printed from movable type, is the “Forty-Two-Line” Bible, completed no later than 1455.

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In 1455, there were no printing presses in Europe. By 1500, presses were operating in 245 cities, from Stockholm to Palermo. Before 1455, there were no printed texts in Europe. By 1500, over 20 million books had been printed – one book for every five people living in Western Europe. No previous invention in human history had spread so far, so fast.

References:
http://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-4/influential-personalities/gutenbergs-invention