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It is considered opinion that the basis of all modern information was laid in the invention of a device in 1455 by a German craftsman. This device, the printing press, both revolutionised the transmission of information and bankrupted its inventor, Johann Gutenberg.
Gutenberg had raised the stakes of the printing craft, laying the platform for the modern publishing, media and academic sectors. Printing, in a primitive format had a long history. Chinese printers are credited with the first attempt to structure printing in a way that hinted at mass-production in the 8th century. These chinese printers used a wooden block with characters carved into them which were then inked and transferred to paper.
Extending the chinese monopoly on printing, in the 11th century Pi Sheng created a primitive form of moveable type which allowed for the letters to be rearranged as need be. In nearby Korea, moveable metal type was introduced in the early 15th century but was limited due to the sizeable amount of characters involved in Korean writing.
In Europe, the pace had been much slower.
The need for such a method of reproducing information for a mass market had arisen as a result of the 15th century period of enlightenment. No longer was reading and writing the preserve of the intellectual elite and the heads of the church.
As a result, Gutenberg spent over ten-years developing the western-style moveable type method of reproducing information. The press was developed using lead and tin alloys which were then poured into a calibrated mold shaped in the style of the individual letters. The ink Gutenberg used was a mixture if turpentine, lampblack and linseed oil.
Gutenberg, for all his efforts, was almost immediately sidelined. After the release of an initial lot of 200 bibles, a creditor, Johann Fust, assumed control of Gutenberg's printing press. It was Fust who subsequently printed and released a Psalter, although speculation still abounds that it was Gutenberg who prepared the Pslater only for Fust to walk in and take the credit for the printing once he had assumed control over Gutenberg's business.
The printing press was an immediate success. Within fifty-years, over 500,000 printed texts were in circulation throughout the globe, consisting mainly of religious works. Within a further fifty years, the printing press had been harnessed for academic works, works of fiction and a range of more esoteric subjects. Gutenberg, for his part, died largely uncredited, receiving charity from the archibishop of Mainz and ironically, leaving no substantial written record of his life and achievements.
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