Hot Off the Press

In the book, "1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium," Johannes Gutenberg (1394?–1468), inventor of the printing press, is first on the list. The first book that came off his press was the Bible.The process of preparing a press for printing a book has not always been as easy as it is today. By the tenth century, the Chinese were printing books using carved wooden blocks. Medieval European printers followed a similar method. This was a long and tedious process. The Chinese tried to speed up the process by making ceramic characters. Since thousands of such characters were needed, the project was abandoned. Gutenberg’s printing press was revolutionary because it featured movable metal type that kept its shape after numerous impressions. Individual letters were cast from master molds and could be put together in any combination to form any word. The type was then inked and pressed down onto paper with a large wooden screw. Although still a slow process (by today's standards), Gutenberg's press paved the way for modern mass media, although almost no one today uses hard type to typeset books. Most if not all books are typeset electronically. Gutenberg captured the true significance of his invention with these words: “Religious truth is captive in a small number of little manuscripts, which guard the common treasures instead of expanding them. Let us break the seal which binds these holy things; let us give wings to truth that it may fly with the Word, no longer prepared at vast expense, but multiplied everlastingly by a machine which never wearies—to every soul which enters life.”

American Vision P.O. Box 220, Powder Springs, GA 30127, 800-628-9460, www.americanvision.org . History Unwrapped by Gary DeMar.

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