Gutenberg´s invention

In a document of the Frankfurt court of lay assessors of August 10, 1447, a "Henne Genssfleisch von Menze" is mentioned.

Unfortunately we have no clues as to where Johannes Gutenberg was between 1444 and 1447 or what he did during this time. Had he moved from Strasbourg to another city? Had he already returned to Mainz? And what about his invention in general? Here we have another gap in Gutenberg's curriculum vitae that has led to wild speculations. In any case, a first proof of his return to Mainz is this document, according to which he probably lived in the city again at that time, or at least in the immediate vicinity.

Gutenberg took out a loan of 150 gulden on 17 October 1448.

The document of this event is considered to be the first sure proof of Johannes Gutenberg's return to Mainz. Arnold Gelthus, a relative of his, was liable for the loan. Apparently Gutenberg was again looking for funds for his invention in Mainz.

Around 1449 Gutenberg joined forces with his most important financier Johannes Fust.

The entrepreneur Johannes Fust (around 1400-1466) came from a wealthy family and lent Johannes Gutenberg a sum of money in 1449 in the amount of 800 gulden. Four years later he gave him another 800 gulden for the joint "Work of Books". These were enormous sums. For comparison: a town house in Mainz could be bought for 500 gulden around 1450.

Alongside Fust, Peter Schöffer was also an important member of Gutenberg's team in the development of letterpress printing.

As in Strasbourg, Johannes Gutenberg surrounded himself with a whole range of experts after his return to Mainz to complete his invention. Among them was Peter Schöffer from Gernsheim (around 1425-around 1503). Schöffer had studied and had previously worked in Paris as a scribe and calligrapher (Schönschreiber). He probably played a major role in the development, design and production of the printing typefaces.

Gutenberg set up his printing workshop in the "Hof zum Humbrecht", which was later named "Schöfferhof".

One of the few preserved buildings in Mainz with a direct connection to Gutenberg is the "Hof zum Korb" in the Korbgasse in Mainz. This (rebuilt) late Gothic house with its characteristic stepped gable on the roof bordered on the neighbouring "Schöfferhof", which unfortunately no longer exists today.

Around 1450 Gutenberg produced the first prints with the help of his invention - letterpress printing with movable type.

Johannes Gutenberg's invention is based on a very simple but ingenious principle: The text is broken down into its smallest components, the letters and punctuation marks. These individual building blocks in the form of metal letters can be reassembled again and again to form all kinds of texts. The most impressive thing about Gutenberg's achievement is that he invented and developed all the necessary parts for a complete system for the machine printing of texts. His inventions include: the hand casting instrument, the typesetting box, the angled hook, the printing press, the printing ink and the printer bales. Everything worked so well together that the process was hardly improved over the centuries.

In the beginning, Gutenberg mainly printed smaller utility publications such as letters of indulgence.

Such a letter of indulgence is also the oldest print from Gutenberg's workshop that can be dated indirectly, since the date of issue on it was handwritten on October 22, 1454. With the purchase of a letter of indulgence, in which the name of the buyer and the date of purchase were entered, one obtained a remission of his sins. The church had a great need for these lucrative letters of indulgence and they were produced in large quantities of several thousand pieces. The Dominican Johann Tetzel aptly said, "When the money in the box sounds, the soul springs from the fire."

Between 1452 and 1454, Gutenberg printed the Gutenberg Bible named after him, the first book printed with movable type in the Western world.

The Gutenberg Bible is also called B42 because of its mainly 42 lines per page. It is the first large and most famous work from the workshop of Johannes Gutenberg. In two volumes, it contains on a total of 1,282 pages the Latin translation of the Bible of Hieronymus from the 4th century, the so-called Vulgate. Of the original 180 printed copies (about 150 on paper and about 30 on parchment), 49 still exist today. The Gutenberg Bible is considered one of the most beautiful books in the world, if not the most beautiful.

After completion of the printing of the Gutenberg Bible Fust and Gutenberg ended their cooperation.

The end of Fust's and Gutenberg's collaboration is documented in the most famous source on Gutenberg and his invention, the Helmasperger Notarial Instrument of November 6, 1455. A notarial instrument is a deed made by a public notary, i.e. a notary commissioned by the emperor or pope. It served as evidence of a concluded transaction in court. This special notarial instrument is named after the Mainz notary Ulrich Helmasperger, who set it up. The reason for the lawsuit was that after the end of their partnership, the two disagreed on the amount of the repayment of the loans to Fust and the possible interest. The court decided that Fust should be repaid the first sum of 800 guilders borrowed with interest. Gutenberg, in turn, was allowed to offset his own costs for the second loan of also 800 gulden.