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TRANSCRIPT
Life Before Gutenberg
• Books could be found only in monasteries, places of education, and in the homes of the very wealthy
• As copying was a laborious process, only texts that held wide appeal were reproduced
• Not surprisingly, the Bible was the primary text
• Scribes were responsible for copying manuscripts, while “illuminators” created the illustrations
• Illuminators added stylized fonts, gold trimming, and beautiful color to the tomes
• Worked in special rooms called scriptoriums
• Scribes and similar trades formed guilds, similar to today’s unions
Early Process
• Parchment was made from animal skin
• Bought, brought to the monastery, and rubbed smooth by an assistant, before the copying could begin
• Lines had to be spaced exactly, marked by knife incisions
Gutenberg
• Trained as a metallurgist and goldsmith
• Hailed from Mainz, Germany. Born around 1399
• Used his skills in metalworking to aid in the construction of his most important invention
• First mass-marketed book he produced was the Gutenberg Bible
The Printing Press
• Inspired by the wine press, which uses a similar technique
• Constructed mainly of wood
• Letters were carved onto movable “keys”. These were coated with ink
Its Influence
• Allowed books to be mass produced
• Naturally, knowledge would be available to many more people
• Learning something—be it a trade, language, etc—once required the assistance of a mentor. Now all one had to do was learn to read
• Created an intellectual revolution in all areas of thought—philosophy, science, and religion
• Since the layperson could buy a Bible now, it was open to individual interpretation
• The Copernican Revolution would not have been possible without the printing press
• Culture moved from oral to literate
Food for Thought
• The invention, and subsequent mass-production, of books allowed humanity to store its collective knowledge
• No longer do we have to rely on heredity and oral tradition
• Books are the new DNA. Humanity has transcended physical evolution
• Echoes what famous astronomer said (was it Sagan or Hawking?)
Superstition and the Written Word
• A demon known as Tutivillus was said to haunt scribes
• Legend continued even after the printing press
• Demon would cause errors and lack of concentration (typos and writer’s block)
• According to some tales, monks would be punished in afterlife for too many spelling errors
Sources
• "A Gallimaufry." 'a Gallimaufry' N.p., 14 Mar. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
• "End of Europe's Middle Ages - The Impact of the Printing Press." End of Europe's Middle Ages - The Impact of the Printing Press. University of Calgary, 6 Nov. 2001. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
• "Harry Ransom Center the University of Texas at Austin." Harry Ransom Center RSS. University of Texas at Austin, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
• "Inventor of the Week: Archive." Inventor of the Week: Archive. LemelsonMIT, Aug. 2004. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.