Gutenberg's Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg lived in Strasbourg, where in 1440 he is said to have perfected and unveiled the secret of printing, though it is not clear what work he was engaged in or whether early trials with movable type were conducted there. By 1448 he was back in Mainz, where he took out a loan possibly for a printing press, and in 1455 he completed his 42-line Bible, known as the Gutenberg Bible, the first printed version of the Bible. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, his press enabled a much faster rate of printing. The printing press later spread across the world and led to an information revolution and the unprecedented mass-spread of literature throughout Europe, with a profound impact on the development of the Renaissance, Reformation and humanist movements.