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WonderHistory fact

Around 1440 Johannes Gutenberg, a craftsman from Mainz in Germany, developed a way of printing with movable metal type: single letters cast in metal, set into pages, inked, pressed onto paper and then reused. It made books far faster and cheaper to produce in Europe.

History

History

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Movable type was not new everywhere. In China, Bi Sheng made clay type in the 11th century, and in Korea a Buddhist text called the Jikji was printed with metal type in 1377. Gutenberg's contribution was a complete system suited to the Latin alphabet's small set of letters: a metal mix of lead, tin and antimony that cast quickly, a hand mould for making identical letters, an oil-based ink that clung to metal, and a wooden screw press like those used for pressing grapes and olives. His Bible, finished in Mainz around 1455, was printed in about 180 copies. By 1500 some 270 European cities had printers, and their presses had produced over 20 million copies of books, helping to spread the ideas of the Renaissance and the Reformation.

Türkçe oku
Almanya'nın Mainz kentinden zanaatkâr Johannes Gutenberg, 1440 dolaylarında hareketli metal harflerle baskı yöntemini geliştirdi. Metalden tek tek dökülen harfler sayfa hâlinde dizilip mürekkepleniyor, kâğıda basılıyor, sonra yeniden kullanılıyordu. Böylece Avrupa'da kitap çok daha hızlı ve ucuza üretilmeye başlandı.

Hareketli harfi ilk bulan Gutenberg değildi. Çin'de Bi Sheng 11. yüzyılda pişmiş kilden harfler yapmıştı; Kore'de de Jikji adlı bir Budist metin 1377'de metal harflerle basılmıştı. Gutenberg'in asıl katkısı, az sayıda harfi olan Latin alfabesine uygun, eksiksiz bir sistem kurmasıydı: Çabuk dökülen kurşun, kalay ve antimon karışımı bir metal, birbirinin aynı harfleri döken bir el kalıbı, metale iyi tutunan yağ bazlı bir mürekkep ve üzüm ile zeytin sıkmakta kullanılanlara benzeyen vidalı ahşap bir pres. Mainz'da 1455 dolaylarında tamamladığı İncil'den yaklaşık 180 nüsha basıldı. 1500'e gelindiğinde Avrupa'da 270 kadar kentte matbaa vardı ve 20 milyondan fazla kitap basılmıştı. Matbaa, Rönesans ve Reform düşüncelerinin yayılmasında büyük rol oynadı.

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