Gutenberg makes the book accessible to all

Charlemagne is not fully credited with creating schooling nor Gutenberg having invented the printing press. Things are not so simple. Behind these assertions hides some truth however that needs defining in order to better understand the case with Gutenberg. Let’s travel to five hundred and fifty years ago.

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In the printing press, heart of innovation

When you decide to re-use the existing screw press to make a book ...

The press had already been printing for decades when the future silversmith Gutenberg was born in 1400 in Mainz. However, the printing press was an empirical system and dependent on xylography. The xylography, engraving of characters on a wooden board, had existed since the 15th century. This allowed the production of multiple pages but not large print-runs as the wood wore out quickly and engraving plates manually was tedious. The lithograph quickly replaced it (engraving characters on a "plate" of limestone), although the first printers faced a large problem which had existed also with xylography.  No error can be corrected unless with a pen after printing.

With Gutenberg, how does it work?

Scientists and humanists do not stop there. We are in the 15th century, the humanistic spirit is spreading fast and we realize the importance of the dissemination of texts. The German goldsmith Johannes Gensfleisch, better known by the name of Gutenberg, thus renewed the screw press by inserting characters with movable lead (called movable types) poured into wooden molds. Each letter was incised with a steel stamp.  The combination of the hand mould and the stamp unified the letters and writings. This new mechanism also allowed the association of images and text on the same page by a common system. The proofreading was now very easy for it involved simply changing the place of the typeface on the wood structure.

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Who does what?

The printing press consisted of several workers assigned to a specific task. An improved technique still required the intervention of several hands!

The book is rare and precious therefore the printer is Prometheus, vital and prestigious. He distinguished himself by spending the literati and carrying a sword, a rare privilege. He signs his work with his name and / or with the master’s mark, like a shield. So we could reconstruct a heraldic art. The most popular marks were the X (chrism), the V and S, the alpha and omega, and the globe and cross. With these signs, Christian symbolism was obvious hence printers became descendants of Christ.  Furthermore they were a kind of messiah who spread the Word with their own hands. The book reveals itself was a fundamental element of the humanist spirit.

Despite this sacralization of publishing, printing was long regarded as a craft. The printer was a craftsman and with them they logically had a bad salary.

The printing press was equipped with a few apprentices in training for two to five years. These handymen were fully aware of Latin and Greek but mostly they spend long hours inking so that their supervisors would not get dirty. This training was essential to become a journeyman before establishing their own shop. He will also complete his apprenticeship with a tour of France.

Then came the composers responsible for the layout. They placed the stamps with a ruler called the composter. This assembly, inked by the apprentice, was placed in the screw press, then topped

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The Book, we tear it off!

"Printing is the biggest event in history." Victor Hugo. Did Victor Hugo quote that line because simply because he had not seen the first steps on the moon? What is it exactly?

Since its release in Europe, the printed book had a tremendous success, particularly in northern Europe among Reformed Christians. It was an instrument for direct access to sacred texts. The printed book was a vehicle of knowledge and information which was previously the reserve of the Church. Successful companies printed on demand, the cost drops, the market developed and the middle class learned to read the first secular libraries. Yet one must be literate which was not the case for 90% of the French population.

The first centers were concentrated in Basel but the Kingdom of France had its first printing in 1470 with the University of Sorbonne then some time after Lyon. The printers, which were then also booksellers, preferred large cities and university districts in order to be certain of reaching the involved public. Francis I, who has been called the father and restorer of letters, played a subsequent role with the popularization of reading. Although he continued to monitor this market for he deemed it dangerous for his power. After 1518 , the king established a book cabinet at Blois, then a royal library at the Château de Fontainebleau. He collaborated with the humanist Guillaume Budé for the fondation des Lecteurs Royaux (Foundation of the Royal Readers) being the former  association for the College de France. But Francis I wanted to obtain a monopoly of the book market and therefore only proclaimed legal statuses for printing presses in 1527, after they followed orders for each to leave a copy of their production with the French National Library.

As part of the struggle against Protestantism, Charles IX published the Edict of Moulins (1566), a deposition which transformed the printing right to an order of royal privilege. The book was now used as a means of propaganda. Meanwhile, the Church complained of being deprived of intellectual monopoly and concocted the Index, list of banned books. Clerics were also fighting the Vulgate and various Greek or French translations of the Bible in order to control the Catholic religion.

The Church like the State understood the issues of the printed book and tried to monopolize it. The invention of printing in reality corresponds to the creation of the oldest media in Western history. Obviously, the two institutions censored erotic and magical books, but they also controlled all of the French editions. The book was already preparing to slip into any pocket ...

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To be continued ...

Pauline Balayer (studying at Ecole du Louvre).