Wisconsin School for the Deaf - Tattler Yearbook (Delavan, WI)

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old copying method, was far from satisfactory, for after a design was used once, it had to be thrown away. As the demand for books had been steadily growing, the time was ripe for an invention to meet this demand. The alphabet had been changed to make it more readable. Those, who were reaching out for different kinds of reading material, had greatly increased in number. Then one day in Germany, a young man was engraving a page of manuscript on a block, when his knife slipped, cutting off a letter which fell to the floor. As he picked it up and looked at it. an idea struck him, why not carve one letter at a time, each on a single little block and put the letters together to make words? Thus was born an idea that was, when developed, to revolutionize the world. The young man was Johann Gutenburg, who was a refugee in Strassburg because he had engaged in a political discussion, opposing officers who were in control of the government in this native city. Mainz. Later, eager to recoup his fortune and, clinging to the possibilitiy of a better way of printing, he carried out and improved upon his original plan, and the invention of movable type was the result. Since printing by his method was made public five hundred years ago, it has carried the twin lights of Christianity and education over a dark and superstitious world. The Life Of Gutenberg By Carola E. Davis ALTHOUGH no one knows the exact year of Johann Gutenburg’s birth, it was probably about 1400. His parents, who resided in Mainz, Germany .were of noble birth, and very healthy. His father’s name was Gensfleisch. but young Johann took the name of Gutenburg in honor of his mother for she was the last of her house. When Johann was about ten years old, his parents had to flee from Mainz . There was a great quarrel between the poor and the rich in that city, and his parents were among the rich. So they were forced to find another home in Strassburg, and this is where the inventor of printing grew to manhood. Several years before he made any attempt to print books, he was engaged in experiments for polishing stones, and making mirrors. Later Gutenburg and a partner began a business of their own, making mirrors, but this venture was not a success. Gutenburg went into another business, that of printing with woodcuts, with three partners including Dritizehn. his former associate. Hut Dritizehn died in 1441 21

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Necessity, the Mother of Gutenburg's Invention By Silas J. Hirte INVENTIONS have always been preceded by a demand, and this is no less true of the invention of movable type for printing than of any other. Surrounded as we are today with printed matter of an excellent type, books, magazines, and newspapers, that give information on any and every subject known, it is quite impossible for us to conceive of the time when it was lacking. But way back in the days of the cave-men, records were kept by drawing and carving figures on stones in the caves. Now many museums in the world have these on exhibition. Even when Egypt was in full glory, ideas were expressed and preserved by pictures drawn with pens made of reeds on a kind of paper produced from bamboo. When Roman citizens, shortly before the time of Julius Caesar, were struggling to save democracy and were faced with great difficulties. aside from word of mouth and hand-written bulletins, there was no way of informing voters of the various problems that should be solved by them. Early in the fifteenth century in Germany, the combination of the industrial and economic conditions created a class of people who were hungering for education and could afford to purchase reading matter in greater quantities than the old-fashioned methods of book making could furnish. Then the artisan and the artist held practically the same rank. Tradesmen were wealthy and very influential in society. Quite generally they craved knowledge along with their daily occupation. Since it was almost impossible for them to get accurate and complete information concerning the world and the great deeds of the past or the plans of the future, it was no easy task to improve their lot in life. In all Europe there were but few books and manuscripts. The books were very large and unwieldy. They were made of many sheets of paper or parchment between fancy carved covers of wood or ivory. Much attention was paid to elaborate drawing and fancy penmanship, while the content was sadly neglected. Those who wanted to read them were obliged to go where the books were, for they were chained to tables. Priests and monks of the Roman Catholic Church spent hours and hours, weeks and weeks, copying religious and classical manuscripts. This was not only a slow process, but a very expensive one. Then from the Chinese, the Europeans learned to cut designs and letters on blocks of wood or other materials and to print them on cloth and parchment. This, while a great improvement over the 20

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and his brothers went to law to try to make Gutenburg take them into partnership in the dead man’s place. Gutenburg won the suit. In 1446 Gutenburg returned to his hometown of Mainz after having been an exile for more than twenty-five years. All his money was supposed to have gone into his work, and his wife paid the taxes for the same house in which his family used to live, lie borrowed a large sum of money from a merchant of Mainz named John Fust, to get his “tools”, and to purchase other materials for his printing so the printing stock belonged to Fust. They hired a skillful worker in metal named Schoeffer who was able to assist Gutenburg a great deal in carrying out his ideas in making movable type. Gutenburg said that If he wanted a hundred copies of the letter “A ”, he had to carve u hundred copies of the letter in wood. This method was too slow, and moreover, the wooden letters were loo soft, and weak to last. But JSchoefFer had a better idea. This was carving the letter on a piece of metal, and with this metal letter, he punched a mold in a softer metal. Then melted metal was poured into the mold, and copies of the letter were made. After this method had succeeded. Gutenburg determined to print a copy of the Bible. It took a long time to do it, and it was very expensive. It was completed in 1456, and the men agreed that it was “as clear as handwriting”. A great misfortune befell Gutenburg after his hour of triunph. Just when his work on the Bible ended, strife broke out. The wealthy Fust wanted all his money back which he had loaned Gutenburg. He knew that Gutenburg could not pay him after spending much money on publishing the Bible, and perhaps that was why Fust immediately pressed his claim. As Gutenburg was unable to pav it back. Fust seized all the printing plant. Poor Gutenburg was discouraged, but he refused to give up. He found a good friend later on who helped him set up another press from which he printed one or two books. He died in 1468, a poor man. thirteen years after the completion of the great work which made him one of the world’s famous men. Nearly four centuries afterward the citizens in Mainz erected a statue in his honor. Block Printing Geneva L. Broege THE Art of block printing goes back to the Chinese. They invented this about 1400. They had a kind of “printing” which began with the making of seals by pressing carved blocks of wood into soft clay. They pressed sheets of paper over slabs of wood on which designs had been carved and inked. To John Gutenburg of Germany is given credit for the largest part of the invention of movable type and the printing press in