c. 1400-1468. German printer, the inventor of
printing from moveable metal type, based on
the Chinese wood-block-type method (although
Laurens Janszoon Coster has a rival claim).
Gutenberg began work on the process in the
1430s and in 1440 set up a printing business
in Mainz with Johann Fust (c. 1400-1466) as a
backer. By 1455 he produced the first printed
Bible (known as the Gutenberg Bible). Fust
seized the press for nonpayment of the loan,
but Gutenberg is believed to have printed the
Mazarin and Bamberg bibles.