Who invented the printing press?
Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press in Mainz, Germany, around 1440. Movable type existed earlier in China and Korea.
Gutenberg's breakthrough was a complete system: metal letters cast in a hand mold, an oil-based ink that stuck to metal and a press adapted from those used to make wine and olive oil. Together they made it possible to print pages quickly and cheaply. His famous Bible was completed around 1455.
Printing spread fast. Within about 50 years, presses were working in more than 200 European cities and had produced millions of books. Ideas traveled faster than ever, helping drive the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution.
Earlier inventions in Asia
Gutenberg was not the first to print with movable type. In China, Bi Sheng made movable type from baked clay in the 1040s. In Korea, metal type was used in the 1200s, and the Buddhist text Jikji, printed in 1377, is the oldest surviving book printed with movable metal type. Gutenberg's system, however, is the one that transformed Europe.
Did You Know?
Fewer than 50 copies of the Gutenberg Bible survive today, some printed on paper and some on vellum made from calfskin. They are among the most valuable books in the world, and complete copies rarely come up for sale.