Church History · About 1440 to 1455

Gutenberg's Printing Press and the First Printed Bible

In Mainz, Germany, Johannes Gutenberg developed a printing press with movable metal type in the 1440s. His Latin Bible, finished by about 1455, was the first major book printed in Europe, and printing soon put the Bible and Reformation ideas into far more hands.

Read it in the Bible: Isaiah 55:11 Habakkuk 2:2 Romans 10:17

Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith from Mainz, Germany, built the first printing press in Europe that used movable metal type. He developed it in the 1440s, and by about 1455 he had printed a Latin Bible, the first major book ever printed in Europe. Before Gutenberg, every Bible was copied by hand, which could take a scribe a year or more. After Gutenberg, books could be made by the hundreds. Within a lifetime, printing had spread across Europe, and it gave the Reformation the fuel it needed to catch fire.

Who Was Johannes Gutenberg?

Gutenberg was born around 1400 in Mainz, a city on the Rhine River. He trained in metalwork, which turned out to be the perfect skill for his invention. In the late 1430s he lived in Strasbourg, where he was already working on a secret project with partners. By around 1448 he was back in Mainz, and he borrowed large sums of money to build his press.

His main lender was a businessman named Johann Fust. Around 1455 Fust sued Gutenberg to get his money back and took over much of the printing shop, which he ran with Peter Schoeffer, a skilled craftsman. Gutenberg got the fame but not the fortune. It is not the last time an inventor would lose his company to the investors.

How Did Gutenberg's Printing Press Work?

Gutenberg did not invent printing from scratch. Printing with carved wooden blocks was already known, and movable type had been used much earlier in China and Korea. His genius was putting several pieces together in a way that made fast, high quality printing practical in Europe.

Metal type. He cast thousands of individual letters from a metal mix using a hand mold, so each letter came out the same size.
Movable letters. The letters could be arranged into lines and pages, printed, and then taken apart and reused.
Better ink. He used an oil based ink that stuck to metal, unlike the watery inks scribes used.
The press. He adapted a screw press, like the ones used for squeezing grapes or olives, to press paper evenly onto the inked type.

What Is the Gutenberg Bible?

The Gutenberg Bible is a Latin Bible, using Jerome's Vulgate translation, printed in Mainz and finished by about 1455. It is also called the 42 line Bible because most pages have two columns of 42 lines. It was made to look like the finest handwritten Bibles, and many copies had their large capital letters and decorations painted in by hand afterward.

No one knows exactly how many were printed. Many historians estimate around 180 copies, most on paper and some on vellum, which is calfskin. About 49 copies survive today, some of them incomplete. Britannica gives a more cautious figure of some 40. Either way, they are among the most valuable books on earth.

In 1455 a church official who later became Pope Pius II wrote that he had seen pages of it and that the letters were so clean and correct you could read them without glasses. Old eyes everywhere were grateful.

How Did the Printing Press Change the Bible?

Before printing, a handwritten Bible cost a small fortune, and mostly churches, monasteries and the rich owned one. Printing brought the cost down sharply. By 1500, presses were running in hundreds of European towns and had produced millions of books.

Printing also kept the text steady. A hand copied Bible could pick up new mistakes with every copy. A printed edition of hundreds was identical. That made it possible for scholars to compare texts and for readers in different cities to read the very same words. In 1516 Erasmus used the press to publish the first printed Greek New Testament. See the article on Erasmus.

Why Was the Printing Press Important to the Reformation?

When Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in 1517, printers quickly copied them and spread them across Germany within weeks. Luther wrote short, punchy pamphlets in German, and printers could hardly keep up. His German New Testament of 1522 sold out fast. William Tyndale's English New Testament was printed in Germany and smuggled into England in bales of cloth.

Many historians say that without the printing press, the Reformation might have been crushed just as Wycliffe's and Hus's movements had been. The church could burn a man. It could not burn every copy of a book. Luther reportedly called printing one of God's greatest gifts for spreading the gospel.

so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it. Isaiah 55:11

Is AI Today's Printing Press?

Many people compare the internet and artificial intelligence to Gutenberg's press. Each one made it far easier and cheaper to share words with huge numbers of people. The printing press spread good books and bad ones, Bibles and nonsense. The internet and AI do the same. The tool is powerful, but what matters is what we use it to share.

This site is one small example. The Owner's Manual is free online for anyone, anywhere, and tools like search engines and AI help people find it. That is the same dream Gutenberg's printers had, getting God's Word into as many hands as possible.

Write down this vision and clearly inscribe it on tablets, so that a herald may run with it. Habakkuk 2:2

Why It Matters for You Today

You may own several Bibles and have a dozen more on your phone. That would have been unthinkable before 1455. Gutenberg's invention helped make the Bible the most printed book in history. The question for us is not whether we can get a Bible. It is whether we will open it.

Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

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Questions People Ask

When was the printing press invented?

Johannes Gutenberg developed his printing press with movable metal type in Mainz, Germany, during the 1440s. He was working on related experiments in Strasbourg in the late 1430s, and his Bible was finished by about 1455.

What was the first book printed on the Gutenberg press?

The Gutenberg Bible, a Latin Bible finished by about 1455, is the first major book printed with movable type in Europe. Smaller items such as pamphlets and indulgence forms were printed a little earlier.

How many Gutenberg Bibles still exist?

Historians estimate about 180 copies were printed. About 49 survive today, some of them incomplete, kept in libraries and museums around the world. Britannica gives the more cautious figure of some 40.

How did the printing press help the Reformation?

Printing let Luther's writings and Bible translations spread across Europe in weeks instead of years. Books became cheap enough for ordinary people, and authorities could no longer stop new ideas by silencing a single person or burning a few handwritten copies.

Sources

← Jan Hus Is Burned at the Stake Constantinople Falls to the Ottomans →

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