Janoschka magazine Linked_V3_2018

issue #3 ©
l i n k e d
7
But let us begin with the goldsmith from Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg. The year is 1450;
we are at the threshold between the Middle Ages and the modern age. Only about five per cent
of the population of Central Europe can read. The monasteries are the administrators of
knowledge. It is the monks who expend considerable physical effort reproducing existing texts
– by hand. Scribes spend three years copying a single Bible, writing with a quill pen on
parchment. It is no wonder that books and reading are the exclusive province of the wealthy
clergy and a few noble families.
A black art:
moveable letters take
the world by storm
What was revolutionary about Gutenberg’s idea was its simplicity.
Instead of cutting an entire wood block for each page,
Gutenberg broke texts down into their smallest components:
mirror-image letters made of lead. Using a novel manual casting
instrument, he was able to produce letters of extraordinary clarity,
legibility and beauty. The lead letters could be combined at
will to produce an infinite variety of texts, and additional letters
could be produced as required. Modular, flexible and simple –
Gutenberg’s invention could not have been more modern.
From woodcuts to
playing cards
Woodcut printing was already
known in Europe in Gutenberg’s
time. Originating from China,
this printing method involved
scoring a mirror image of the
design to be printed into a slab
of wood. It was then inked and
stamped. This printing method
was mainly used to reproduce
images, such as those on playing
cards. Letters were only incidental
to the work as a whole.
Typesetting using lead letters has long since yielded to digital data processing.