The whole world admits unhesitatingly, and there can be no doubt about this that Gutenberg's invention is the incomparably greatest event in the history of the world. It is ironic that we know so little about the man and that so much myth has arisen around the invention that revolutionized the way we preserve and disseminate information. Much is in dispute. Some information is lost. Some is obviously legend and lore.
Some popular beliefs are likely false and some important facts are overlooked.
We really don't know when he was born, but it was sometime in the final decade of the fourteenth century in Mainz, Germany. He was the third of three children. There was more of a profit motive in the business than any religious calling. As early as the 1430's, he was working on an idea for a printing press. Others give him credit only for the casting of letters.