The suburban citizen., 1900-06-30
INVENTOR OF PRINTING.
FIVE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE BIRTH OF GUTENBERG.

NutIInuuN uuS JuNL ttltUluANu III a
most fitting way the five hundredth
anniversary of the birth Of Johann
Gutenberg, the inventor of printing,
one of the most notable and character
istic of her sons. In the beautiful
old Rhenish city Of Mayence, the
birthplace of the inventor, there was
an exhibition of the best and the most
curious which the printers art has
produced during the past five hundred
years. There was an historical pro-
cession through the old streets in
which the costumes Of Gutenberg's
time were reproduced. Hundreds of
scholars and specialists in printing
came from all parts Of Germany to
do honor to the great mans memory.
There were festal excursions on the
historic river and illuminations in the
evenings-altogether a worthy and
dignifed celebration. No one can ac-
cuse the Germans of neglecting the
memory of their great men.
1t is impossible to state with accu-
racy the exact year of Gutenberg's
birth, but there is strong reason for
believing that he first saw the light
some time near the close of the four
teenth century. His real name was
Gensheisch, Gutenberg being only his
cognomen, probably the name of the
place whence the family came. He be-
longed to a partrician family Of May
ence, his father seems to have been
a man of political Importance, for we
hear of him as involved in the
turmoils which at that time were
chronic between the Bishop Elector
Of Mayence and the guilds and burgh
ers. With his family he was obliged
to fly to Strassburg, and it was in the
Alsatian city that Gutenberg learned
the arts which he was afterward to
turn to such good account He de-
voted himself to goldsmiths work, to
the manufacture of mirrors, and to
experiments in iron, copper and lead
During Gutenberg's residence in
Strassburg we get one or two curious
glimpses of him, but nothing that ID
sufficient. He had legal dispute with
some citizens as to a certain plant in
which he was interested, but of more
human interest is complaint made
against him to the Bishop by a certain
Anna of the Iron Gates for refusing
to fulfill a pledge he had made to
marry her.
This is all we know Of Gutenberg
until we again hear Of him in May
ence, a man of matured middle age,
probably lfty years old. Mayence at
that time was a great ecclesiastical
centre, and likely enough Gutenberg
had returned to his paternal city to
manufacture goldsmith's work for
the Bishop Elector and his clergy.
But he must have had other views as
well. While in Strassburg he had his
/ attention turned TO the tedious pro-
! cesses involved in the printing Of the
! Donati. as the elementary Latin gram
/ mars of the time were called. The let
ters were engraved on a large block of
wood, much as our wood cuts are at
! the present time. We do not know
Gutenbergs processes of thought, but
the idea had evidently struck him that
this cumbrOus method of production
would be vastly simplified If movable
metal letters were employed instead Of
engraved blocks of wood. In Strass-
| burg he had set himself the task Of
| mOlding these letters of various de-
! grees of hardness, and 1t is evident
that when he returned to Mayence he
brought with him a considerable sup
ply of these movable types.
! Gutenberg was always a poor man,
and evidently thriftless. So on his ar
rival in Mayence he made the ac-
quaintance Of a certain Johann Fust,
a fifteenth century capitalist, who for
a consideration was willing to set up
the inventor as a printer in a properly
! equipped printing Office. Gutenberg
anxious to get work, accepted Fust's
offer. But the business association Of
| the two men was a failure. Guten-
! berg could pay neither capital nor in
terest, and Fust was compelled to
cast about for a more business-like
partner whom he found in the cele-
brated Peter Schoffer. Poor Guten-
berg was deprived of much of his best
type and had it not been for the mer-
ciful interpositiOn of a wealthy Durgh-
er, who believed in him, he would
have suffered complete commercial
shipwreck. He never, however, was
able to get his head above water, and
after two or three years Of painful
struggle he gave up the contest
against the powerful firm Of Fust &
Schoffer.
Toward the close of his life, prob
ably broken down by cares and dis
appointments, he seems to have Joined
the confraternity of lay brothers of
st. Victor and to have led an ascetic,
prayerful life. His friends managed
to procure for him a position as one
Of the Electors Servitors, a nomina-
ton which secured for him a new suit
Of clothes every year, and a suficiency
of corn and wine for his necessities.
Once a year he went to the Electors
castle at Eltville to obtain his suit Of
clothes. He was over sixty when he
died an unnoticed man, and few Of
his townsmen followed him to his
! "a, .Nq hn