GUTENBERG, JOHANNES, or HENNE, whose proper name was GENSFLEISCH, GANSFLEISOH, and who is regarded by the Germans as the inventor of the art of employing movable types in printing, was b. near the close of the 14th c., at Mainz. He was sprung from a patrician family, which took the Gutenberg and Gens noise'', from two estates in its possession. Of Gutenberg's early life no particulars are known, but it seems probable that he devoted himself at an early age to mechanical arts. In the year 1434 he was living in Strasburg, and there, in 1436, made a contract with Andrew Dryzehn, or Dritzehn, and others, by which lie bound himself to instruct them in all his "secret and wonderful arts," and to employ these for their common advantage. This undertaking, which comprehended the first steps in the art of print ing, was frustrated by the death of Dryzeha, more particularly as George Dryzelm, a brother of the deceased, commenced a lawsuit with Gutenberg, which was decided against the latter. When and where the first attempts in the art of printing were made, cannot with certainty be ascertained, as the works printed by Gutenberg bear neither name nor date; this much is, however, certain—namely, that movable wooden types were first employed by him about the year 1438. In 1443 he returned from Strasburg to Mainz, where, in 1449 or 1450, he entered into partnership with Johannes Faust, or Fust, a wealthy goldsmith. Faust furnished the money required to set up a printing press, in which the Latin Bible was printed for the first time. This partnership was, however, dissolved after the lapse of a few years. Faust had made large advances, which Gutenberg was now to refund, but as he possessed neither the power nor the inclination, the matter was brought before a court of justice. The result was that Faust retained the printing concern, which he carried on and brought to perfection, in conjunction with Peter Schtiffer of Gernsheim. By the assistance of Conrad Hummer, a councilor of Mainz, Gutenberg was again enabled to set up a press, from which, in all probability, proceeded Ilermanni de (S'aldis Speculum Sawrdotum, printed in quarto without date or name. According to some, four editions of the Donates were likewise printed by Gutenberg, while others ascribe them to Faust and Schafer. In 1457 appeared the Latin Psalterium, or rather a breviary containing psalms, with antiphones, collects, etc., and arranged for choruses for Sundays and holidays. This specimen of
the art of printing, remarkable as being the first bearing the name of the printer and the locality, as well as the year and day of its completion, and valued by DRAM at £10,000, was printed with an elegance which sufficiently proves the rapid progress that had been made in the newly invented art, and the diligence with which it had been prosecuted. Gutenberg's printing establishment existed till 1465, in Mainz. He died, as is genernlYS- believed, Feb. 24, 1468, in which year the archbishop, elector of Mainz, appointed him one of his corn-tiers, and raised him to the rank of a noble, though others place his death at the close of the previous year. The evidence in favor of Gutenberg's being the inventor of printing, is considered by his countrymen quite conclusive. They adduce the testimony of Ulrich Zell of Hanau, who first introduced the art into Cologne (1462), and who declares that " this noble art was invented for the first time in Germany, at Mainz, upon the Rhine . . . . by a citizen of Mainz, named John Gutenberg." Similarly speaks a learned Alsatian (born at Strasburg, 1451, and partly contemporaneous with Gutenberg). "In the year 14;0, under the reign of Frederick III., an almost divine benefit was conferred on mankind by John Gutenberg, who first discovered the art of printing." So, too, Trithemus (born 1462, died 1516). "At this epoch, this memorable art (viz., of printing) was devised and invented by Gutenberg, a citizen of Mainz;" while Johann Schafer, son of Peter Schaffer (the partner of Faust), in his preface to a German translation of Livy (Mainz, 1505), expressly affirms that "at originally the admirable art of printing was invented particularly by the ingeni ous Johann Gutenberg, 1450 A.D.," and that it was " subsequently improved and propa gated to posterity by the wealth and labors of Johann Fust and Peter Schafer." That Gutenberg may have received the first hints of his invention from the Dutch xylography, is not denied. See COSTER. Ulrich Zell himself admits this; but the invention of typo graphy, and beyond all doubt of the printing-press, must lie ascribed to the German. Compare Oberlin's Essai d'Aniulles (le la Vie de Gutenberg (Strasburg, 1801); N(.;e de la Rochelle's Elnge Historique de J. Gutenberg (Par. 1811); Gama's Easel Historique rye Gutenberg (Par. 1857); and Lamartine's Gutenberg, l'Inventeur de l'hnivinwrie (Par. 1853).