Born Johann Gensfleisch sometime between 1395 and 1405, Johann Gutenberg took his name from the family house “Hof zum Gutenberg” on the Schusterstrasse in Mainz (Cobblers’ Lane). It later housed a casino. Image: Mainz Transparent
All portraits of the inventor are imaginary renderings, including the most widely reproduced, a 1584 copper engraving by the Frenchman André Thevet. Image courtesy Gutenberg Museum Mainz
The Gensfleisch coat of arms shows a wanderer with his bowl uplifted and a burden on his back.
Before inventing movable type, Gutenberg developed a machine for polishing stones that were used as reflective surfaces in the center of a “pilgrim mirror.” These devices were held up from afar and thought to capture holy rays from sacred relics. Image Wikipedia commons
The first book Gutenberg printed was not the Bible, but the Ars Grammatica, in Latin, by Aelius Donatus.
Two different letters of indulgence were printed in Mainz in 1454, both to raise funds for a crusade against the Turks. This one is attributed to Johann Gutenberg, while another indulgence in a similar type with different initials is attributed to Peter Schoeffer. Image courtesy Gutenberg Museum Mainz
On November 6, 1455, the notary Ulrich Helmasberger signed a document spelling out the end of the Fust-Gutenberg partnership with a finger and a flourish. Image courtesy Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen
Find out more at the Gutenberg-Museum Mainz