BBC Documentary on Gutenberg and the invention of Printing
BBC Documentary on Gutenberg and the invention of Printing A rebuttal, of sorts- in defense of Johan Gutenberg.
Recently an excellent piece of investigative history was done- on perhaps the single most revolutionary invention ever. That of printing. It was aired by the BBC 4 in a documentary titled, "Stephen Fry And The Gutenberg Press - The Machine That Made Us." Apparently, you can view in here on YouTube (6 parts though):
(NOTE: BBC has since removed the video. It appears to no longer be available, accept if you are in the UK via the bbc.co.uk...)
I give this film a 5 out of 5. It is simply a must see for anyone in design, publishing and of course printing- even those just on the web or interactive side, for this places everything in perspective. Yet still I have some critique for the producers of this piece and thus the BBC.
Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of printing in the west, was portrayed as someone only out for the money in this documentary. Now, this very well may be true, for after all Stephen Fry even admits (when talking about the model of the actual first Gutenberg printing press) that this is a case of detective or forensics investigation. For there were no drawings (surviving or know at least) of the press . It perhaps should have been also stressed that the facts know about Johann Gutenberg were also very limited and thus leaps of faith were needed in stating certain things- such as his ultimate aims of inventing the printing press.
Naturally, one would imagine that the ability to be financially stable would be desired. However what the film does not mention are some of the know quotes of Gutenberg, which may point to other goals. Namely, this one;
"Religious truth is captive in a small number of little manuscripts which guard the common treasures, instead of expanding them. Let us break the seal which binds these holy things; let us give wings to truth that it may fly with the Word, no longer prepared at vast expense, but multitudes everlastingly by a machine which never wearies to every soul which enters life." — Johannes Gutenberg
Was this just the first print salesperson talking or was this a man so passionate, that he devoted his entire working life to this heavenly aim, this goal- which "he" achieved.
There is an excellent book which uses the know facts of the biography of Gutenberg and the know history of the time to make what they call a novel. It is thus more a biography, with facts that are not know filled in with what it likely would have been. Thus not just fictionized for drama, but kept as realistic as possible (And they let you know which ones these are). It is called "The Justification of Johann Gutenberg" and was scribed (had to use that word) by Blake Morrison. You can grab this book and others on the inventor of printing, here;
Home
Create my own Portal
Submitted Articles 
Feed of the Month