Gutenberg Invented Printing, Then Lost His Press in 1455

He gave the world the printing press. Then, on November 6, 1455, Johannes Gutenberg sat in a Mainz room and lost the workshop that made it. This is the story of the debt behind the 42-line Bible. Gutenberg borrowed 1,600 guilders from the financier Johann Fust, after an earlier mirror venture in Strasbourg had gone nowhere. The Bible got printed. The money didn't come back in time. A notarial record, the Helmasperger instrument, captured the dispute. Fust and Peter Schöffer then printed the 1457 Mainz Psalter under their own names. Gutenberg spent his last years on a court pension of grain and wine. His grave is lost, and no portrait of him made in his lifetime survives. It matters because the biggest communication shift of the Renaissance began with a man who couldn't hold on to his own invention. What we know comes from a few surviving documents, and the gaps are part of the story. 0:00 The Hour in the Dining Hall 1:35 The Mirror Gamble 3:27 1,600 Guilders 4:45 180 Bibles 5:55 The Oath 7:25 A Book Without His Name 8:22 Grain, Wine and Borrowed Tools 10:03 The Face Nobody Saw Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanne... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_... https://www.mainz.de/en/microsite/gut... https://bridwell.omeka.net/exhibits/s... https://bookhistory.blogspot.com/2016... https://www.britannica.com/topic/Helm... https://www.washingtonpost.com/archiv... #Gutenberg #PrintingPress #BookHistory Archive photos: After Cristofano dell'Altissimo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Amras wi at German Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Antonio Zugaldia from Washington, D.C., United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Benutzer:Tobbecker, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Boudan, Louis, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Bulloz, Jacques-Ernest , photographe, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Dionis Wasserburg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Domenico Quaglio the Younger, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; James Stuby based on NASA image, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; James Stuby based on NASA image, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Jean Fouquet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Jean-Antoine Laurent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Jim Woodward, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Johannes Gutenberg – Printer Born in Mayence. Died in Mayence. Details on Google Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Johannes Gutenberg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Joshua Keller, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Krugerr, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Longbow4u, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; MC BSU, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Mainz : Johann Fust & Peter Schoeffer Details on Google Art Project, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Martin Zeiller, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Miami U. Libraries - Digital Collections, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons; Michel Wolgemut, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Miscellaneous Items in High Demand, PPOC, Library of Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Original by Johannes Gutenberg , Scan by Jossi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Oskar Roick, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Peter Schöffer, Johannes Fust, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Peter Schöffer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Printmaker, Larmessin, Nicolas de, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Radek Kucharski, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Rijksmuseum, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; Unidentified painter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Zythème, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; dronepicr, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; giggel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; qwesy qwesy, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; unknown/F. A. Brockhaus, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons #History