Gutenberg’s Statue & Printing Press:
Print Preflight Solution, FlightCheck
Video: Johannes Gutenberg and Preflighting for Print 4K
(Click image below, to see video.)
German craftsman, Johannes Gutenberg (1395-1468) invented a printing method from movable type.
This printing press revolutionized the bookmaking process and the sharing of knowledge, helping to
spread The Word. This video captures historical context of Strasbourg, France, including a Gutenberg
statue, which produced controversy and political upheaval! Scroll down, to see the video transcript.
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Gutenberg’s Statue
Transcript
Would Gutenberg have used FlightCheck? I think so. See? Printing press. And it looks like he could have used FlightCheck. Looks like he had printing problems. These are all important characters.
Here, we see a printing press in action, for the Declaration of Independence. And we see it in action, to spread The Word. And we see it in the Far East, where they actually invented printing, to a degree, beforehand. Very interesting!
Making this video on Johannes Gutenberg, pre-flighting, and print, I came across this very interesting fact, actually a series of facts, which I never do. I love history, so, this is really cool. Really blessed to be able to visit this with my son, this past Summer.
But I also was here, years ago, with Patrick Marchese, co-founder of Markzware and inventor of pre-flighting. So, this was really great to be back there. But this research I stumbled upon, I think anyone in the printing or graphic arts business will find very interesting. So, I’m just going to give a short overview of it, now. I’ll make a deeper video on my other channel on this, in the future.
Okay, so, on the reliefs that you see, as like who they are, what’s depicted there. Some of it was obvious, like the Declaration of Independence, etc. But some of it wasn’t so obvious, like the European panel, which was the first one right below Gutenberg, in the statue. Turns out it’s very interesting.
So, there’s not much English information available. I found some French information and basically I used this, from Suzanne Braun. And I’ll leave a link to her PDF, although, you know, this was written, maybe a long time ago, I don’t know. But, anyway, in any event, I used ChatGPT to translate it, just to get a better idea.
Now, a very interesting statue, back in the day. I mean, it’s still, like, pretty close to the center, where the cathedral is. But, back in the day, it was the Central Square of the city. It was a very prominent place. So, this was a huge undertaking. It was a very important statue. It was a very important political statement, as it turns out.
One of the main reasons for erecting a statue to Gutenberg was a rivalry between the cities of Strasbourg and Mainz. Everyone that I know and I always thought it was invented in Mainz, right? In Germany.
Gutenberg’s Printing Press
But, regarding the location where Gutenberg made his discovery, Strasbourg claimed to be the place of the discovery of movable type, during the printer’s stay, between 1430 and 1440, with Mainz being only his birthplace, where he returned in 1948 to complete his experimentation.
The German city, however, was first to commemorate the man with a monument, inaugurated on August 14, 1837. So, there you go. First to market always has the advantage, right? So, it’s like the Germans won on that one.
So, really, printing was developed in France. And I have another video. There was a lot of French developments, in the early days of printing and inventors. Very interesting things. And on the design side, and pigments like blue, and all that. Anyway, a different story. So, it was a big political thing.
And, when they did the inaugural showing of the monument, which you’ll read, here, the brass plates weren’t ready, yet. So, they did paintings. And people freaked out, when they saw the European painting, because it featured only Martin Luther, there.
Martin Luther typeset and printed the “95 Theses”. It was all about the indulgences of the Catholic church, at the time, where you could pay money to get blessed and you would be cured. If you didn’t pay money, you were out of luck. So, that’s where the split came.
And, some say, the first mass-produced piece was printed on Gutenberg’s press by Martin Luther. So, it’s kind of fitting that he was there, on that piece. I’m a Believer, but I don’t necessarily need to say I’m a Protestant or a Catholic. I just believe in The Word. But, even still to this day, it’s a big thing, but certainly back then.
By the way, some of the rumors, or let’s say “pseudo-facts,” are covered in a great book, called, “The Justification of Johannes Gutenberg.” People ask me what’s my favorite book. I often say this one. Wow! Look at that! An old, wonderful print article. And I took a lot of notes, back in the day. It was very interesting.
And he uses facts, to fill in as much of the book as possible. But, where there were no facts available, he used creative license. He added in some of what he thought would be most likely, based on the facts known. So, we don’t really know exactly what or how it went down. But this is an interesting fact about how it was.
Movable type was probably discovered in France, but everything put together, with the printed piece, was probably done in Germany. So, it’s like they both deserve credit, right?
A printed Bible with illustrations and text.
Anyway, the artist, David d’Angers was, of course, just couldn’t believe all of this. It was just a terrible thing. But you see, in the the final piece, one of the printed pieces says, “And then there was light,” from Genesis 1:3, which is very interesting. But the European relief, you’ll see here how it looks or how they’re laid out, the people that are finally in there, that you saw, in the video, here.
And, if you see that, here, what you see is that this is Renee d’Socrates. Yeah, I figured this figure was a printer who didn’t pre-flight, didn’t use FlightCheck, but he is leaning on the printing press. It does have an interesting symbol, here. I wonder what that’s all about.
But, nonetheless, this is d’Socrates. This is the man known as the modern philosopher. He had, in French, said and translated in English, it means, “I think; therefore, I am.” It’s one of the famous quotes. I think he’s either thinking too much, there, or maybe he did print and not pre-flight; hard to say.
And this is Martin Luther. And right above him is Erasmus from Rotterdam, which is really famous, here in the Netherlands, as a historical figure. And, next to these three. So, d’Socrates and the other two, then. That was William Shakespeare and a bunch of other well-known people, back in the day. I mean, it was really an amazing time. Look at that!
So, just a cool piece, here, and the children, down below, where they’re obviously benefiting from the the printed word, learning and reading. So, literacy just skyrocketed, with this invention. Anyway, a cool, little piece. I just wanted to share that and, once again, I’ll go into more detail on this.
Read the rest about the American Declaration of Independence, Asia, then, Wilberforce embraces an African with a book, while Europeans distribute books and spread the good Word, etc. And they also abolished slavery, back then, in Europe and Asia. There’s also a panel. So, it was very, very interesting.
I hope you enjoy the video and I wonder … Do you think Gutenberg would have used FlightCheck? Would Gutenberg have pre-flighted? I think it’s quite obvious they had some sort of quality control. And, if there was a FlightCheck or a pre-flight device available, back in the day, I’m sure they were using it. But, anyway, I’d like to hear your comments. Alright, everybody, take care. David for Markzware, wishing you a fantastic day!
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Gutenberg’s Statue & Printing Press: Print Preflight Solution, FlightCheck
