Before Class: Chapter Five

1. Sum up the reading in your own words in 1 paragraph.
Chapter five: Printing Comes to Europe was mainly about Gutenburg's movable type and his creations. He developed the printing press the late 14th century in Mainz, Germany. There was somewhat of a race between countries and the two front runners were the Germans and the Dutch. The chapter also talked about Gutenburg's life and his hardships that he faced before, after, and during the development of the 42-line Bible. With 1,282 pages in a two-volume work, the Bible was a fantastic first in the production of typographic books. Gutenburg didn't get to finish his masterpiece because of financial problems with his business partner, Johann Fust. The chapter also went into block printing a little bit, talking about playing cards and block printed books. And at the end of the chapter the topic of copperplate engraving was discussed. Some people believe that Gutenburg could have had a hand in the this field as well, because of some of the illustrations used in both. The question now is, "Was Gutenburg striving to perfect the printing not just of scribes' lettering but of magnificent ornamentation and illustrations of the medieval manuscripts as well?"

2. Name the one thing (or person) you found most interesting from the reading.
What I found to be most interesting in this chapter was the smaller litter pieces of information, like the first water mark was created in 1282 in Italy. Or how playing cards were made of different material depending upon your status. Or that there was like a movable type/printing press race mainly between the Germans (Gutenburg) and the Dutch (Coster).

3. State at least one question you have after the reading. (if you state none here, you’d better have more detail done above to offset the work.)
If Gutenburg didn't technically finish the 42-line Bible then why was he credited for it? Was it because he started it and basically came up with the movable print process?