The Gutenberg Museum Mainz --------------------------------------------------------------------- Two original A Guide Gutenberg Bibles and many to the other documents from the dawn of the age of printing Museum ofType and The most beautiful Printing examples from a collection of 3,000 early prints Printing presses and machines in wood and iron Printing for adults and children at the Print Shop, the museum's educational unit Wonderful examples of script from many countries of the world Modern book art and artists' books Covers and illustrations from five centuries Contents The Gutenberg Museum 3 Johannes Gutenberg- the Inventor 5 Early Printing 15 From the Renaissance to the Rococo 19 19th Century 25 20th Century 33 The Art and Craftmanship of the Book Cover 40 Magic Material Paper 44 Books for Children and Young Adults 46 Posters, Job Printing and Ex-Libris 48 Graphics Techniques 51 Script and Printing in Eastern Asia 52 The Development of Notation in Europe and the Middle East 55 History and Objective of the Small Press Archives in Mainz 62 The Gutenberg Museum Print Shop 63 The Gutenberg Society 66 The Gutenberg-Sponsorship Association and Gutenberg-Shop 68 Adresses and Phone Numbers 71 lmpressum The Gutenberg Museum ~) 2001 The Cutcnlx~rg Museum Mainz and the Cutcnbc1g Opposite the cathedral in the heart of the old part ofMainz Spons01ship Association in Germany lies the Gutenberg Museum. It is one of the oldest museums of printing in the world and This guide is published with tbc kind permission of the attracts experts and tourists from all corners of the globe. Philipp von Zahc1n publisher's in Mainz, In r9oo, soo years after Gutenberg's birth, a group of citi­ with regard to excLrpts of text ;md illustrations zens founded the museum in Mainz. They wanted to hon­ taken from the publication our the inventor, to day's "man of the millennium", and pre­ "Buchkultu1 in Mainz" sent his technical and artistic achievements to the public at (\.) HJ98 Philipp von ZtllX'rn, Mainz, Cc1 many large. They also aimed to exhibit the writing and printing of as many different cultures as possible. Etlitors: l·:va I- r~,nchutt-1knz and Stct:mic Mittenzwci, l'vbinz A Treasury of Printing 'l'ranslations: Ruth Chitty, english Nlag<Lli Meyer, french To help launch the museum, a number of publishers, manu­ Jc;Jn-Philippc Loose, f1cnch facturers of printing machines and printing houses donated Production: Univ<.:rsititsdruckcrci uml books, apparatus and machines. These formed the basis of Vcdag l I.Schmirlt, Mainz the collection. In its first few years the museum was part of PapL'l: Phocno-.fvlatt, ~[Jl'cially coated art [Wint, the city library, meaning that the most beautiful and charac­ white, wood-ficc ~1apcr, teristic volumes from the library's extensive collection could 135 g/m' (contents) anJ 250 g-/m 2 be requisitioned for the museum. Visitors were thus present­ (cov<:r) fl ()Jll Papierf;tbrik Srllcufclcn, ed with a survey of almost soo years of the printed book. In D-73252 Lenningen time the museum expanded to include sections on printing Special thanks to Papicrfabrik Schcufdcn techniques, book art, job printing and ex-libris, graphics and posters, paper, the history of writing of all cultures of the Key world and modern artists' books. U. D.: lJII.t Om'HOt The Gutenberg Society l 1.-ll.: ~" ' lluud>ll tr• lltn•, K. M S.: t< ni Mtch.td !:it"''" J.:I'f The opening of the museum also saw the birth of the Inter­ J 1<,: J•hy,cn K1J1 r national Gutenberg Society (lnternationale Gutenberg­ G. ll: t :a:nr.nu.lc HL·uolu Gesellschaft). Their aim is to give financial and moral sup­ Z.C.: 7..v&jt""'.~ l .l r 1il •mlit: r port to the museum and to encourage research into the his­ O.M.: Oun l\il.!rliu tory of printing. The Gutenberg Museum was originally laid out in two rooms at the Kurfurstliches SchloJ; in Mainz, The text is partly based on older Gutenberg l\1uscum which also accommodated the city library. The museum catalogues published by Helmut Presser moved into the new library building on the Rheinallee in and I bns Adolf I lalbcy r9r2. To celebrate its 25th anniversary the Gutenberg Society published a weighty, symbolic festschrift which prompted the launching of the Gutenberg Yearbook. The "Gutenberg Workshop" The same year, 1925, saw the installation of a reconstruction of Gutenberg's workshop which soon became one of the 3 r museum's main attractions. Type founding, typesetting and printing could now be demonstrated visually. The replica Johannes Gutenberg -the Inventor of Gutenberg's printing press, rebuilt according 15th- and 16th-century woodcuts, proved an object of great interest to Johannes Gutenberg was born in Mainz almost exactly 6oo visitors and was henceforth shown at a large number of ex­ years ago. His original name was Henne Gensfleisch zur La­ hibitions all over the world. den, people at the time being named after the property they and their families owned. Much of Gutenberg's life remains A House in the Heart of Town a mystery, as few written documents exist which could give us information. Gutenberg's father, Friele Gensfleisch, was In 1927 the museum was able to move into the Romischer a patrician from Mainz while his mother, Else Wirich, came Kaiser (1664), one of the most beautiful buildings in Mainz. from a family of merchants. Gutenberg's date ofbirth is esti­ This is now where the museum's administration, the resto­ mated at being between 1394 and 1404; traditionally, the turn ration workshop, library and Gutenberg Society are housed. of the century, 1400, is celebrated as the year of his birth. We When the Late Renaissance building was heavily bombed in do not know how Gutenberg spent his childhood and youth, 1945, all dreams of enlarging the museum were at first shat­ nor what kind of schooling he received. As the son of a pa­ tered; luckily, the museum's contents had been stored in a trician he probably went to a grammar school and possibly safe place and thus remained intact. studied, for the occupations he later pursued demanded a In 1962, the year Mainz celebrated its 2,oooth anniversary, comprehensive education and above all a sound knowledge the restoration of the Romischer Kaiser was complete and of Latin. the building ready for use again. A new, modern exhibition building was also opened, constructed with money donated The Strasbourg Years by a number of generous sponsors. We know that Gutenberg was in Strasbourg in 1434. At the New Acquisitions time Strasbourg was a bustling centre of trade three times the size ofMainz which promised reward for anyone with a The museum made several important acquisitions in the fol­ mind for business. At this stage in his life Gutenberg was in lowing years, among them a second Gutenberg Bible, the Shuckburgh Bible in two volumes (1978), and two block books printed using wooden formes and today extremely rare. Another major change was the introduction of the Print Shop (Druckladen), the museum's educational unit, in 1989. The museum also stages guided tours and lectures. Restoration and Extension in 2000 A century after its founding, on the 600th anniversary of Gutenberg's birth the old museum building was restored and extended with the help of the state Rhineland­ Palatinate, the city of Mainz, the Gutenberg Sponsorship Association (Forderverein Gutenberg) and numerous private companies and citizens of Mainz. The museum exhibits are now in a more up-to-date, lively setting. Visitors to the museum can enjoy an excellent array of permanent exhibits and frequent special exhibitions, browse around an innovative museum shop and relax in the pleasant The two Gutenberg-Bible.! museum cafe. in the museum 4 5 The reconstmction of Gutenberg's workshop Iat the Gutenberg Museum 6 7 possession of a handsome sum of money he had inherited from his mother, who died in I433· Armed with this substan­ tial capital he settled in the Strasbourg suburb of St. Arbo­ gast and came up with an idea he thought would prove prof­ itable; as part of a "manufacturing co-operative" he aimed to mass-produce holy mirrors for pilgrims on their way to Aachen. These religious souvenirs were made from a tin al­ loy which was melted and poured into casts. The mirror proj­ ect shows that Gutenberg was not only an inventor but also an entrepreneur. What happened in Strasbourg From autumn 1438 onwards, or possibly earlier, Gutenberg started work on another project which he insisted his part­ ners keep a secret. We only have fragments of information <tbout this new enterprise which <Ire confusing and ambigu­ ous. The documents we do have refer to a press, to formes, tools and lead, among other things. It is feasible that Gutenberg "invented" printing in Strasbourg using a printing press and moveable type- or at least came very close to doing so. The question remains as to how far his invention progressed at this stage. There arc no books or prints available to us from this period. Sources last mention Gutenberg as being in Strasbourg in 1444 and place him back in Mainz in 1448. Only recently it Portrait ofGuten/Jc,g. was proved that he stayed in Frankfurt on the Main Co('y made in I<~Jofrom!IN original, in between. /1//mcd in Stms/Jomg in r87o. The Book of Books: the Bible During his years in Mainz Gutenberg opened at least one, probably two printing workshops. The first printed materi­ The Invention als bearing a date were produced in I454· These are the Turk­ ish Calendar and the most significant work Gutenberg Printing with wooden formes on paper was something Eu­ produced, his 42-linc Bible orB 42, which has pride of place rope had been familiar with since the late qth century.