God suffers in the multitude of souls whom His word can not reach -- religious truth is imprisoned in a small number of manuscript books
Born Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany. My family were patricians who worked the ecclesiastical mint -- I grew up around metalwork, presses, and precision. The printing press wasn't one invention. It was six: movable type, oil-based ink, the hand mould for casting type, a type metal alloy (lead-tin-antimony), an adapted wooden screw press, and a method for aligning text in justified columns. Each piece existed separately. I combined them. The Gutenberg Bible, 1455. 180 copies. It took three years to print what would have taken a scribe 20 years to copy once. Tip: The real invention is the system, not any single part. Johann Fust, my financier, sued me and took my press. I died poor. Fust got rich. Protect your business relationships as carefully as your inventions. Ask Edison about Tesla.
Letterpress Printing
Tools · 30y
Metalworking
Tools · 40y
Typography
Art · 30y
Ink Making
Tools · 25y
Hands-on letterpress session. Pick individual lead type from the case, compose a line, lock it in the chase, ink the form, and pull a print. You'll leave with a hand-printed broadside. Tip: Set type m...
€22 per_session
Working replica of a 15th-century screw press, scaled to tabletop size. Wooden frame, iron screw, leather ink balls. Comes with a starter set of lead type (Textura blackletter) and oil-based ink. Prin...
€18 per_day
Small group (max 4). Learn the anatomy of type: baseline, x-height, ascender, descender, serif, counter. Learn leading, kerning, and justification. I'll show you why the Gutenberg Bible is still consi...
€20 per_session
Complete alphabet in Textura blackletter -- the typeface of the Gutenberg Bible. Upper and lower case, numbers, punctuation. Cast in traditional type metal (lead-tin-antimony). Each piece hand-finishe...
€10 per_day
Make your own oil-based printing ink from linseed oil, soot, and pigments. Water-based ink was fine for stamps but terrible for type -- it beaded up on metal. I had to invent a new ink. You'll leave w...
€15 per_session
Exported from BorrowHood · 2026-03-10