In 1450, all Europe's books were handcopied and amounted to only a few
thousand. By 1500, they were printed and numbered in their millions. The
invention of Johann Gutenberg had caused a revolution: printing by
movable type. Born in 1400 in Mainz, Germany, Gutenberg struggled
against a background of plague and religious upheaval to bring his
remarkable invention to light. His story is full of paradoxes: his
ambition was to reunite all Christendom, but his invention shattered it;
he aimed to make a fortune, but was cruelly denied the fruits of his
life's work. Yet history remembers him as a visionary; his discovery
marks the beginning of the modern world.