The Gutenberg Press
Printed books are one of the most important gifts ever created. They’re an integral part of our lives. And writing is what we do.
Books have been used to advance our society in monumental ways. They are the building blocks of our lives — providing information on everything from entertainment to education and all in between. We use some form of print almost daily whether it’s when we have coffee with our morning newspaper, reading a magazine on our favorite hobby, or learning from textbooks in our institutions.
In today’s modern society, there are many ways for us to distribute our words and stories to our readers — but long ago, before the 15th century, making copies of a handwritten work was a monumental task – one would literally have to copy an entire handwritten work by hand which could take months if not years.
That was until Johannes Gutenberg invented his wonderful machine, the Gutenberg press. Nothing revolutionized our civilization like this genius invention — for it allowed an advancement in media that brought words to even the poorest areas of the world at the time.
Some 500 years ago, this invention, one that can be considered as revolutionary as the wheel, changed the world in such a profound way that it is still remembered and honored today. With the capabilities of mass production of copies of any print material, the world was awakened with literature, news, and a plethora of information that was previously only scrawled in notebooks or spread by mouth. Within a relatively short period after the invention of the Gutenberg press there were millions of books traveling around the world, providing information on anything from propaganda to science to religion.
The first book ever printed by Johannes Gutenberg was the Gutenberg Bible, a text that served as a signpost to the future and led to the Renaissance — an age where the world moved from the dark times of the Middle Ages into the age of modern life. Printed media bloomed like the internet has in modern times and became the technical vehicle that enabled religious, political, and societal changes that launched the world into modern day life.
In our times we are blessed with technology such as the modern computer and the Iphone where we can read and write books in electronic format — and the internet which we use to distribute what began as the printed word. But we must not forget those times when today’s devices weren’t available — when so many extremely intelligent and wonderful people gained the entirety of their knowledge from printed media.
As Turkish playwright Mehmet Ildan said, “I owe all my knowledge to the German inventor, Johannes Gutenberg.”
As writers, we value the amazing advancements of our times. But we hold a special place in our hearts for printed books – a love readers can identify with. We owe all that to Johannes Gutenberg and his press. He was a true visionary and we look to people like him to inspire our writing.
When Adam returns to his homeland in our second novel, he finds a society that has only existed for 1000 years with little in the way of technological advancement. When he combines his knowledge of advanced technology with the practices of a very medieval-like society, he manages to prevent a war. We believe that the past is as important and valuable as the present — and we try to show this through our writings.
