A critical biography of the mysterious but prolific medieval printer.
 
Johannes Gutenberg is famous as the inventor of Europe’s first typographic printing method, and his life and legacy have long fascinated a wide audience. Due to scant and vague fifteenth-century documentation, however, Gutenberg’s career has long been obscured by derivative storytelling, competing agendas, and scholarly guesswork. This new biography removes these barriers to retell his story directly, through his pioneering work on schoolbooks, pamphlets, indulgences, broadsides, and, notably, the first printed Bible. The book also describes Gutenberg’s posthumous fortunes and his eventual recognition as Man of the Millennium. This much-needed corrective to old legend and conjecture brings Gutenberg to life through the books that remain his lasting monument.

Eric Marshall White is the Scheide librarian and assistant university librarian for special collections, rare books, and manuscripts at Princeton University. His publications include Editio princeps: A History of the Gutenberg Bible, which won the DeLong Prize for outstanding book in the field of book history.