1400 - 1499 - The History of Printing During The 15th Century

07/06/2021 1400 - 1499 | The history of printing during the 15th century
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The history of print from 1400 to 1499

This page documents the evolution of printing and publishing during the fifteenth century. The
main event from this era is Gutenberg’s invention of a printing press that works with movable
type. It revolutionizes the production of books and pamphlets. By the end of the century printing
presses can be found in more than 250 cities around Europe. Such presses can produce 3,600
pages per workday, compared to forty by typographic hand-printing and just a few pages by
hand-copying. The books printed between the 1450s and the end of the fifteenth century are
called ‘incunabula’. One of the main challenges of the industry is distributing all these works. This
leads to the establishment of numerous book fairs. The most important one is the Frankfurt Book
Fair which is first held by local booksellers soon after Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press.
1423 – First woodcut printing on paper

Even though woodcut is already used for printing on cloth for over a century, the first
European woodcut printing on paper happens in the early 15th century. It is used for
printing religious images and playing cards. Woodcut is a relief printing technique in which
text and images are carved into the surface of a block of wood. The printing parts remain
level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with a knife or
chisel. The woodblock is then inked and the substrate pressed against the woodblock. The
ink is made of lampblack (soot from oil lamps) mixed with varnish or boiled linseed oil. This
printing technique is also called block printing. One of the earliest examples of European
woodcuts is the image of Saint Christopher shown below. It was printed in 1423 and then
manually colored in.
https://www.prepressure.com/printing/history/1400-1499 1/16
The first complete block books or xylographica are produced in Germany and Holland
around 1430. They continue to be produced until around 1480.
1424
Books are still rare since they need to be laboriously handwritten by scribes. The University
of Cambridge has one of the largest libraries in Europe – constituting just 122 books.
The parchment that books are written on is so expensive that books that are no longer
relevant are not thrown away. The old text is scraped off and replaced by a new one. These
reused books are called palimpsests. Using UV light historians can often still read the
original text, making these books an important source for ancient texts.
1436 – Gutenberg starts working on a printing press

It takes Johannes Gutenberg, the German goldsmith, inventor, printer, and publisher, four
years to finish his wooden press which uses movable metal type. The image below shows a
replica of a press from that era. It uses relief printing: at the bottom left a frame holds the
columns of text that get printed. This type consists of individual letters set in lead. After
inking the type, a sheet of paper is put on top. Next, the frame is shoved to the right
underneath the platen. By moving the large handle pressure is applied to make sure the ink
is transferred to the paper. Afterward, the bed is moved back to its original position and the
paper can be removed.
The press itself is based on the wine presses that were already in use for centuries in that
region. Relief printing, through woodblock printing, also isn’t new. Movable type had already
been used in the East. What Gutenberg does is bring these various technologies, including
the proper type of oil-based ink, together. His real innovation is the molding system that
enables a printer to create as many lead characters as are needed for printing a book or
pamphlet.
Johannes Gutenberg
Stephen Fry hosted a Timeline episode about the history of the first printing
press. The one hour video can be viewed on YouTube.
1448 – Gutenberg sets up a printing shop in Mainz

Among his first publications printed using movable type are the ‘Poem of the Last Judgment’
and the ‘Calendar for 1448’. Around 1450 Gutenberg begins printing bibles, initially using 40
lines of text in each of the two columns but later switching to 42 lines to reduce page count.
1453
Constantinople is captured by the Turks. Many books from its Imperial Library are burned
or carried away and sold. This marks the end of the last of the great libraries of the ancient
world.
1455 – Gutenberg Bible

Gutenberg finishes printing between 160 and 185 copies of his 42-line bible which is
referred to as the Gutenberg Bible. It is considered the first mass-produced book. The text
is set using a gothic type that mimics handwriting. Customers can have their copy
decorated manually. A quarter of the books are printed on vellum, the others use paper.
Ironically enough Gutenberg goes bankrupt in 1455 when his investor Johann Faust
forecloses on the mortgage used to finance the building of the press. Faust gets hold of the
printing equipment as well as the copies of the bible that have already been printed. While
trying to sell them in Paris Faust tries to keep the printing process a secret and pretends the
bibles are hand copied. It is noticed that the volumes resemble each other and Faust is
charged with witchcraft. He has to confess his scheme to avoid prosecution.
1457 – First color printing

The first known color printing is used in ‘Mainz Psalter’, a book containing a collection of
psalms. It is printed by Johann Faust and his son-in-law Peter Schöffer. Color, in this case,
does not mean full-color images but simply the use of additionals color to highlight some
initials, words, or paragraphs. In the Psalter black, red and blue ink is used. It is also one of
the first books to contain a colophon, a page, or part of a page that describes who printed
the book, the location of the printer, and its production date.
1460 – Catholicon
The first printed edition of The Summa grammaticalis quae vocatur Catholicon, or Catholicon,
appears. This Latin dictionary dates back to the 13th century. The printed edition uses a
typeface that is a third smaller than that of Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible, lowering its
production cost significantly. It is most likely the last book printed by Gutenberg himself,
who dies in 1468.
1461 – First books with woodcut illustrations

Albrecht Pfister prints the first illustrated books using a number of woodcuts that are
colored in manually. The example below is from a book of fables called Der Edelstein.
Another of his books, the Biblia Pauperum, also contains many hand-colored
illustrations. Pfister is also one of the first to print books in the German language.
It is estimated that a third of the books printed before 1500 are illustrated.
1464 – Printing arrives in Italy

German monks operate the first printing press in Italy in the Abbey of Santa Scolastica at
Subiaco. In 1467 Ulrich Haan (Udalricus Gallus) is the first one to print books in Rome. Haan
had emigrated after his letterpress print shop in Vienna was destroyed because he had
dared to print a lampoon against the mayor. The first book to be printed in the Italian
language is Il Canzoniere by Francesco Petrarca in 1470.
1467 – First engravings

In Bruges, Colard Mansion prints De cas de nobles hommes et femmes (De Casibus Virorum
Illustrium), the first book that is illustrated with engravings. An engraving is made by incising
a metal plate with a tool called a burin. This plate is then warmed up so that the ink applied
to it becomes fluid and also fills all those tiny holes and lines. Next, the ink on the flat
surface is swiped off, so that only the nooks and crannies are still filled with it. A slightly
moistened paper sheet is placed on the plate and sent through a rolling press. Its pressure
makes sure the paper picks up the ink from the drawing. The process is more cumbersome
and slower than woodcut printing but engravings are more robust than woodcuts so that
more copies can be printed. Drawings can also be more detailed. Over time this technique
will replace woodcuts. Colard also prints the first books in English and French.
Another famous engraver from that era is the Master of the Housebook, a south German
artist whose ninety-one prints are extremely rare.
1469 – Use of roman type

In their print shop in Venice John and Wendelin of Speier are probably the first printers to use
pure roman type, which no longer looks like the handwritten characters that other printers
have been trying to imitate until then. Another printer in Venice, Nicolas Jenson, produces a
more distinguished roman font which still serves as a model for type designers today.
The fact that most of the books printed between 1450 and 1480 are almost
indistinguishable from handwritten manuscripts is down to the conservatism of their
buyers. It takes a few decades before legibility is valued higher than convention.
1470 – Title pages & page numbers

Some things we now take for granted were not present in early books. Examples of these
are a title page and page numbers. Peter Schoffër, an apprentice of Johannes Gutenberg, is
the inventor of the title page while Arnold Therhoernen, a printer in Cologne, is one of the
first to use both a title page and page numbers.
1472 – Book printing takes off in Spain

Sinodal de Aguilafuente is the first book printed in Spain and in the Spanish language. Its
printing was ordered by the bishop of Segovia, which is why printing did not take off first in
any of the major Spanish cities, like Barcelona or Madrid.
1475
‘De honesta voluptate’ (On honourable pleasure) is one of the first printed cookbooks. It is as
much a series of moral essays as a cookbook. Ten years later ‘Kuchenmeysterey’ (Kitchen
Mastery) becomes the first printed German cookbook.
1476 – William Caxton introduces metal type in England
William Caxton buys equipment from the Netherlands and establishes the first printing
press in England at Westminster. Books printed by Caxton include Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury
Tales’, ‘Fables of Aesop’ and many other popular works. Caxton is also the first English retailer
of printed books. The painting below depicts Caxton showing his printing press to King
Edward IV.
1481
There are around 40 printing shops in both Germany and Italy. In the Netherlands, printing
takes place in 21 cities and towns. Some of the printing houses are large. in Nuremberg, the
German printer Anton Koberger employs 100 people for punch-cutting, typesetting,
operating 24 presses, and bookbinding. He owns two paper mills, has agents selling his
works all over Western Europe and yet finds the time to father 25 children.
1482 – First print shop in Denmark

Johan Snell introduces printing in Odense. Dutch printer Gotfried van Os (Gotfred of
Ghemen) establishes the first print shop in Copenhagen in 1493.
1492 – ‘In Praise of Scribes’

De laude scriptorum manualium is a book by the German Benedictine abbot Johannes
Trithemius in which he criticizes the effect that the printing press has on the customs and
devotion of the brotherhood of monks. Only by copying the Scriptures can a scribe become
in touch with the Word of God. The abbot is a complex man who actually sees that printing
also offers advantages. He expands the library of his abbey from around fifty items to more
than two thousand, many of them printed. His own treatise also is printed since that is the
most cost-effective way to spread the message.
1493 – The Nuremberg Chronicle

Anton Koberger, a publisher and printer in Nuremberg, prints his most famous book, the
‘Nuremberg Chronicle’. It is illustrated with hundreds of woodcuts, many of them portraits.
These portraits are all imaginary and the same block is often used to depict different
persons.
1494 – Das Narrenschiff

Das Narrenschiff (The Ship Of Fools) by Sebastian Brant is published in Basel, Switzerland.
This satire about the state of the church is illustrated with woodcuts from the great
Renaissance artist-engraver Albrecht Dürer. It quickly becomes extremely popular, with six
authorized and seven pirated editions published before 1521.
Dürer’s own ‘Apocalypse’ is another very popular book of that era, published simultaneously
in Latin and German. Prints of the detailed woodcuts, such as The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse shown below, are also sold separately.
1495
The first printed books are published in Danish and Swedish. Earlier books used Latin.
During the 15th century, around 75% of all printed matter is in Latin, 8% is in Italian and
another 8% is in German. England and Spain are the only countries in which the majority of
works are printed in the local language.
1499 – Aldus Manutius & Francesco Griffo

Aldus Manutius, who had helped found the Aldine Press in Venice in 1494, is the first printer
to come up with smaller, more portable books. Until then books are large and heavy, meant
to be read while standing at a lectern or reading stand. Manutius’s books are smaller and
can be carried around and read anywhere. The book format is called an octavo (‘in eight’)
because each press sheet is folded three times to create eight pages. For each edition up to
1000 copies are printed, instead of the customary 100 to 250. To cram as much text as
possible on pages, Manutius is the first to use the more compact Italic type, designed by
Venetian punchcutter Francesco Griffo. In 1499 the Aldine Press prints Hypnerotomachia
Poliphili, an illustrated book set in Bembo. It is considered one of the masterpieces of
Renaissance publishing. At the turn of the century, Venice is the center of the book industry
in Italy, with around 150 presses in operation.
Also from 1499 is a version of Danse Macabre, a picture book about how nobody can escape
death, with the first known depiction of a print shop. This book is printed by Mathias Huss
in Lyon, France.
< until 1399 – 1500-1549 >
8 thoughts on “The history of print from 1400 to 1499”
1. Sayishiyam says:
November 15, 2020 at 8:13 am
tnx for this. i am a 12 year old boy. i needed this for my research.
Reply
2. Nicole de Villiers says:

June 18, 2019 at 3:53 am
I have in my possession, a rather unusual print which came out of Nurnberg. I don’t
know much about it, but I believe the printing method used was the first of its kind. I
have been searching for years to find someone who could tell me more about it. Could
anyone here perhaps assist?
Reply
3. G Kaiser says:
May 18, 2019 at 7:38 pm
Michael Scott translated Aristotle into Latin by 1231 but the ‘de animalia’ did not become
an important factor in the progress of science until 1499 when Theodorus of Gaza
published a printed version, in Latin, from the copy he rescued from Salonika in 1476. In
the 1500’s Aristotle became widely accessible to students.
Reply
4. Donna Friedeberg says:

April 15, 2019 at 12:42 am
interesting.
Reply
5. Claudia Tregoning says:

March 24, 2019 at 6:41 am
I am an Italian born Australian illustrator for reproduction. And a great fan of Albrecht
Durer. His career and broad range having much in common with mine. Thank your for
your informative site.
What would we do without the Printing Press?
Best Wishes.
Reply
6. Cornelius Olumide Banji says:

August 10, 2018 at 3:43 am
Reading this for the very first time because I was given as an assignment in a Printing
Technology Class really makes me more interested in knowing more about Printing.
Good Job!
Reply
7. Lucia says:
March 24, 2018 at 10:23 am
Hi do you know how they made paper out of cotton rags
Reply
8. Sabina Cao says:

June 13, 2012 at 5:24 pm
It seems like it wouldn’t be that interesting, but printing history is really quite fascinating,
especially when you think about all ripples that printing caused in society and politics.
Reply
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07/06/2021 1400 - 1499 | The history of printing during the 15th century

The history of print from 1400 to 1499

1423 – First woodcut printing on paper

1436 – Gutenberg starts working on a printing press

1448 – Gutenberg sets up a printing shop in Mainz

1455 – Gutenberg Bible

1457 – First color printing

1461 – First books with woodcut illustrations

1464 – Printing arrives in Italy

1467 – First engravings

1469 – Use of roman type

1470 – Title pages & page numbers

1472 – Book printing takes off in Spain

1476 – William Caxton introduces metal type in England

1482 – First print shop in Denmark

1492 – ‘In Praise of Scribes’

1493 – The Nuremberg Chronicle

1494 – Das Narrenschiff

1499 – Aldus Manutius & Francesco Griffo

< until 1399 – 1500-1549 >

8 thoughts on “The history of print from 1400 to 1499”

2. Nicole de Villiers says:

4. Donna Friedeberg says:

5. Claudia Tregoning says:

What would we do without the Printing Press?

6. Cornelius Olumide Banji says:

8. Sabina Cao says:

I'm not a robot

© 1997-2021 – Laurens Leurs

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