Medal Jean Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg Printing House 202g

Description: 289-tir4Bronze medal from the Paris Mint (cornucopia hallmark from 1880).Minted in 1979.Some minimal traces of handling.Engraver / artist / Sculptor : Léon DESCHAMPS (1860-1928) .Dimension : 74mm.Weight : 202 g.Metal : bronze.Hallmark on the edge (mark on the edge) : cornucopia + bronze + 1979.Fast and careful shipping.The easel is not for sale.The stand is not for sale v Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg, known as Johannes Gutenberg or simply Gutenbergnote 1, note 2 (old works use the Frenchized spelling Gutembergnote 3, just as his first name is sometimes Frenchized as Jeannote 4), born around 14001 in Mainz, in the Holy Roman Empire, and died February 3, 1468 in his hometown, was a German printer whose invention movable metal type in Europe was decisive in the dissemination of texts and knowledge.While his invention is considered a major event of the Renaissance, Gutenberg had a difficult life. Associated with Johann Fustnote 5 and Peter Schoeffer, in October 1455 he lost the case against his creditor Fust who seized the workshop with the equipment and the impressions made. Gutenberg was only saved from poverty thanks to Adolphe II of Nassau who granted him a lifelong pension and the title of gentleman of his court.BiographySourcesThe documentation concerning this character is meager: only thirty-six documents remain from before his death, the majority being particularly dry judicial archives and subject to interpretation. This gave rise to numerous fantasized and ambivalent portraits: brilliant inventor; or thief of ideas. Victim stripped of his invention; or usurper who would have exploited a process developed by other inventors before him. Humanist; or a businessman consumed by the lure of profit2.TrainingJohannes Gutenberg, born in Mainz around 1400note 6, was the third child of a wealthy upper-middle-class family, that of Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden, a goldsmith by profession, also a fabric merchant, and Else Wirich3,note 7. It seems that he was baptized in the Saint-Christophe church, close to his birthplace4.Gutenberg's whereabouts and activities are not known between 1400 and 1420. Considering his later activities and the social level of his family, university studies are probable5, perhaps in Erfurt during the winter semester 1419-1420note 8,1,6. In 1429, the guilds of artisans and merchants of the free city of Mainz rose up against the oligarchic patriciate and forced the ruling families into exile7.Between 1434note 9 and 1444note 10 (perhaps as early as 1429), the Gutenberg family settled in the Saint-Arbogast district of Strasbourg8. Gutenberg may have been trained in goldsmithing techniquesnote 11. In particular, he learned carving and the mastery of alloys, which would form the basis of his future invention, allowing him to design resistant and reproducible printing characters. In particular, around 1438, he joined forces with the bailiff of Lichtenau and merchants to manufacture pilgrimage signs, some made of an alloy dominated by lead and tin, and a small mirror being set there, with others perhaps made of a sheet of stamped metal9, all of which were to be put on sale during the Aachen pilgrimage of 143910.There is no record of his activity over the next four years11. Returning to Mainz in 1448 at the latest, he continued the work begun in Strasbourg and borrowed money from his cousin Arnold Gelthus12 to build a press.Invention of movable type for typographic printingThe Council of Basel, which opened in 1431, brought together many intellectuals and scholars whose writings needed to be reproduced, leading to the development of paper mills. Twenty years later, the Galliziani brothers, from Piedmont, settled in Basel and imported to Switzerland and France their technique for manufacturing printing paper that was less expensive than chancery paper. The needs of developing libraries and universities, the opening of schools, the multiplication of readers, are all factors which justify Gutenberg's research in Strasbourg, a large European commercial and intellectual center, to ensure rapid and multiple reproduction. texts and the lowering of the price of books by spreading the manufacturing costs over several copies13.Returning to his hometown of Mainz in 1448, Johannes Gutenberg continued his research there and, two years later, persuaded the wealthy banker Johann Fust to help him finance his project. Fust lent 800 guilders — a considerable sum for the time — to Gutenbergnote 12 and 300 guilders per year for overheads. He becomes his de facto partner. As a shrewd businessman, Fust draws up a particularly binding contract for Gutenberg. As security for the mortgage, Gutenberg will have to pledge its press and its tools and will pay 6% interest per year. Fust will be magnanimous and will not demand interest from him, at least initially14. To hope for sufficient income, Fust and Gutenberg must choose to print a book whose circulation will cover the sums incurred.Unfortunately for Gutenberg, the printing of the books was not commercially successful. In the inventory of his workshop, the Bibles will remain on the shelves for some time.Fust, who has invested more than 2,500 guilders in the company, is furious with Gutenberg who had promised him rapid success. Gutenberg refusing to repay him - or being unable to - the capital he had lent him with interest, Fust took the matter to court. The court ruled in favor of Fust, stating that it was not a loan, but an investment: Fust was not a lender, he was an associate18,19.Fust then obtained management of the workshop and pawning of the press. He continued the printing business under his own name. In the oldest edition of the Psalmorum Codex, published for the first time on August 14, 1457, only the names of Fust and Schoeffer are mentioned. This book, remarkable for its quality of printing, for its text printed in black and red and for the regularity of the font of the characters, decorated with ornate and watermarked initials, brought a certain notoriety to the two men.To broaden their clientele and to go beyond the small circle of cultivated bourgeois and academics, Fust and Schoeffer quickly oriented their production towards smaller editions, easier to sell. They settled in Paris to sell their books in 1463, printing not yet existing in France at that date20. Fust did not enjoy his success for long: he died in Paris in 1466. He still had time to see a number of printers of Germanic origin set up on rue Saint-Jacques.Gentleman GutenbergStamp from 1961, “Famous Germans” series.Insolvent, Gutenberg tried to relaunch a printing workshop and participated in an edition of the Bible in 1459 in the town of Bamberg. His works bear neither date nor name, it is still difficult to identify with certainty the documents coming from his workshop. The Catholicon dictionary, of seven hundred and forty-four pages, printed in three hundred copies in Mainz in 1460, is of his composition. Among other things, he printed letters of indulgence. From 1461, we no longer find traces of publications from Gutenberg's Mainz workshop. No doubt he is too old to carry out his activity. It is possible that he taught his art for payment21.In January 1465, while living modestly in the Algesheimer Hof hospice, Gutenberg was appointed gentleman to the Archbishop of Mainz Adolf II of Nassau. He then benefits from an annuity and various benefits in kind22. He probably died on February 3, 1468, largely unknown to his contemporaries, and was buried in Mainz in a cemetery that was later destroyed. His tomb is now lost23.Gutenberg and the invention of movable type printingDiffusion of printing in the 15th century.Xylographic press with wooden arms.Production of printed books in Europe between 1450 and 180024.Detailed article: Chronology of the history of the press.Associated with Johann Fust and Pierre Schoeffer, Johannes Gutenberg is the inventor of movable type printing in Europe.To achieve its goals, Gutenberg is at the origin of numerous innovations: an alloy based on lead, tin and antimony which has the particularity of melting easily and not deforming when cooling; a hand-casting mold, with a negative matrix of the character; composition case; the improvement of the existing printing press, or xylographic press; a very strong ink like glue, which does not “pocket” on the sheet.For a long time, history has disputed Johannes Gutenberg's invention of typographic printing and he never did anything to ensure the paternity of his invention. No date of printing or signature appears on the books. The first colophon appears with the impressions of Johann Fust and Pierre Schoeffer.However, as early as 1472, Guillaume Fichet, librarian at the Sorbonne, wrote in Latin in a letter attached to the original edition “De l'orthographia de Gasparino Barzizza” that “Joannem Benemontano [Latin translation of Johannes Gutenberg] is the first to have printed a book worthy of the name”, in reference to the handwritten books of the time, the codices. Guillaume Fichet, who largely contributed to the establishment of printing in France with the help of former students of Jean Gutenberg, Ulrich Gering, Martin Grantz and Michel Friburger, had learned the name of their master from them.In 1504, Professor Ivo Wittig of Mainz dedicated a book to Gutenberg, described as the inventor of typography25.In the 19th century, Ambroise Firmin Didot, a fervent supporter of Gutenberg, found letters, the oldest of which, dated 1499, explicitly attests the authorship of the invention to Jean Gutenberg.Contemporaries of France 1470-1472: printing of the first incunable in France in the premises of the Sorbonne in Paris, by three German workers from the typographic printing works in Mainz, Ulrich Gering, Martin Grantz and Michel Friburger. 1537: Francis I establishes the obligation of legal deposit, officially to defend the status of booksellers. 1546: Étienne Dolet, bookseller-printer, is tortured, strangled and burned with his books, in Paris, Place Maubert.ItalyThis section is empty, insufficiently detailed or incomplete. Your help is welcome! How to do it?The trialsMuch of the evidence about Gutenberg comes from court records, the inventor obviously being quite litigious. Among the trials in which his name is mentioned are: a trial in Strasbourg around 1436. He left Strasbourg ruined, certainly with the printing tools he had developed. a trial in Mainz in 1455, against his associate Johann Fust. Gutenberg loses this lawsuit and comes out ruined. Fust receives his printing press, given as security for his debt.TributesA street in Geneva (Switzerland), located in the Servette district, bears his name. In 1968, on the occasion of the five hundredth anniversary of his death, the play Guten Tag, Gutenberg! by Jacques Aeschlimann directing it is broadcast by Radio Suisse Romande in his honor27.Notes and referencesNotesBorrowed name taken from the house his parents owned in Mainz and which bore the sign Zum guten Berg (“at the good mountain”). According to Guy Trendel, RacThe Council of Basel, which opened in 1431, brought together many intellectuals and scholars whose writings needed to be reproduced, leading to the development of paper mills. Twenty years later, the Galliziani brothers, from Piedmont, settled in Basel and imported to Switzerland and France their technique for manufacturing printing paper that was less expensive than chancery paper. The needs of developing libraries and universities, the opening of schools, the multiplication of readers, are all factors which justify Gutenberg's research in Strasbourg, a large European commercial and intellectual center, to ensure rapid and multiple reproduction. texts and the lowering of the price of books by spreading the manufacturing costs over several copies13. Returning to his hometown of Mainz in 14

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