Editions

  • Home
  • The Gutenberg Revolution
The Gutenberg Revolution

  • Imprint: Bantam

  • ISBN: 9780553819663

  • Length: 304  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 19mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 210g

  • RRP: £9.99

The Gutenberg Revolution

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 one man - Johann Gutenberg - had caused a revolution. Printing by movable type was a discovery waiting to happen.

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 paradox: 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.

  • Imprint: Bantam

  • ISBN: 9780553819663

  • Length: 304  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 19mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 210g

  • RRP: £9.99

Reviews

  • The Gutenberg Revolution is the best book about the origin of books you could read. It is clear, engaging, fast-paced and authoritative.

    Stephen Fry

  • Extremely erudite and enormously enthusiastic

    Guardian

  • Vivid . . . engaging, detailed and highly readable . . . a window on an extraordinary display of consummate skill and creative genius

    New Scientist

More from this Author

View all View all
View all View all

About the Author

John Man

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia. After reading German and French at Oxford he did two postgraduate courses, one in the history of science at Oxford, the other in Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. John has written acclaimed and highly successful biographies of Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun and Kublai Khan as well as Alpha Beta, on the history of the alphabet, and The Gutenberg Revolution, on the invention of printing.

John Man

Our Use of Cookies

We use cookies on this site to enable certain parts of the site to function and to collect information about your use of the site so that we can improve our visitors’ experience.

For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here

Strictly Necessary

Strictly Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. See More.

Analytics

Analytics cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. See More.

Preferences & Features

Preference and Feature cookies allow our website to remember choices you make, such as your language preferences and any customisations you make to pages on our website during your visit. See More.

Targeting / Advertising

Targeting cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you and your interests. They perform functions like preventing the same content from reappearing, ensuring ads are displayed and, in some cases, selecting content based on your interests. See More.