The Mysterious Medieval Inventor Who Changed The World | Machine That Made Us | Absolute History

Stephen Fry takes a look at the story of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the world's first printing press in the 15th century. Beginning with religious works and textbooks, soon presses were churning out all manner of texts from Reformation pamphlets to romantic novels. The number of books greatly increased, their cost diminished and so more people read than ever before.
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[@cindyphipps7507]

Steven Fry has the most relaxing voice. I love his moves.

[@jeanneamato8278]

When the gentlemen finally pulled up the first page I teared up. Books mean so much to me.

[@stewartnelson5381]

Hi Jeanne how are you doing?

[@echigogreywolf8122]

@@stewartnelson5381 okay 👍 ķkķkķkoķķķkklk

[@jessiee2115]

I did too! Could you imagine the anticipation the very first time a pressed page was going to be revealed?

[@imperialgirl4858]

The development of the printing press is one of those moments that was a true pivot for humanity.

[@elizabethclaiborne6461]

It happened in China millennia earlier. The Renaissance came from the Ottoman Empire, surprised printing wasn’t introduced by them.

[@Celtic_Blade]

@@elizabethclaiborne6461 Moveable type was different in china. It’s true they invented it but it was not the global, earth shaping moment that the printing press was.

[@magicpyroninja]

Knowing what I know about human beings Johannes Gutenberg probably just finished handwriting his first Bible and he was like never again I will find a way to never have to do this again. And here we are today

[@consolidatedliberator385]

Y

[@Tam.I.am.]

Because of Mr. Gutenberg, my government supported handicapped self can have more books in my studio apartment than most nobles of his time saw in their life times.

[@megamoze]

"How is that it took mankind so long to bring together these simple elements into one machine?" Mankind didn't think to add wheels to luggage until 1980.

[@wally9935]

Farmers carrying through airport builds big forearms brah

[@ah5721]

but luggage wasn't quite as big

[@SunnyMorningPancakes]

@@ah5721 Although old fashioned suitcases and trunks are quite heavy when empty.

[@Safexscape]

Hard to get cool stuff done while too many folks are thinking of new ways to kill each. 💡 A printing press that kills your enemies? Damn! Propaganda has already been invented. (Me) farts and leaves room mysteriously saying “oooh oooh”.

[@stoopingfalcon891]

Yeah but you try controlling one of those tiny wheels pieces of luggage when it decides not to co-operate!

[@beverlyharward9631]

My husband retired last year. He was a lead ( 1st ) Press Operator for 37 years. He ran Heidelberg and Komori...don't know if I spelled the last one correctly. He told me Heidelberg is the best, hands down.

[@its_mi.]

I basically grew up knowing about Gutenberg, we went to the museum and workshop in Mainz for field trips and even birthdays! Gutenberg is a cultural figure mentioned and embodied in so many different ways there. Watching this documentary really was amazing on different levels. Just Stephen Fry walking through the familiar streets of Mainz and even Strasbourg felt like a piece of home but more importantly, it just enhanced my admiration for what Gutenberg actually accomplished with the resources he had available!

[@NYCfrankie]

Stephen fry is such a good presenter of history shows id completely forgot that none of the original presses exist anymore thats a shame we as humans have amazing abilities to create something like the printing press and then uses that same ability for destructive purpose

[@PaulHillery]

Actually the oldest printing press was invented in Korea 200 years earlier. There is one on displace at the United Nations.

[@zuzuspetals38]

Love Stephen Fry🌟👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼, but I wish they would give us the date these shows were done.

[@Stuenestoppen2]

It's from 2008...

[@lewisrangi9123]

A piece of history with an amazing and sad story at the same time, Thank you.

[@baylorsailor]

Mainz "was bombed heavily" is an understatement. It was unnecessarily bombed beyond recognition during WWII. Very little survives of the old city.

[@schinkenspringer1081]

A City near me "Pforzheim" fell victim to the Single Most "successful" bombing Run in human History. 98% of structures were Destroyed and within 15 minutes a third of the Population was dead

[@jackofcards7100]

mainz hat bekommen was es verdient hat. scheiß auf die altstadt..jedes Leben ist mehr wert als 1000 historischer Gebäude

[@jackofcards7100]

Man erntet was man säht

[@DennisTrovato]

Making literature accessible to the peasantry? Outrageous!

[@eddique]

Printing the Bible in any language other than Latin? Outrageous!

[@barbinfl4079]

Let the prpoaganda begin :o)

[@staytuned2L337]

This is too cool. I adore how you can see just how rewarding and exciting this is for Stephen.

[@Randgalf]

The ingenuity of making all the little parts all while mentally keeping track of the whole machine and its purpose is stunning. It's easy to forget that he had to make it all from scratch and by hand, literally. And with no template to follow at that.

[@VangoghsDoggo]

To this day, if you want the best industrial printing presses in the world, you go to Germany and in particular, Heidelberg and Heidelberg presses. German engineering and technology is perfection when it comes to printing systems. I speak from experience after working in the printing industry. They have a particular pride and uphold the attention to perfection that Gutenberg established.

[@deadmoney2120]

Heidelberg proves this

[@SamTahbou]

My favourite modern music engravings are German

[@a.kenneth3521]

Heidelbergs can’t be beaten. You definitely need a lot of room for them, though. Their 5-color press is a beast! ♥️

[@MrSatyre1]

Be nice if this channel included the original air dates.

[@swarnimvajpai6373]

Exactly what i was thinking!!!

[@tessicat]

This is such a cozy documentary! I grew up in SW Germany so the accents are cozy to me, Stephen Fry’s charisma is cozy, the topic is cozy, the scenery is cozy...

[@susanloehe2]

I've been editing and cropping pdfs for my first book manuscript aaaall day. This looks like More fun 🙂

[@holundersirup1189]

I was born in the same city as Johannes Gutenberg :)

[@Smoking_Joe]

I was born in the same town as Charles Darwin.......and live down the road from there in the birthplace of the British Industrial Revolution.

[@niningrz4864]

The first time I read about The Gutenberg was in a novel called The Historian. Great novel. Thank you for uploaded this.

[@Erkynar]

The Historian, if it's the one by Elizabeth Kostova, is just great! Thanks for reminding me. I had actual chills reading it...

[@niningrz4864]

@@Erkynar yes it's her novel. I love it very much. One of the best novel for the detail and research she did.

[@jockellis]

Is that the novel about Vlad the Impaler and the vampires? Really enjoyed that. Was so spooky.

[@niningrz4864]

@@jockellis yes.

[@TracySmith-xy9tq]

Fascinating. So much we take for granted today.

[@ecologicaladam7262]

Such enthusiasm is infectious!

[@Noonespecial237]

This was time well spent….Thank you so much..

[@Aho_o]

It's pretty wholesome to see these oldmen excited by the printing machine they've just built.

[@Kardashev1]

Saw this a while ago. Great doc, Stephen Fry is such an awesome guide, and funny!

[@kelvinbritz9051]

I wish you would come up with some new documentaries not just refaced old ones that have been around for decades!

[@jontrammell7377]

Mr.Fry is a treasure.

[@benjamindover4337]

Very interesting documentary 👍 👏

[@snarky_user]

If Gutenberg had connection with goldsmiths, then he undoubtedly had connections with moneyers. A moneyer would have been extremely familiar with the punch making. As there was a mint in Mainz, there would have been plenty of people with a history of churning out punches day after day.

[@snarky_user]

Additionally, the terminology of "matrix" comes directly from moneying, along with the less-seen term 'patrix' for the punch. Yes, gender terms once again - live with it.

[@jockellis]

Does that original type family have a name? As a 25-newspaperman and avid reader, I must admit this brought tears to my eyes.

[@00Klingon]

I’ve had the pleasure of holding a Gutenberg Bible while visiting a friends extended family in Hiroshima Japan where one exists in a private collection. Simply breathtaking.

[@mozziert]

Stephen Fry has such a soothing voice☺

[@oskarvomhimmel6936]

Amazing documentary! Beyond the press!...All components of printing work covered (so far ink is the only one not included, but I have not finished watching the documentary...I could not wait to comment)...Definitely answered most questions I had in regards to the topic at hand. OUTSTANDING! ...very Enlightening to say the least. That man should be beatified! ...an exemplary man who contributed so much to humanity with his creativeness, sacrifices and work is by all means a SAINT!!!...The Miracle of Human Ingenuity...

[@murderandmysterybreakdown6475]

Absolute history is always the best 💕

[@thinkmackay8954]

History is and always will be synthesized by humans, hence prejudice and bias somewhere.

[@L_Train]

52:40 that was Gutenberg's original name, goose flesh

[@chrisbanbury]

I missed that 😝 They mentioned it earlier.

[@TheFixIsIn-fe1jy]

I made my own printing press in mine craft, I make my own signs for my business and towns, I plan on making a town news billboard.

[@henrymeyer791]

Very nice work.

[@stoopingfalcon891]

I have always thought of the press as being one of the most significant inventions ever to come to mankind, enabling education for the masses.

[@scoopydaniels8908]

What exactly is EVERY book in the English language? Does that include self-published works(as long as they're in English)? I'd assume the Twilight series is in there, but what about Empress Theresa, for example. I'd LOVE to see the book list, alphabetically and by year, of WHAT the British library has/has NOT deemed "every" work ever published in the English language.

[@wally9935]

They didn’t include my Erotic Call of duty romance

[@scoopydaniels8908]

@@wally9935 clearly they have zero taste!

[@benjaminrush4443]

Great Stuff.

[@TheFLOMAN76]

Good stuff

[@MrKFNeverGiveUp]

Good stuff.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

What I'd like to know is when did this originally air on tv? Fry looks pretty young.

[@Stuenestoppen2]

It's from 2008.

[@ladykoiwolfe]

@@Stuenestoppen2 thank you.

[@penelope-oe2vr]

I took printing in high school and worked in the industry for many years after that. I was a printer and sign maker for almost 15 years. I really enjoyed it. I even had one very very old machine. A Heidelberg windmill, it was so fun to set the stuff with the wooden blocks and to run. It was so so quiet! It never broke down either. I later became a welder and welding inspector for power plants. Nuclear and fossil fueled. I worked on the turbine end.

[@nsaik]

english folk fussing over things is quite charming sometimes. "oh, it's quite like revealing a carving from rock, isn't it?" "oh yes absolutely. Quite right." In Canada we just swear at the things we're building.

[@kd1s]

Yes indeed the printing press, the transistor and even the integrated circuit (IC) have transformed us beyond belief. Plus add the MASER and the offshoot the LASER and well foundations of communication are found there. Plus some of us came to the realization that lugging books every time we moved places well electronic books can be carried in a device you can hold in your hand. That is how far it has come.

[@penelope-oe2vr]

I prefer holding the actual book. I don't like reading e books.

[@chrisbanbury]

After all these years, I realize that Fry is the voice of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[@ruththinkingoutside.707]

Oh dear.. this popped up when I’m supposed to be doing something else 😁😁 The minute I heard the voice of the incomparable Stephen Fry I was trapped 😜

[@charlesdeens8927]

I agree with Mr. Fry's summation, where he can imagine a world without the internet, cars, or computers, but not without the printed word. To be honest, I'd prefer to live in a world without computers and the internet.

[@69Rosso69]

Awesome videos on this channel but you really need to tone down the background music.

[@Stuenestoppen2]

I like your stuff and watched many of your videos, but Please include where your content is from and how old it is in thedescription. Why would you keep it hidden? This one is from 2008.

[@josephmountford2292]

Some appreciation- connection to Ancient Mesopotamia’s invention of writing would enrich this program. Seems like a more important analogy to make instead of invention of fire or the wheel?

[@VangoghsDoggo]

Writing was only for the few and only the few were educated as a result. With limited input, there would be limited new ideas. Printing has had a much more vast impact on the world than hand writing. Think about what you just typed. Without the printing press, fonts would not exist, only writing. The internet would not exist. All of our knowledge and inventions are a direct result of Gutenberg.

[@josephmountford2292]

@@VangoghsDoggo think about it…without writing, the printing press wouldn’t exist. I thought they should have included a connection to the invention of writing… it unlocked the possibility of all future complex new ideas… without writing, you cannot build upon the ideas of the past beyond a single person’s ability to remember everything.

[@raghunathsinghrajpurohith4894]

The first invention i knew was printing press . It goes like this , jhon Gutenberg from Germany invented printing press

[@stoopingfalcon891]

Looking at the Gutenberg Bible images, makes me think of the original, handwritten version. How long would that take?

[@jonwallace6204]

Most European thing ever at 24:02 when the random guy behind Stephen is dribbling a soccer ball around.

[@lindabutts846]

Wonder what printing press printed the Duoay Cathoolic Bible in 1400s? I own one of those Bibles.

[@LizzieWhiz]

Korea developed Metal movable type the 14th century....the Jinki!

[@blueskythefox1594]

You should caption all your videos. i'm deaf and auto CC aren't great. It'd be nice if you did.

[@gleann_cuilinn]

I really appreciate how this documentary shows how Gutenberg's technology worked and how everything was made. But isn't it strange to tell the history of the printing press without once mentioning China? Gutenberg lived in the time of the Silk Road, Marco Polo, and just barely missed the Pax Mongolica... and a form of movable type was invented in Korea in the 1200s. I find it hard to believe that Gutenberg's machine was inspired by wine presses, and not at all influenced by Chinese and Korean technology.

[@aftersexhighfives]

Ugh I could have lived my whole life without knowing he had his machine repossessed by a jerk who knew exactly what he was legally stealing. Glad we don't remember that narcissists name.

[@colmastro4373]

My god this must be a super old episode, look at how young stephen was, This is atleast 20 years old, so why on earth is it being posted in November 2021?

[@thomasschliffke9185]

The jump we did again with the internet.

[@OpalholicsAnonymous]

Wait 14 miles of books. And 8 miles a year? I. Confused

[@SamSung-tw3vi]

I thought China invented the printing press in 1040 ce?

[@rustyshackelford1413]

Wasn't he in Police Academy?

[@j.b.4340]

Books are stored knowledge.🙂

[@elizabethclaiborne6461]

Didn’t the Chinese come up with printing millennia earlier? Yes it’s a big deal that Gutenberg did this for the West, or did he get it from the Ottoman Empire? Like the rest of the Renaissance?

[@francoisleung9330]

Many things were invented in China but as we already know, history is written by victors. In my opinion Gutenberg only rediscovered printing or was inspired by the Chinese invention.

[@jfree1998]

So is this where faustian bargain originates?

[@giuseppelogiurato5718]

Steve Gutenberg is stuck in a tree! How did he get up there? Won't someone help him? (Actually, Steve Gutenberg is in the audience tonight; he's smiling at me... He's my friend, and I'm happy.)

[@blueland9770]

Come on! Printing was INVENTED in China in the 7 century call Printing Woodblock by the Buddhist Monks 700 years before Gutenberg, Gutenberg just developed new technology Printing call Printing Press, so is just a developed not intended, they gave a really good credit on that.

[@thetruthexperiment]

ah the Curse of Thoth

[@midbc1midbc199]

Steve Guttenberg made this huh

[@anthonythistle1465]

Johannes Gutenberg did

[@ah5721]

This is partially untrue., printing had been around in Asia for longer .

[@bethanyclayton8581]

Advanced🧨🧨 😀🤘🏼

[@asdf2593]

i burn excess paper to warm my house LOL

[@dawnbowra9349]

Talk to me Stephen...

[@mercurywoodrose]

i dont feel right commenting here. this is too well produced, and its starring stephen fry. what can i possibly add that could make this more colorful? like copyediting "lord of the rings", you think YOU can write better English prose than Tolkien?

[@Engelhafen]

I hate this myth of printing making the Bible more read and bringing unity. Nothing has divided and caused more dissent than the Bible in uneducated hands. The average person at this time worked from sun up to sundown and had no literacy - they had no interest.

[@markmatson2645]

The myth is Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press. The truth is that the ancient Chinese actually had movable type. Gutenberg was just the White European that received the credit.

[@alliewhitlock621]

You're not wrong. He was responsible for bringing it to the western world. Technically you could argue his was different as the ancient Chinese printing press dealt with syllables and sounds (as is appropriate for how Chinese is spelled) and Gutenberg's used individual letters (appropriate for European languages). But in the end, they were similar enough that basically yes, he gets all the credit for something invented previously elsewhere.

[@TheLion7777]

F the Commies

[@JeantheSecond]

@@TheLion7777 Pretty sure the ancient Chinese weren’t communist. 🙄

[@RedKresnik11]

Funnily enough, China had printing presses since 1040 AD.

[@karstenschuhmann8334]

The printing press existed in Europe before Guttenberg too. By far not as long as in China, already in Roman times. The invention of Guttenberg were the movable types. The large number of Chinese symbols prevented the same invention in China.

[@RedKresnik11]

@@karstenschuhmann8334 …no, it didn’t. First of all, certain hanzi characters are used in multiple words as is. You can keep certain ones permanently for use in combination. There are a multitude of combinations of characters, and they learned to make new ones if needed. (I’m too lazy to look up more illustrious sources, but you also have Google: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi_Sheng) Secondly, even metal-set type was in use in Korea by 1377. Asia was *always* decades ahead of the West, which is why so much of Asia’s influence via the Silk Road is important to note. Pasta, ketchup, gunpowder, silks, tea, spices… all things that have somehow become “Western” were always initially Asian.

[@karstenschuhmann8334]

@@RedKresnik11 I know China was often centuries ahead of the rest of the world. They used hot zinc plating 300ad. It is incredibly. Bi Sheng invented a similar system to Gutenberg 500 years earlier, but it never became a success, due to the Chinese writing system. Gutenberg independently invented a way similar but way more successful technology.

[@RedKresnik11]

@@karstenschuhmann8334 I feel like you don’t know how hanzi work… sure you have combination characters, but, again, they used certain characters in combination with other characters to create new words. But he DID print books, and that counts more for the “invention” claim. Same with the Korean metal type. It’s like saying China didn’t invent ketchup although it’s nothing like the current tomato-based sauce. Or because they didn’t create guns from gunpowder that they don’t deserve credit for it. Or just because he formed manufacturing assembly lines, Henry Ford gets all the credit for the development of cars in the 20th cars.

[@karstenschuhmann8334]

@@RedKresnik11 There is a big difference between an imitation and an independent invention.

[@adriancatalinmarin8320]

Really? So this is a hisyory channel that attributes the printing machine as a 500 years old invention? Do your homework please, the printing machine existed and it was used largely in china from over 1500 years ago. Why it took mankind so many years to invent the printing machine? I wonder how much time does it take to do a proper research on the subject. Of course the influence was brought into Europe by Dutch merchants that were traiding with China. Literally China was printing Official documents and different books 1500 years ago.

[@DerekOfRivia]

White guys rule.

[@terenceconnors9627]

Stephen Fry's arrogance, condescension, and open loathing of anyone who doesn't agree with him is appalling. As a progressive, I find him disgusting. His actions play into conservative stereotypes about "educated urban elites". He needs to shut his mouth and step back.

[@jimjam6598]

What on earth are you on about

[@bluesky6985]

Mostly propaganda