The entire history of Protestantism is downstream of a goldsmith in Mainz figuring out how to cast identical pieces of lead type in less than a minute.
Every year when February 23rd rolls around, I get a little verklempt. It’s not my birthday nor any other important personal date, but instead, on or around this date in 1455, Johannes Gutenberg finished printing the first substantial book on the movable-type press: the Latin Vulgate Bible. As someone who spent over a decade as Director of Publishing at 1517 and twenty years before that in commercial printing, I can tell you without exaggeration this day matters a great deal to me .
I didn't have to deal with the smell of hot metal type, but I have heard the whine of a Heidelberg Windmill press (circa late 1800s and still kicking). I’ve watched lots of ink dry, been there when everything goes wrong, done 3:00 AM press checks, and have a great respect for what happened that day in Mainz.
The Goldsmith Who Sparked a Revolution
Gutenberg, a goldsmith by trade, didn't invent printing from nothing. He built upon earlier Asian techniques and perfected a durable ink suitable for the press, an adjustable mold, and a mechanical system adapted from wine presses that allowed for repeatable, precise impressions. The Bible he produced—two massive volumes with 42 lines per page in gorgeous Gothic type—wasn't his first project. The man just wanted to pay off some brutal loans from Johann Fust (think 15th-century private equity partner, but with swords). Ironically enough, Gutenberg actually printed indulgences first.
Around 160–180 copies of his Bible were printed, some on expensive vellum, most on paper. Today, fewer than fifty survive in substantial form, treasured in libraries worldwide [1], their pages still radiating crisp beauty nearly 571 years later. Buyers often added hand rubrication (red and sometimes blue initials) [2] and illuminations, making each copy unique yet identical in core text. This blend of mechanical precision and handcrafted artistry set a standard that still challenges those in publishing today.
The Revolution Nobody Saw Coming
Even though the Reformation started in 1517, we see some of its precursors in 1455, when the first damp sheet came off the press with Genesis 1 in perfectly justified type. Once you could produce Scripture faster and cheaper than a room full of monks could copy it by hand, the Word was no longer locked in monasteries, cathedrals, or the Latin of the clergy. It was prepped to go viral.
Before Gutenberg, Bibles were rare treasures that could cost as much as a house. A single handwritten copy took scribes months or years to complete. Printing slashed production time and expense, enabling multiple identical texts to circulate quickly. This shift democratized knowledge, but more importantly, it democratized Scripture. For the first time, a merchant in Cologne or a parish priest in Erfurt could own the same book as the pope. The playing field got leveled in a way that terrified the gatekeepers.
Within fifty years, printers in Basel, Strasbourg, Venice, and Wittenberg were cranking out Bibles in German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and even Czech. By 1517, when a monk in Saxony nailed up his complaints about indulgences, the infrastructure was already in place for those complaints to reach every village with a schoolteacher or a priest who secretly hated the commercialization of the forgiveness of sins. When Martin Luther's 95 Theses hit the presses, they spread across Europe within weeks. His German Bible translation followed later, placing the Word directly into the hands of laypeople who could now read the promises of forgiveness through Christ alone for themselves.
Standing on Giants' Shoulders
At 1517, we stand on that legacy every single day. Our mission owes an enormous debt to Gutenberg's invention. Without movable type, there are no 95 Theses going viral in two weeks. No Tyndale dying in 1536 for the crimes of translating, printing, and distributing the Bible in English. No Luther Bible in every German home by 1550. The entire history of Protestantism is downstream of a goldsmith in Mainz figuring out how to cast identical pieces of lead type in less than a minute.
What moves me most is how ordinary Gutenberg made Scripture feel. When the Word of God becomes common, the common person starts asking uncomfortable questions like, “Where exactly does it say I have to buy forgiveness for Grandma?” This explosion of access fueled the Reformation's emphasis on the priesthood of all believers so that every Christian was equipped to read and share God's Word.
Today, digital tools extend this further: resources reach globally with a click. Yet the core challenge persists: ensuring the message remains pure amid the noise. Whether through books, audio, or video, all of which deliver daily reminders of forgiveness, we at 1517 are committed to clarity about grace and to rejecting anything that obscures the Good News that you are forgiven and free on account of Christ alone.
In the Beginning
The very first page Gutenberg printed begins with “In principio creavit Deus…” In the beginning, God created. The first mass-produced book wasn't a romance or a law code. It was the story of a God who speaks, and worlds come into being. A God who keeps speaking, century after century, until one day he speaks through a German printer who probably had no idea he was midwifing the greatest jailbreak in church history.
So happy 571st "birthday," Gutenberg Bible. You beautiful, dangerous, world-changing stack of paper and ink. Because of you, a kid who grew up hearing the resurrection was only a metaphor could own his own Bible. Because of you, the Word keeps breaking free, generation after generation.
Suggested Bibliography for more on Gutenberg
Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Kapr, Albert. Johannes Gutenberg: The Man and His Invention. Scolar Press, 1996.
Pettegree, Andrew. The Book in the Renaissance. Yale University Press, 2010.
Pettegree, Andrew. Brand Luther.
Edwards, Mark U., Jr. Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther. Fortress Press, 1994.
Man, John. The Gutenberg Revolution: How Printing Changed the Course of History. Bantam, 2002.
[1] The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, has a complete Gutenberg Bible printed on vellum with a calf skin cover. Both volumes have the original binding. There are only three of these in existence and one is only an hour away from me.
[2] From the Latin rubrīcāre, "to color red" , although these weren’t always red.
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