A critical biography of the mysterious but prolific medieval printer.   Johannes Gutenberg is famous as the inventor of Europe’s first typographic printing method, and his life and legacy have long fascinated a wide audience. Due to scant and vague fifteenth-century documentation, however, Gutenberg’s career has long been obscured by derivative storytelling, competing agendas, and scholarly guesswork. This new biography removes these barriers to retell his story directly, through his pioneering work on schoolbooks, pamphlets, indulgences, broadsides, and, notably, the first printed Bible. The book also describes Gutenberg’s posthumous fortunes and his eventual recognition as Man of the Millennium. This much-needed corrective to old legend and conjecture brings Gutenberg to life through the books that remain his lasting monument. “The subtitle of White's book is revealing because an important part of the book discusses the rapid dispersal of Gutenberg's invention from Mainz to other places in Germany and beyond. White discusses typographic innovations, books, and other printed materials (such as indulgences) as printing quickly spread. Gutenberg's printing of the Bible, of which some four-dozen copies plus fragments survive, is given focused attention. The book is beautifully illustrated (frequently in color), and the text is supported by endnotes, a chronology of Gutenberg's life, and recommended readings.”   ― Choice "Eric Marshall White’s Johannes Gutenberg: A Biography in Books brings us as close to Gutenberg as the evidence allows: stripping away myth and guesswork, this book is invigorating and hard to put down." -- Erik Kwakkel, author of 'Books Before Print' “White's volume is a ‘biography in books,’ meticulous and, in its quiet way, excited about these sometimes fragmentary remains. The focus is on the books in large part because there are insufficient records even to establish an outline biography, let alone provide a sense of Gutenberg's personal life or thoughts.” -- Adam Smyth ― Times Literary Supplement "Eric Marshall White’s Johannes Gutenberg: A Biography in Books brings us as close to Gutenberg as the evidence allows: stripping away myth and guesswork, this book is invigorating and hard to put down." -- Erik Kwakkel, author of 'Books Before Print' Eric Marshall White is the Scheide librarian and assistant university librarian for special collections, rare books and manuscripts at Princeton University. His publications include Editio princeps: A History of the Gutenberg Bible , which won the DeLong Prize for outstanding book in the field of book history.