Type. Printing in Europe and Asia
Note: The English version of this book is currently in preparation — we are excited to share it with you soon!
East Meets West
The invention of printing is not a European achievement — but a global success story. Who truly invented it? Johannes Gutenberg? The Chinese innovator Bi Sheng? Or was it the Koreans, who may have brought metal type across the Silk Road all the way to Mainz?
These questions — and many more — are at the heart of the new, richly illustrated book Type. Printing in Europe and Asia, written by book historian Dr. Cornelia Schneider and technology historian Dr. Volker Benad-Wagenhoff, with a contribution by Hailian Chen.
The authors offer a well-founded yet vivid exploration of the development of printing in two cultural spheres that long evolved independently — and yet reveal striking parallels. With technological expertise, historical illustrations, and cultural-historical perspectives, the work shows: the invention of printing was not the achievement of a single individual but a culturally diverse response to the challenges of knowledge, power, and media.
Cornelia Schneider and Volker Benad-Wagenhoff: Type. Printing in Europe and Asia. Published by the Gutenberg Foundation and the International Gutenberg Society in Mainz e. V. Harrassowitz 2025.
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