Gutenberg's Apprentice: A Novel (Kindle Edition)

Absolutely fascinating although a lot of it was way over my head. I didn't understand a lot of the church politics that beset the whole of Gutenburg's printing operation. This is historical fiction. Gutenburg did have an apprentice called Peter Schoeffer and the operation was backed by Peter's “father” Fust. The story tells that Peter was a skilled scribe and outraged when his father apprentices him to Gutenburg to set up this new invention to mass produce a bible. He resents the mechanical nature of the operation but gradually sees that the engraving of the moulds for the type-setting is an art in itself and gives creative input to the scheme. They realise that the work is going too slowly and bit by bit they increase the number of workers, then the number of presses. It all seems to move painfully slowly.Meanwhile Peter falls in love with a young woman who is a painter and lower in rank than Peter. His family disapproves and when Anna finds out that Peter has...Read more

     Vine Customer Review of Free Product (What's this?) Whether you're a fan of typography, history or a well-turned phrase, this novel rooted in historical research will grip you tight until you finish, and linger long afterward.This story is grand and sprawling in all the right ways. Alix Christie demythologizes the icon we know as Johannes Gutenberg and humanizes him with a portrayal of a gifted, driven, high-strung, imperfect, visionary man. Receiving almost equal billing is Peter Schoeffer, a young man who becomes Gutenberg's apprentice.Characters, setting, dialog, and pacing all are competent and keep a story this vast moving without getting muddled. However, where Gutenberg's Apprentice excels is Christie's adept descriptions of minute details, such as the crafting of the punches, and the casting of pieces of type. She comes by this knowledge not only academically...Read more

. . . larger, ever larger, his life proceeding and unfurling year by year: from field to town, from classroom to academy to abbey, the walls of each succeeding room more open and expansive than the one that came before. Until at last he stood in this cathedral with his arms outstretched, holding this extraordinary book.” This story is told by Peter Schoeffer to churchman Trithemius in 1485, thirty years after Gutenberg’s book is finally printed and published. Printed despite the secrecy required of Gutenberg’s crew and despite the monstrous ego and mismanagement of the genius leading them. If the powerful churchmen and guildsmen detected what they were about, then they would be assessed huge fines and die as heretics. Peter’s place is to stand as a buffer and bridge between his stepfather Johann Fust, the financier of the project, and Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of moveable type. The birth of the first book printed with moveable type, the trials and improvements in the process...Read more