A copy of a page of the Guterberg Bible

The Gutenberg Bible Or, Greed and Lawsuit The tale of the Gutenberg Bible is one riddled with idiots. Idiots trying to get their hands on money, idiots trying to get their hands on inventions, idiots trying to sue other idiots for money and inventions. To sum up the story, word got out that Gutenberg had a new invention, and every Tom, Dick and Harry that had anything remotely to do with helping Gutenberg with his new invention wanted a piece of the profits. I am sure that even the bartender that sold Gutenberg a beer as he worked on his plans wanted a chip of the dough. Everybody wanted in on the deal, and if they didn't get in on the deal, they sued Gutenberg.

Well our story is set in the fair villa of Strassburg, France in the 1440's. Gutenberg has left his parents to get his own life, and he works now as a gem cutter, and holds a few pupils. Nothing too exciting yet. Gutenberg has a few business partners and these men are the root of the evils. In 1438, Gutenberg, Hans Riffe, Andreas Dritzehn, and Andreas Heilmann enter into a five-year contract. The three men had given Gutenberg considerable sums of money to help Gutenberg in some elaborate project (the press) that Gutenberg was keeping a secret from everyone. As a clause of the contract, the men decided that in the event of death, the man's family cannot enter into the partnership, but would be compensated monetarily. So, you guessed it, one of the men dies.

Well, Dritzehn, the bastard, dies on Christmas of the same year. After his cold corpse is plunged six feet under, his wonderful loving (brick-stupid) family decides that they want to override the contract clause and become partners in the secret Gutenberg invention. Instead of being civil about the entire matter, they decide to sue Gutenberg, demanding that the family be made partners. As I said, this is a tale of idiots. The family lost the suit, but in the process, many witnesses came before the court and told about Gutenberg's secret dealings with goldsmiths, and winepress builders.

Well Gutenberg had a few years lawsuit free, but then in 1450 he made the mistake of borrowing a lump sum of 1,600 guilders from Johann Fust, a wealthy businessman of Mainz. He was granted a partnership in the invention for his contribution. But then the men got onto bad terms, Fust wanted his money returned quickly, and Gutenberg wanted perfection of his press. So, in the tradition of our tale, Fust sues Gutenberg. He wins the suit and Gutenberg is forced to pay back the loan plus interest, about 2,020 guilders. Needless to say, Gutenberg went bankrupt from the settlement.

After the suit, the mayhem started all over again. Fust was able to gain control of the type for the Gutenberg bible, and another of Gutenberg's creations, a psalm book. Fust working with one of Gutenberg's best employees printed out the Psalter, and the first book in Europe to bear the name of the printer was this Psalter, bearing the name of Fust.

So lawsuit after lawsuit, and greedy men were the ruin of Gutenberg.

So the moral of our tale is…

Find a good lawyer and keep him for life.

Source:
"The Gutenberg Bible" Britannica Online.
http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/206/79.html
[Accessed 09 April 1998].

Addi Faerber 1998.