An enthralling literary debut that evokes one of the most momentous events in history, the birth of printing in medieval Germany—a story of invention, intrigue, and betrayal.
Youthful, ambitious Peter Schoeffer is on the verge of professional success as a scribe in Paris when his foster father, the wealthy merchant and bookseller Johann Fust, summons him home to corruption- riddled, feud-plagued … riddled, feud-plagued Mainz to meet “a most amazing man.”
Johann Gutenberg, a driven and caustic inventor, has devised a revolutionary—and, to some, blasphemous—method of bookmaking: a machine he calls a printing press. Fust is financing Gutenberg’s workshop, and he orders Peter to become Gutenberg’s apprentice. Resentful at having to abandon a prestigious career as a scribe, Peter begins his education in the “darkest art.”
As his skill grows, so too does his admiration for Gutenberg and his dedication to their daring venture: printing copies of the Holy Bible. But when outside forces align against them, Peter finds himself torn between two father figures—the generous Fust and the brilliant, mercurial Gutenberg, who inspires Peter to achieve his own mastery.
Caught between the genius and the merchant, the old ways and the new, Peter and the men he admires must work together to prevail against overwhelming obstacles in a battle that will change history . . . and irrevocably transform them all.
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I never gave much thought to the famous Guttenberg Bible. I knew it marked the beginning of the printed press but had no idea what political and religious intrigue surrounded the new technology. Compelling story and lively characters.
Never gave a thought to the tremendous effort that went into printing the first Bible. Even though this is fictionalized, it gave a great picture of the effort.
Gutenberg’s Apprentice is a delightful little novel. The star, if you will, is young Peter Schoeffer a scribe-on-the-make (this is the fifteenth century, after all), who is devastated to be recalled from Paris to Mainz, Germany, by his foster father in order to become part of a harebrained new scheme to print books. Nothing could be more anathema to Peter’s tastes and world view. Still, duty beckons and he enters into an apprenticeship with the inimitable Johann Gutenberg. The rest, as they say, is history: Gutenberg, his business partner (Johann Fust, Peter’s foster father), his apprentice, and the rest of the printing team accomplish the impossible by reproducing the Bible using a printing press.
Reading this book, what most impressed me was actually the power of the Church. In twenty-first century America, it’s easy to forget how all-encompassing and all-powerful the church was several centuries ago. Other books set in the approximate time period (The Midwife of Venice, for example, or Year of Wonders) certainly touch on the theme. Alix Christie hammers it home: one could do nothing – including print a book – without the explicit permission of the Church. In many respects, people’s lives were not their own, a point worth remembering when thinking back on (European) history.
I would be remiss not to add that I enjoyed Christie’s writing. Her characters were real, without feeling forced, and she really captured the essence of life in the Middle Ages, without belaboring the point. Often when reading fiction, I complain that the action unspools too slowly or that the author is in a hurry toward the end, but Christie committed none of those grave errors. From start to finish, Gutenberg’s Apprentice was a pleasure to read. Reading the author’s note and discovering how much of the book was true was the icing on the cake for me. Schoeffer, Fust, and (of course) Gutenberg not only really existed, but based on historical records, existed largely as Christie portrayed them. For a connoisseur of excelling historical fiction, there are few happier conclusions than learning that it really happened the way the author said.
(This review was originally published at http://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2016/01/gutenbergs-apprentice.html)
I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in medieval life, think Pillars of the Earth. Although I found it slow, I learned that printing the Gutenberg Bible was SO much more than throwing letters on to a printing press.