mirror
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In Strasbourg, Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith, working with partners, produced small cast metal mirrors for the "great Aachen pilgrimage." As many as 100,000 of these mirrors were cast from a mixture of lead, tin and antimony—the three basic ingredients that Gutenberg later used in the casting of metal type. The Aachen pilgrimage of 1439-40 was postponed because of an outbreak of plague.
16 июля 1438 года во время эпидемии чумы английский король Генрих VI запретил поцелуи.
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С 1437 года Гутенберг занимался обучением состоятельных горожан полировке драгоценных камней.
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http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2119.htm
A general fascination with optics was also in the air. Philosophers argued over the mechanics of sight: Do our eyes send out rays that return with information, or do they just catch incoming rays? Is the word of God distorted when it's read through lenses? We find such arguments strange, but they were gradually leading toward a new visual realism. Then, in the early 1400s spherical mirrors captured the public's fancy. A convex mirror catches a fisheye view of the world -- wider than our peripheral vision.
Jan van Eyck used that idea in 1434 when he painted his Arnolfini Wedding. The young merchant Arnolfini stands with his betrothed in her lovely green dress, greeting us as we enter their house. But van Eyck added an extraordinary flourish. On the rear wall, a spherical mirror captures the entire room. It reveals details we don't see straight on. He makes his own fascination with optics very clear in the painting.
Two years earlier the spherical mirror had gained great popularity in the pilgrimage city of Aix-la-Chapelle -- present-day Aachen. People there decided those mirrors could capture the holy rays of all the relics in the city. 1439 found Gutenberg working secretly with two partners to make sale goods for pilgrims. For a long time, historians guessed they were inventing printing so they could sell indulgences at a great profit. They probably were, but the only existing printed indulgences are from later.
But we do know they developed a casting process to make cheap spherical mirrors from a tin alloy. The mirrors were mounted so pilgrims could pin them to their hats, then go about collecting holy rays from every angle. That's significant because fine casting would be the heart of Gutenberg's printing operation. His printing depended entirely on his ability to cast thousands of metal letters so they'd fit together with a jeweler's precision.
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http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall04/Phillips/inventor.html
Gutenberg decided he would mass-produce mirrors for the Aachen pilgrimmage in 1439, but there were two problems:
No one had ever mass-produced mirrors before.
He didn't have the finances to begin the project.
The question is, what do mirrors have to do with printing? One can be certain that there is some sort of relationship between the procedures of making mirrors and priting books, according to Man. What was certain is that both needed a press.
Despite a horrible lawsuit against Gutenberg that left him searching for finances, the court ruled that he was allowed to pursue his project.
(Когда печатание Библии уже было фактически завершено, между Гутенбергом и Фустом возникли разногласия. Фуст обвинил своего партнера в растрате средств и потребовал возвращения долга с процентами - всего свыше двух тысяч гульденов. На эти деньги в Майнце можно было застроить каменными домами целую улицу. Гутенбергу пришлось отдать мастерскую вместе с изобретением и половиной отпечатанных экземпляров Библии.)
Gutenberg's press was modeled after a wine-press
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случилась чума, выступления мощей перенесли на пару лет (хотя уж им-то вряд ли что-то угрожало), а один из кофаундеров вообще умер (а у гутенберга был настоящий стартап вестингом, долями и всем таким). с кофаундером вообще плохо получилось, потому что у него дома хранились запчасти для следующего секретного проекта гутенберга, а дом в зачумленном городе и принадлежит теперь братьям покойного, которые требуют от гутенберга долю своего брата.
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Мощи святых являлись ценным имуществом, служившим подчас поводом к конфликту. К примеру, останки святого Марка, хранящиеся в Венеции, были, как повествует церковное предание, выкрадены тремя венецианскими купцами из Александрии в раннее Средневековье[81]. Чтобы перенести реликвию на корабль, торговцы прибегли к хитрости: тело евангелиста было положено в большую корзину и сверху покрыто свиными тушами, к которым не могли прикоснуться сарацины даже при таможенном досмотре. Для большей надежности корзину спрятали в складках паруса одного из судов.