Johanne Gutenberg (YO hahn GOO tn berg) was trying to invent a method of printing. He didn't have very much money left, but he would not give up. He continued to work on the great project.

While he was teen-ager working at his town's mint * ; the place where money was made, he got the idea for creating books by machine. Up until this time all the books had to be copied by hand. It was very slow, and it took a long, long time to make one book.

After the book was written, they would take a metal punch * and spell out the letters for the title on the front of the leather cover. Maybe this gave Gutenberg the idea for metal letters to write the words on the pages of the book.

His work at the mint helped him in making the metal letters for printing. The letters had to be the same height to look right.

Also at the mint he worked with a stamp press used to make government seals * . He used this knowledge to help him make a printing press.

When he needed money he went to John Fust, a moneylender * . He got the money to buy the material to make 46,000 pieces of movable type. He also hired 16 workers.

He was able to print the first Bible, the Gutenberg Bible. Some of the first copies still exist today. They are among the world's greatest treasures.

The method he invented for printing remained unchanged for many years.