Harper
Featuring: Johann Gutenberg; Johann Fust; Peter Schoeffer
416 pages ISBN: 0062336010 EAN: 9780062336019 Kindle: B00HLIYY2E Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
Peter Schoeffer is more than disappointed by his foster
father's decree that he leave the work he has been doing
in
Paris to return home to Mainz. Peter had been on the brink
of success as a scribe but now finds himself instead a
lowly
apprentice to Johann Gutenberg, helping create the
printing
press. However, Peter soon finds himself torn between his
work for Gutenberg and his loyalty to his foster father
and
Gutenberg's benefactor, Johann Fust.
As a book lover, I truly appreciate the invention of the
printing press and so I was very excited about the
prospect
of reading GUTENBERG'S APPRENTICE. However, the wealth of
historical detail is a bit overwhelming to someone not as
familiar with the time period and I found myself
researching
the history in order to better appreciate Alix Christie's
story.
Alix Christie sheds light on some of the darker aspects
surrounding the invention of the printing press. I love
the
vivid depictions of the scribes and their meticulous
attention to getting every letter and word perfectly
correct. In fact, the descriptions made me realize some of
the art we have lost by gaining the volume of literature
we
have as a result of Gutenberg's press.
GUTENBERG'S APPRENTICE is a carefully researched story
that
clearly conveys the politics surrounding the invention of
the printing press. While the details are quite thorough,
the characters themselves are not as appealing and this
may
detract some from fully appreciating the scope of
GUTENBERG'S APPRENTICE. Readers looking to deepen the
knowledge they already have regarding the printing press
will probably best appreciate the intricate complexity of
Alix Christie's tale.
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, rich in atmosphere and historical detail, told
through the lives of the three men who made it possible.
Youthful, ambitious Peter Schoeffer is on the verge of
professional success as a scribe in Paris when his foster
father, wealthy merchant and bookseller Johann Fust,
summons
him home to corrupt, 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, his
adopted son, 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:
copies
of the Holy Bible. But mechanical difficulties and the
crushing power of the Catholic Church threaten their work.
As outside forces align against them, Peter finds himself
torn between two father figures: the generous Fust, who
saved him from poverty after his mother died; 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—a battle that will
change history . . . and irrevocably transform them.
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