Move over Shakespeare, Poe, and Luther. Next week brings the start of the Gutenberg 2018 Jubilee. Leading scholars of incunabula will descend on Mainz, Germany, for the opening symposium Friday, 26 January 2018. Held in the Atrium Maximum, Alte Mensa, Johann-Joachim-Becher-Weg 3-9, on the campus of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the day of lectures is free of charge. A full program can be found here: http://www.buchwissenschaft.uni-mainz.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Kolloquium-2018-Gutenberg-Programm.pdf

The event website, in English, is here: https://www.mainz.de/en/service/gutenberg-jubilee-2018.php

“On February 26, 1468, the Mainz lawyer and humanist Dr. Konrad Humery, archbishop of Mainz, that he has got back a printing press from the estate of Johannes Gutenberg. This important document, which was preserved in the original in the Würzburg State Archive, confirms the death of Johannes Gutenberg at the beginning of the year 1468 and at the same time gives the important indication that he had a printing shop until the end of his life.

The commemoration of the 550th anniversary of the death of Johannes Gutenberg offers the opportunity to once again become aware of the media-historical consequences of his invention and to trace the immediate success story of the printing press. In less than 50 years approximately 28,000 early incunabula (incunabula) were produced in more than 300 officers across Europe with a circulation of about 10 million copies.” https://idw-online.de/de/news687644

A year of events, programs, tours, music, and study follows.

Suggestion: Prepare for the year by reading our colleague Eric White’s new book: Editio Princeps: A History of the Gutenberg Bible (Harvey Miller Studies in the History of Culture), reviewed here by Paul Needham: https://harveymillerpublishers.com/2017/12/06/paul-needham-on-editio-princeps-a-history-of-the-gutenberg-bible/