If you are interested in the evolution of movable type and what Gutenberg might have really invented - Blaise Aguera [of PhotoSynth fame, among many other thing

If you are interested in the evolution of movable type and what Gutenberg might have really invented - Blaise Aguera [of PhotoSynth fame, among many other things] did some fascinating research into the glyphs that appear in the books printed from Gutenberg's printing presses. For instance - there are a surprisingly large number of variations in any given glyph [say, the "p" glyph.] These are variations in the actual bit of metal used to print the glyph at that location, rather than some sort of printing glitch. This is odd because Gutenberg is generally credited for inventing the movable type using a matrix[1] and type cast from a matrix would not show such variations. Blaise speculates he might have instead cast each type in sand, individually; which would destroy the mould after each type was cast. He thinks he might have used something like a small wooden stick to re-create the shape in sand for each casting. There's some substructure in many glyphs which give some credibility to this hypothesis. On the flip side, Gutenberg may not have been given credit for Linotype[2] - where a whole line (or in Gutenberg's case, two lines) were cast all at once, rather than arranging individual glyphs. If you find this sort of stuff interesting - do watch his presentation[3] - great stuff. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_%28printing%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_%28printing%29 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linotype_machine [3] https://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/dl.aspx?id=104803 https://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/dl.aspx?id=104803