OBSERVATIONS ON THE MYSTERY OF PRINT And the Work of Johann Gutenberg

by Hendrik Willem van Loon

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About the author

Hendrik Willem van Loon (January 14, 1882 – March 11, 1944) was a Dutch-American historian and journalist.

Born in Rotterdam, he went to the United States in 1903 to study at Cornell University. He was a correspondent during the Russian Revolution of 1905 and in Belgium in 1914 at the start of World War I. He later became a professor of history at Cornell University (1915-17) and in 1919 became an American citizen.

From the 1910s until his death, Van Loon wrote many books. Most widely known among these is The Story of Mankind, a history of the world especially for children, which won the first Newbery Medal in 1922. The book was later updated by Van Loon and has continued to be updated, first by his son and later by other historians.

However, he also wrote many other very popular books aimed at young adults. As a writer he was known for emphasizing crucial historical events and giving a complete picture of individual characters, as well as the role of the arts in history. He also had an informal style which, particularly in The Story of Mankind, included personal anecdotes.

Reviews

[Bruce Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Observations on the Mystery of Print and the work of Johann Gutenberg by Hendrik Willem van Loon, 1937 (pp. 45). Printed for the New York Times National Book Fair in 1937. This thin volume is, of necessity, a short romp through the annals of the history of printing, reaching back to early China and the Mediterranean, and somewhat focusing on 16th century Europe, principally Holland and Germany. Van Loon delicately dispels the notion that Gutenberg invented movable type, but adds that the precise inventor(s) are unknown and unknowable. More importantly, he sketches how the evolution of society was the causative factor in the radical move from hand-scribed books to those mass produced. A few interesting asides in this entertaining book are: A) he contends that less than 2% of the 130 million people in the U.S.(in 1937) were book readers; B) Gutenberg’s real name was Gensfleisch (which he translated at gooseflesh and which Google translates as people meat); C) in an example demonstrating the durability of books as opposed to humans, he conjectures about “human beings stranded on the moon and…not able to return until fifty years” have passed---amazing prescience with respect to space travel; D) the word parchment is derived from Pergamum where it is said to have been invented and the word vellum comes from the word for veal; and E) he predicts that Gutenberg as a German might become more prominent---remember this is 1937---when “next year the Third Reich will most generously spread the fame of this 100% Aryan and Teuton…” Despite its age this is not a rare book and an original copy can be purchased on Amazon for less than $20.

[Steve Chisnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is nothing really amiss about this brief curiosity from 1937: van Loon offers a quick history of movable type, suggesting that there was quite a bit more to the story of Gutenberg than our middle school education told us. Van Loon's contention is that Gutenberg was not singularly responsible for his famed invention--and perhaps stole it from a Dutchman. Moreover, several civilizations had versions of movable type centuries before the German inventor.

Instead, he argues, a number of circumstances (the invention and geographic manufacture of paper, economic need, and even the Phoenician alphabet) brought together a moment that afforded the necessity for a modern printing press.

True enough. Though it almost seems, at one level, that van Loon, with less than verified evidence, is compromising the fame of a certain German inventor at the time of this writing, Europe in 1937. He says that he is fully aware of ironic nationalist tendencies, and that undoubtably similar motivations might work to elevate anyone to hero status, as well.

But his theme is quite a bit larger than a simple history, of course. Watching over his shoulder at the mobilizing German armies, he makes it clear by the end what he is thinking, in all caps: "The future happiness of the human race depends upon just one thing - international cooperation." And thus, the global history of the invention of printing is an argument against a coming war.

Worth the read, if for nothing else, this political aim and the fascinating assemblage of historical pieces which brought us to print.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This slim volume, produced for the second NY Times National Book Fair (1937), contains several doses of van Loon's humor and of his historical knowledge. He manages to deliver a lot of insight in a few pages, in a way that should be accessible to anyone. This quick dip back into his style has prompted me to add Van Loon's Lives back into my list for re-reading.

[John Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The future happiness of the human race depends upon just one thing - international co-oporation.