Ich drucke! Signet, Marke und Druckerzeichen seit dem Zeitalter Gutenbergs

Did Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of letterpress printing, have a business card? Probably not. However, his successors introduced the so-called printer’s mark: predecessor to the publishing logo. These witty, creative ‘business cards’ have adorned the first or last pages of books since the early days of book printing, identifying the printers responsible. The aim was to showcase and sell both themselves and the printed books.

To mark the 625^th anniversary of Gutenberg’s birth, the Gutenberg Museum Mainz is dedicating a first exhibition to the pictorial genre of printer’s marks.

Gutenberg-Museum
Reichklarastraße 1
55116 Mainz

More information about the exhibition.

---

More on the book Ich drucke! Signet, Marke und Druckerzeichen seit dem Zeitalter Gutenbergs can be found here.