Ton—Holz—Blei. Die Anfänge der Schriftherstellung in Ostasien und Europa
Clay — wood — lead. The beginnings of type production in East Asia and Europe

Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable letter around 1450 and thus triggered a European media revolution. But in Asia, letters made of clay and later of wood and metal were experimented with long before that. Nevertheless, wood block printing dominated there until the late 19th century. The exhibition compares the type production on both continents and shows how important Gutenberg's engineering achievement was. Because his hand-moulding device enabled precise series production for the first time that could not be achieved with Asian techniques.