Bi Sheng invented a form of movable print during the reign of the Emperor Renzong of the Song dynasty. The Chinese divide Renzong's long reign into various eras. Bi Sheng's invention took place during the Qingli era, which began in AD 1041 and terminated in AD 1048.
Bi Sheng took thin pieces of clay mixed with a sticky substance, carved a mirror image Chinese character on each piece and baked it in a kiln. When printing, he placed the characters in proper order on a coated metal plate. A metal enclosure surrounded the characters and held them in place. Having used a board to verify that the characters were level, he printed the page with the help of a suitable ink. After printing as many copies as he wanted, he would remove the characters from the plate and store them until he needed them again. He had a filing system so that he could find them quickly.
The Koreans replaced the easily-damaged clay movable type with more durable bronze in the 13th century. During the decade of the 1440s, they invented the Hangul alphabet of 28 (now 24) letters, which they used as an alternative to their older system of writing Korean with Chinese characters. With this simplified writing system, it became easier to print Korean with movable type. However, Koreans favored the old Chinese characters for a long time.
Europeans began to employ the Chinese system of block printing early in the 15th century. In the mid-15th century, Johannes Gutenberg invented a new system of movable type printing. Instead of using bronze, he used a suitable lead alloy. He also invented molds by which he could make the movable type letters easily. Probably with the help of his assistant Peter Schoeffer, he also created a printing press that could produce printed pages at a fairly rapid rate. Others, such as Coster of Harlem, also had been trying to develop movable type at the same time as Gutenberg.
Gutenberg did not profit from his invention. He lost a civil suit to Fust, who had lent him money, and had to surrender his printing equipment to the plaintiff. The Latin Bible, generally known as the Gutenberg Bible, was the first work printed by movable type. Though the name of the printer does not appear on the Bible, Gutenberg may have printed it before he lost his equipment. Fust and Schoeffer printed excellent material with Gutenberg's equipment, and other printers adopted the new technology, not only in Germany, but also in such countries as Italy, Spain and England. Caxton was an important early publisher who employed Gutenberg's invention.