9.8.12. Beginning Christian Science in Germany.  Author Frances Thurber Seal

 Joyce Voysey

Christianity and Germany have a long history.  And Germany and Christian Science have, as well.  German was the first foreign language into which Science and Health was translated.  And I seem to remember that Mrs. Eddy said that she felt she could establish Christian Science in Germany more easily than in any other country.  Frau Bertha Gunther-Peterson, who established Christian Science in Hannover, Germany, presented Mrs. Eddy with a beautiful and valuable copy of a German Bible.

 Gutenberg invented the printing press which made possible the printing of the Bible by machine, rather than by hand. 
Here are some notes about Gutenberg from Wikipedia:

Gutenberg Bible of the New York Public Library. Bought by James Lenox in 1847, making it the first copy to come to the United States. According to tradition, the officers at the New York Customs House removed their hats upon seeing it.

The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the first major book printed with movable type in the West and the first major book produced on a printing press anywhere in the world. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of the printed book in the West. Widely praised for its high aesthetic and artistic qualities, the book has an iconic status. It is an edition of the Vulgate, printed by Johannes Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany, in the 1450s. Forty-eight copies, or substantial portions of copies, survive, and they are considered by many sources to be the most valuable books in the world, even though a complete copy has not been sold since 1978. The 36-line Bible, believed to be the second printed version of the Bible, is also sometimes referred to as a Gutenberg Bible, but is likely the work of another printer.

Pictures of the printing press give an idea of how long it would have taken to print one book: the setting up of the type, putting the page of type on the bed of the machine (“locking it up”, I believe it is called), inking the type, screwing the press onto the type.  Having been close to 20^th century printing for much of my life, I can appreciate the labour involved.  Somewhat!

History of printing

Woodblock printing (200) Movable type (1040) Printing press (1454) Etching (ca. 1500) Mezzotint (1642) Aquatint (1768) Lithography (1796) Chromolithography (1837) Rotary press (1843) Offset printing (1875) Hectograph (19th century) Hot metal typesetting (1886) Mimeograph (1890) Screen printing (1907) Spirit duplicator (1923) Dye-sublimation (1957) Phototypesetting (1960s) Dot matrix printer (1964) Laser printing (1969) Thermal printing (ca. 1972) Inkjet printing (1976) Stereo lithography (1986) Digital press (1993) 3D printing (ca. 2003)

Movable type is the system of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual letters or punctuation).

The world's first known movable-type system for printing was created in China around 1040 A.D. by Bi Sheng (990–1051) during the Song Dynasty; following that, the first metal movable-type system for printing was made in Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty (around 1230). This led to the printing of the Jikji in 1377—today the oldest extant movable metal print book. The diffusion of both movable-type systems was, however, limited: They were expensive, and required an enormous amount of labour involved in manipulating the thousands of ceramic tablets, or in the case of Korea, metal tablets required for scripts based on the Chinese writing system, which have thousands of characters.

Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and independently developed a movable type system in Europe, along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould. The more limited number of characters needed for European languages was an important factor.  Gutenberg was the first to create his type pieces from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony—the same components still used today.

For alphabetic scripts, movable-type page setting was quicker and more durable than woodblock printing. The metal type pieces were more durable and the lettering was more uniform, leading to typography and fonts. The printing press was especially efficient for limited alphabets. The high quality and relatively low price of the Gutenberg Bible (1455) established the superiority of movable type in Europe and the use of printing presses spread rapidly. The printing press may be regarded as one of the key factors fostering the Renaissance and due to its effectiveness its use spread around the globe.

The 19th century invention of Hot metal typesetting and its successors caused movable to decline in the 20th century.

I am reminded of the book Mary Baker Eddy and Her Books by Dana Orcutt.  Orcutt was her contact with the publishing house which printed Science and Health and her other writings from almost the first printing.  He produced the deluxe edition of S&H, called the Subscription edition.  This is a book, sized like a family Bible, and as perfect as he could make it in his desire to show that printing is an art as well as a craft.  The only copy of this book which I have seen is in the foyer at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Perth, Western Australia.