Reconstructed Gutenberg Press, Gutenberg Museum, Mainz

No press of Gutenberg's own survives, so this is a reconstruction, built in the city where he printed his 42-line Bible in the 1450s. Its design comes from woodcuts of 15th- and 16th-century print shops. The principle is a wine or linen press put to new work: a big wooden screw drives a flat platen down onto a forme of inked metal type, and the hinged frame on the front carries the sheet into position. The museum first set up a reconstructed Gutenberg workshop in 1925, and staff still demonstrate casting, setting and printing at the press. The main building has been under renovation, so check where the demonstrations are running before you go.