How did that slip by me?

Toward the end of the month mail from a friend/colleague arrived suggesting that I take a look at an interesting site she'd recently come across. I clicked over and found it interesting - for my own reasons. What intrigued me most was that most of the material on the site seemed to be taken from the Wikipedia. Though I often check the "on this day" section of the Wikipedia, I hadn't done so for this column's date, and through the link to the site my friend had sent I found myself clicking over to it. When I typed in the URL for Setpember 30 I was surprised (though also delighted) to find the rather laconic reference:

1452 - First printed book, the Johann Gutenberg Bible.

Though I tend to trust the Wikipedia, the fact that I hadn't previously found a reference to this event on this date meant that I had to do some cross-checking. And sure enough, a Google search on Gutenberg and September 30 brought up enough hits to suggest that I'd missed it, but that it certainly had been there. Numerous reliable sources seem to confirm this date. An interesting page from the Merriam-Webster OnLine site would seem to be a rather convincing confirmation. And whether or not it's an exact (or correct) date or not is of course beside the point. For me it's an honor to be able to post a column on the 552 anniversary of that momentous occasion.

Go to: Because I needed the whole month, or
Go to: Guilt by hyperlink?