Gutenberg, Playing Card from "Cartes héroïques"

This hand-colored engraving depicts Johannes Gutenberg as a playing card—the Ace of Spades—from a French educational deck celebrating great historical figures. The printer holds a scroll inscribed "ET LA LUMIERE FUT" (And there was light), referencing Genesis and the transformative power of the printing press. Gutenberg's image, rendered in the decorative style of mid-19th-century commercial graphics, frames him within ornamental borders typical of luxury card manufacturing. Such decks served dual purposes: leisure entertainment and popular instruction in history and biography. The format demonstrates how visual media disseminated knowledge of technological innovation and historical achievement to broad audiences during the industrial era.