He was unable to enjoy in the success of his idea

Gutenberg had borrowed money from Johann Fust, a wealthy moneylender, to complete his Bible project. Later, Peter Schoffer, Fust's future son-in-law, joined the company. Gutenberg and Fust had a disagreement in 1456, in which Fust accused Gutenberg of squandering his cash and sought his money back. Gutenberg owed over 20,000 guilders. Fust filed a lawsuit in the archbishop's court, and the court ruled in his favor, giving him ownership of the Bible printing workshop as well as half of all printed Bibles. The ruling nearly bankrupted Gutenberg, but Fust and Schoffer used his innovation to print the Mainz Psalter, a holy book commissioned by the archbishop of Mainz in 1457. The Mainz Psalter was the first book to acknowledge its printers, Fust and Schoffer, but it made no mention of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing method.

Many accounts describe Johannes Gutenberg as a risk-taker. He needed additional money to continue his work after investing all of his wealth in printing equipment. He would not have been able to achieve his mission of printing Bibles if it hadn't been for the assistance of a buddy. According to many sources, he frequently worked on projects that were of little or no value. Others claim he squandered resources by casting metal letters in molds that had to be reused for each print. He failed numerous times before finally succeeding later in life.