A copy of the Gutenberg Bible owned by the U.S. Library of Congress

The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible or the Mazarin Bible) is a printed version of the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible that was printed by Johannes Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany in the fifteenth century. Although it is not, as often thought, the first book to be printed by Gutenberg's new movable type system, it is his major work, and has iconic status as the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the "Age of the Printed Book". Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 541 pixel Image in higher resolution (925 × 625 pixel, file size: 90 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Picture of a copy of the en:Gutenberg Bible owned by the US Library of Congress Taken by Mark Pellegrini on August 12... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 541 pixel Image in higher resolution (925 × 625 pixel, file size: 90 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Picture of a copy of the en:Gutenberg Bible owned by the US Library of Congress Taken by Mark Pellegrini on August 12... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ... The Vulgate Bible is an early 5th century version in Latin, partly revised and partly translated by Jerome on the orders of Pope Damasus I in 382. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... This article is about the inventor of printing in Europe; for other uses, see Guttenberg (disambiguation) and Gutenberg. ... Mainz is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. ... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ... A case of cast metal type pieces and typeset matter in a composing stick Movable type is the system of printing and typography using movable pieces of metal type, made by casting from matrices struck by letterpunches. ...

The detailed format of printed bible is a possible imitation of a Mainz illuminated manuscript, the so called Giant Bible of Mainz (Biblia latina), whose 1300 pages were written between 1452 and 1453. In the strictest definition of illuminated manuscript, only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, like this miniature of Christ in Majesty from the Aberdeen Bestiary (folio 4v), would be considered illuminated. ... Events October - English troops under John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, land in Guyenne, France, and retake most of the province without a fight. ... April 2 - Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Ä°stanbul). ...

The 42-line Bible

The name 42-line Bible refers to the number of lines of print on each page, and is used to differentiate this edition of the Gutenberg Bible from the rarer 36-line Bible, which is also referred to as a Gutenberg Bible. ^[1] The term "Gutenberg Bible" is most commonly used to refer to the more familiar 42-line edition.

Preparation of the bible began soon after 1450, and the first finished copies were available in 1454 or 1455, using a printing press and movable type.^[2] This Bible is the most famous incunabulum and its production marked the beginning of the mass production of books in the West. It was printed in the type styles that would become known as Texture and Schumacher. A complete copy comprises 1282 pages, and most bibles were bound in at least two volumes. // March - French troops under Guy de Richemont besiege the English commander in France, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, in Caen. ... Events February 4 - In the Thirteen Years War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederacy sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master. ... ... no changes . ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... A case of cast metal type pieces and typeset matter in a composing stick Movable type is the system of printing and typography using movable pieces of metal type, made by casting from matrices struck by letterpunches. ... A page from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497) printed in Strasbourg by J.R. Grueninger. ...

Detail showing both rubrication and illumination

It is believed that about 180 copies of the Bible were produced, 45 on vellum and 135 on paper, a number which marks a sharp contrast with the prior technology for societies which, from time immemorial, had to produce copies of written works laboriously by hand. Gutenberg produced these Bibles (which were printed, then rubricated and illuminated by hand, the work of specialized craftsmen) over a period of a year, the time it would have taken to produce one copy in a Scriptorium. Because of the hand illumination, each copy is unique. Detail showing the illumination added after printing. ... Detail showing the illumination added after printing. ... Vellum was originally a translucent or opaque material produced from calfskin that had been soaked, limed and unhaired, and then dried at normal temperature under tension, usually on a wooden device called a stretching frame. ... Detail from a rare Blackletter Bible (1497) printed and rubricated in Strasbourg by J.R.Grueninger. ... In the strictest definition of illuminated manuscript, only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, like this miniature of Christ in Majesty from the Aberdeen Bestiary (folio 4v), would be considered illuminated. ... A Scriptorium was a room or building, usually within a Christian monastery where, during medieval times, manuscripts were written. ...

In some copies of the Bible, the headings on a few of the sheets at the top are printed in red; the initial pages were re-composed, and the later copies for those pages are in black only, with the red headers lettered by hand. On all later pages the red headings are added by hand, and a printed list of the text to be added to each page survives. This presumably represents a failed experiment. ^[3]

The 36-line Bible

In the past, there was no consensus on the order of editions. Some specialists like Richard Schwab and Thomas Cahill argued that the rarer 36-line Bible is actually the older, cruder version, and that the 42-line Bible was a second, more numerous and perfected edition of Gutenbergs Bible.^[4]. Others, like Richard W. Clement, argued that the 36-line Bible was printed in 1458, 3 years after the 42-line Bible, but with an older typefont.^[5] The dispute has however been settled, because the line endings on the pages of the 36 line Bible make it evident that the text is based on a copy of the 42-line Bible. (Kapr, "Johannes Gutenberg." Scolar, 1996)

Existing copies of the Gutenberg Bible

As of 2007, there are 48 extant Gutenberg 42-line Bibles known to exist. This includes eleven complete copies on vellum, and one copy of the New Testament only on vellum. In addition, there are a substantial number of fragments, some as small as individual leaves - at least one copy is known to have been partially broken up to be sold in parts. This article is about the Christian scriptures. ...

The country with the most copies is Germany, which has twelve. Mainz, Moscow and the Vatican City contain two copies, Paris and London have three copies, and New York has four copies. Three identified copies have been lost - two disappeared from Leipzig after the end of the Second World War, and one is known to have been destroyed along with the library of the Catholic University of Leuven in 1914. However, the former two were rediscovered in recent years, both in Moscow, where they had been taken. The Catholic University of Leuven is the largest and most prominent university in Belgium. ...

A full listing of known copies and brief details on their condition can be found in the British Library's Incunabula Short Title Catalogue, ISTC number ib00526000. The 36-line bible is catalogued as ISTC number ib00527000. Copy numbers are as found in the ISTC, taken from a 1985 survey of existing copies by Ilona Hubay; the two copies in Russia were not known to exist in 1985, and so were not catalogued. A more detailed census, with some notes on provenance, is online at Clausen Books. "Perfect" or "imperfect" refers to completeness - whether a volume still contains all its leaves. The Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC) is an electronic bibliographic database maintained by the British Library which seeks to catalogue all known incunabula. ...

First page of the first volume of the Gutenberg Bible: The Epistle of St. Jerome

Binding of an unknown copy

Another Gutenberg Bible

Austrian National Library with 7. ... The Royal Library in Copenhagen (Danish: Det Kongelige Bibliotek) is the national library of Denmark and the largest and most important library of Scandinavia. ... The new buildings of the library. ... Photograph of the library interior by German librarian Fritz Milkau, from the photographic workshop of the Prussian state library of 1926-1933 The Bibliothèque Mazarine is the oldest public library in France. ... The Gutenberg Museum is one of the oldest museums of printing in the world, located opposite the cathedral in the old part of Mainz, Germany. ... The Göttingen State and University Library (German: Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, or SUB Göttingen; English short form: Goettingen SUB) is the library for Göttingen University as well as the central library for the German State of Lower Saxony (with its central catalogue), and... // Staatsbibliothek The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage) Short history: Founded in 1661 During the World War II the entire holdings (at the time some three million books and other materials)were hidden to safety in 30 monasteries, castles and disused mines. ... The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (right) on Ludwigstraße, Munich The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (English: Bavarian State Library), located in Munich, is the central library of the German state of Bavaria and one of the largest libraries in the German-speaking world. ... Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart Württembergische Landesbibliothek (WLB) is a large library in Stuttgart, Germany, tracing back to the ducal public library of Württemberg, founded in 1765. ... Keio University ) is one of the two most prestigious private universities in Japan alongside its rival Waseda University. ... The Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (or Bodmer Library) is located in Cologny, Switzerland just outside Geneva. ... British Library main building, London The British Library (BL) is the national library of the United Kingdom. ... The building on George IV bridge The National Library of Scotland is a legal deposit library in Scotland. ... Lambeth Palaces gatehouse. ... The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (privately funded and independent) for boys, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, north of Windsor Castle, and... The John Rylands Library (inaugurated October 1899) is a collection of historic books and manuscripts in Manchester, England. ... Entrance to the Library, with the coats-of-arms of several Oxford colleges The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in England is second in size only to the British Library. ... Cambridge University Library The Cambridge University Library is the centrally-administered library of the University of Cambridge in England. ... The Morgan Library & Museum (formerly The Pierpont Morgan Library) is a museum and research library in New York City. ... Construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building, from July 8, 1888 to May 15, 1894. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Old picture of the Widener Library. ... Yale Universitys Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was a 1963 gift of the Beinecke family. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey. ... Indiana University is the principal campus of the Indiana University system. ... Huntington Library The Huntington Library is an educational and research institution established by Henry Huntington in San Marino, California, USA. In addition to the library, there is an art collection and botanical gardens. ... University of Texas redirects here. ... The Vatican Library (Latin: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana) is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x836, 178 KB) Summary The beginning of the Gutenberg Bible, volume 1, Old Testament, Epistle of St. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (600x836, 178 KB) Summary The beginning of the Gutenberg Bible, volume 1, Old Testament, Epistle of St. ... Poor gimp enhancement of the cover of a gutenberg bible. ... Poor gimp enhancement of the cover of a gutenberg bible. ... Facing pages of a gutenberg bible. ... Facing pages of a gutenberg bible. ...

Prices and dealers

• In the 1920s a New York book dealer, Gabriel Wells, bought a damaged paper copy, dismantled the book and sold sections and individual leaves to book collectors and libraries. The leaves were sold in a portfolio case with an essay written by A. Edward Newton. ^[6] (Also referred to as a "Noble Fragment") These leaves now sell for $20,000 - $100,000 - depending upon condition and the desirability of the page.
• On 22 October 1987 a Japanese buyer, Eiichi Kobayashi, a director at the Maruzen Company, purchased the Old Testament portion for $5.4 million at a Christie's Auction.^[7] The last sale of a complete Gutenberg Bible took place nine years before, again at Christie's, for $2.2 million.

Media References

• In the movie The Day After Tomorrow, people burned books to try to stay warm in the New York City Public Library. One character was holding the library's copy of the Gutenberg Bible to protect it from being burned.

For other uses, see The Day After Tomorrow (disambiguation). ...

See also

• For other works printed by Gutenberg or from the workshop he founded, See: Johannes Gutenberg.
• Spread of printing.

This article is about the inventor of printing in Europe; for other uses, see Guttenberg (disambiguation) and Gutenberg. ... The global spread of printing with movable type from its origins in Germany began with the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, (c. ...

Notes

1. ^ Plantin-Moretus museum
2. ^ University of Texas -The Gutenberg Bible
3. ^ Karp, Albert (1996), Johann Gutenberg: The Man and is Invention (3rd ed.), [Solar Press, ISBN 1-85928-114-1
4. ^ Time Magazine, March 10, 1986
5. ^ Orb Online Encyclopedia
6. ^ Kenyon College Library http://lbis.kenyon.edu/sca/exhibits/incunabula/z241b58.phtml
7. ^ New York Times

External links

• Treasures in Full: Gutenberg Bible Complete digitized texts of the two Gutenberg bibles in the British Library
• The University of Texas Ransom Center's Gutenberg Bible website including detailed images
• Online digital edition
• Gutenberg site made by the city of Mainz

A complete link list of digitized copies can be found in the German wikipedia.[1]