Gutenberg Bible

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A copy of the Gutenberg Bible, this version 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".

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 1452-1453.

1 The 42-line Bible
2 The 36-line Bible
3 Known locations of Gutenberg Bibles
4 Trivia
5 Media References
6 See also
7 Notes
8 External links

[edit] The 42-line Bible

One copy of the 42-line Gutenberg Bible on display at the Library of Congress, Washington DC

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 Textura and Schwabacher. A complete copy comprises 1282 pages, and most bibles were bound in at least two volumes.

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.

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]

[edit] 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)

[edit] Known locations of Gutenberg Bibles

As of 2003, the number of known extant Gutenberg 42-line Bibles includes eleven complete copies on vellum, one copy of the New Testament only on vellum, and 48 substantially complete integral copies on paper, with another divided copy on paper. The country with the most copies is Germany, which has twelve. Four cities have two copies: Paris, Moscow, Mainz and Vatican City; London has three copies plus the illuminated Bagford Fragment; New York has four copies.

Austria (1)

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna

Belgium (1)

Bibliothèque universitaire in Mons (a second copy at Leuven University was destroyed)

Binding of an unknown copy

Denmark (1)

Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen

France (3)

Bibliothèque nationale in Paris (one of three "perfect vellum" copies)
Bibliothèque Mazarine in Paris
Bibliothèque Municipale in Saint-Omer

Germany (12)

Gutenberg Museum in Mainz (2 copies)
Landesbibliothek in Fulda
Universitätsbibliothek in Leipzig
Niedersächsische Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek in Göttingen
Staatsbibliothek in Berlin
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich
Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek in Frankfurt-am-Main
Hofbibliothek in Aschaffenburg
Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart
Stadtbibliothek in Trier
Landesbibliothek in Kassel

Vatican City (2)

Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana (one vellum copy, one on paper)

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

Japan (1)

Keio University Library in Tokyo

Poland (1)

Biblioteka Seminarium Duchownego in Pelpin

Portugal (1)

Portuguese National Library in Lisbon

Russia (2)

Spain (2)

Biblioteca Universitaria y Provincial in Seville
Biblioteca Pública Provincial in Burgos

Another Gutenberg Bible

Switzerland (1)

Bibliotheca Bodmeriana in Cologny

United Kingdom (9)

British Library in London (one of three "perfect vellum" copies, one paper copy and the Bagford Fragment)
Lambeth Palace Library in London (decorated in England)
Bodleian Library in Oxford
University Library in Cambridge
Eton College Library in Eton
John Rylands Library in Manchester
National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh

United States of America (10)

Dartmouth College's Rauner Special Collections
Library of Congress in Washington, DC (one of three "perfect vellum" copies)
New York Public Library in New York City
Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City (one copy on vellum, 2 copies on paper)
Widener Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut
The Scheide Library at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey
Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (incomplete NT only)
Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois (incomplete OT only)
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas
Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California

[edit] Trivia

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.

[edit] 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.