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Gutenberg
Bible
Biblia
Latina 14551456
Reproduced by courtesy of the Director and
Librarian,
the John Rylands University Library of Manchester
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John
Rylands University Library of Manchester
United
Kingdom
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Gutenberg
Bible
1455–1456
This
beautiful book was produced by the first large
scale use of printing with movable type in the
Western world. One of the world's greatest inventions,
the technology was developed by Johann Gutenberg,
who was born in Mainz but moved to Strasbourg
in about 1428. By 1438 he was working with three
partners on a secret project, the development
of the printing process, and in particular the
use of movable type: individual letters arranged
as required for a text, and able to be re-arranged
for a later text. The letters had to be consistent
in size and shape so that they could be locked
securely together for the printing, and a crucial
part of the process was the casting of type so
that the body of each piece would line up correctly
with its fellows. The typeface was modelled on
the script then in use in Germany for writing
liturgical manuscripts. The development was a
long process, and by 1448 Gutenberg was borrowing
large sums of money from a lawyer, Johann Fust,
to perfect the work. In 1455, close to the time
that the Bible was ready for sale, Fust foreclosed
on the loans he had made, and Gutenberg lost control
of his invention.
Printing
allowed the written word to be reproduced and
disseminated quickly, cheaply and in enormous
quantities. Within 50 years of the printing of
this Bible, more than ten million printed books
had been produced, and printing presses existed
in virtually every European country. Its impact
on all areas of human society was far greater
than that induced by the arrival of the World
Wide Web.
Although
the text of this book is printed, the illuminations
were added by hand, as in a manuscript. It contains
1282 pages. Between 180 and 200 copies of the
Gutenberg Bible were printed, of which 51 still
exist, only 20 of which (the copy on display being
one) are complete. The pages on display in the
exhibition are the first chapters of two Old Testament
Books, 'Judges' and 'Nahum'.
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