Biblia Latina (one page)
Artist: Johann Gutenberg (German, d. 1468)
Date: 1454-1455
Dimensions:
Leaf: 15 1/4 × 10 3/4 in. (38.7 × 27.3 cm)
Medium: printed leaves
Place of Origin: Mainz, Germany
Classification: Books
Credit Line: Museum Purchase
Object number: 1922.57A
Label Text:Several decades before Columbus discovered America, Johann Gutenberg of Mainz invented moveable type. With this revolutionary invention he proceeded to print the most important text of his day, the Bible. This major undertaking took him over four years to complete. The GUTENBERG BIBLE, the first book printed in Europe, was a landmark acheivement in the history of printing. It was printed in two volumes, totaling 1,284 pages. Each page was set in two columns of 42 lines for a total of approximately 2,500 pieces of individual type per page. Scholars estimate that Gutenberg printed about 200 copies (only 48 complete Bibles survive today), making the number of press runs, all by hand, for each edition, too staggering to count. Laborious and time-consuming as this process was, Gutenberg's system of making type, composting and setting pages, inking, and printing lasted until about 1800. Without Gutenberg's remarkable acheivements, books and the spread of knowledge woould not be so pervasive in our lives today.
Although the Museum has only two leaves of this rare and much prized Bible, they are enough to show Gutenberg's superb and perfectly realized craftmanship. Also evident is the beauty of his type, which was like German gothic script (also called black letter) found in fifteenth-century manuscripts.
These pages survive as testimony to the great vision and organizational brilliance Gutenberg needed to drive through his monumental project to completion. As one would suspect, however, the costs were immense and Gutenberg borrowed heavily to finance his printing venture. Regretably, before he could sell any Bibles in order to recover his expenses, he went bankrupt. He lost what he had spent his life building-his printshop and printing equipment.
Although the Museum has only two leaves of this rare and much prized Bible, they are enough to show Gutenberg's superb and perfectly realized craftmanship. Also evident is the beauty of his type, which was like German gothic script (also called black letter) found in fifteenth-century manuscripts.
These pages survive as testimony to the great vision and organizational brilliance Gutenberg needed to drive through his monumental project to completion. As one would suspect, however, the costs were immense and Gutenberg borrowed heavily to finance his printing venture. Regretably, before he could sell any Bibles in order to recover his expenses, he went bankrupt. He lost what he had spent his life building-his printshop and printing equipment.
Descriptionhand rubricated
Not on view