Gutenberg Bible
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The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was one of the first books printed in Europe. It is an edition of the Vulgate, printed by Johannes Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany in the 1450s. Although it was not Gutenberg's first work,[1] it was his major achievement, and has iconic status in the West as the book that marks the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of the printed book.
The 36 Line Bible is also sometimes referred to as a Gutenberg Bible, but may be the work of another printer.
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[edit] Relationship to earlier Bibles
In appearance the Gutenberg Bible closely resembles the manuscript Bibles that were being produced at the time. The Giant Bible of Mainz, probably produced in Mainz in 1452-3, has been suggested as the particular model Gutenberg used. [2]
The text of the Gutenberg Bible is traditional, falling within the Paris Vulgate group of texts. [3] Manuscript Bibles all had texts that differed slightly, and the copy used by Gutenberg as the exemplar for his Bible has not been discovered. [4]
[edit] Printing history
Preparation of the Bible probably began soon after 1450, and the first finished copies were available in 1454 or 1455.[5] Although we do not know exactly how long the Bible took to print.
Gutenberg made three significant changes during the printing process.[6] The first sheets were rubricated by being passed twice through the printing press, using black and then red ink. This was soon abandoned, with spaces being left for rubrication to be added by hand.
Some time later, after more sheets had been printed, the number of lines per page was increased from 40 to 42, presumably to save paper. Therefore, pages 1 to 9 and pages 256 to 265, presumably the first ones printed, have 40 lines each. Page 10 has 41, and from there on the 42 lines appear. The increase in line number was achieved by decreasaing the interline spacing, rather than increasing the printed area of the page.
Finally, the print run was increased, probably to 180 copies, necessitating resetting those pages which had already been printed. The new sheets were all reset to 42 lines per page. Consequently, there are two distinct settings in folios 1-32 and 129-158 of volume I and folios 1-16 and 162 of volume II.[7][8]
It is believed that in total 180 copies of the Bible were produced, 135 on paper and 45 on vellum.
[edit] The production process: 'Das Werk der Bücher'
In a legal paper, written after completion of the Bible, Gutenberg refers to the process as 'Das Werk der Bücher' :The work of the books. He had invented the printing press and was the first European to print with movable type[citation needed]. But his greatest achievement was arguably demonstrating that the whole process of printing actually produced books.
Many book-lovers have commented on the high standards achieved in the production of the Gutenberg Bible, some describing it as one of the most beautiful volumes ever printed. The quality of both the ink and other materials and the printing itself have been noted. [9]
[edit] Paper and vellum
A single complete copy of the Gutenberg Bible has 1,272 pages; with 4 pages per folio-sheet, 318 sheets of paper are required per copy. The 35 copies printed on vellum required 11,130 sheets. The 155 copies on paper required 49,290 sheets of paper. The handmade paper used by Gutenberg was of fine quality and was imported from Italy. Each sheet contains a watermark, which may be seen when the paper is held up to the light, left by the papermold.[2]
[edit] Pages
The paper size is 'double folio', with two pages printed on each side (making a total of four pages per sheet). After printing the paper is folded once to the size of a single page. Typically, five of these folded sheets (carrying 10 leaves, or 20 printed pages) were combined to a single physical section, called a quinternion, that could then be bound into a book. Some sections, however, carried as few as 4 leaves or as many as 12 leaves.[10] It is possible that some sections were printed in a larger number, especially those printed later in the publishing process, and sold unbound. The pages were not numbered. This whole technique of course was not new, since it was used already to make white-paper books to be written afterwards. New was the necessity to determine beforehand the right place and orientation of each page on the five sheets, so as to end up in the right reading sequence. Also new was the technique of getting the printed area correctly located on each page.
The folio size, 307 x 445 mm, has the ratio of 1.45. The printed area had the same ratio, and was shifted out of the middle to leave a 2:1 white margin, both horizontally and vertically. Historian John Man writes that the ratio was chosen because of being close to the golden ratio of 1.61.[1] To reach this ratio more closely the vertical size should be 338 mm, but there is no reason why Gutenberg would leave this non-trivial difference of 8 mm go by in such a detailed work in other aspects.
[edit] Ink
Gutenberg had to develop a new kind of ink, an oil-based one (as over against the traditional water-based ink used in manuscripts), so that it would stick better to the metal types. His ink was based on carbon, with high metallic content, including copper, lead, and titanium.[11]
[edit] Type
The first part of the Gutenberg idea was using a single, hand-carved character to create identical copies of itself. Cutting a single letter could take a craftsman a day of work. A single page taking 2500 letters, crafting per page was unattainable. A less labor intensive method of reproduction was needed. Copies were produced by stamping the original into an iron plate, called a matrix. A rectangular tube was then connected to the matrix, creating a container in which molten lead could be poured. Once cooled, the solid lead form was released from the tube. The end result was a rectangular block of lead with the form of the desired character protruding from the end. This piece of type could be put in a line, facing up, with other pieces of type. These lines were arranged to form blocks of text, which could be inked and pressed against paper, transferring the desired text to the paper.
Each unique character requires a master piece of type in order to be replicated. Given that each letter has uppercase and lowercase forms, and the number of various punctuation marks and ligatures (e.g. the sequence 'fi' combined in one character, commonly used in writing) the Gutenberg Bible needed a set of 290 master characters.
The scholar John Man has calculated the number of pieces of types required.[1] A single page has about 2600 characters. It seems probable that six pages, containing 15600 characters altogether, would be set at any one moment. Since it would take a craftsman a whole day to hand-cut type for one character, such a large number was probably produced through the mass-production of copies of one master-type.
[edit] Type style
B42 is printed in the blackletter type styles that would become known as Textualis (Textura) and Schwabacher. The name texture refers to the texture of the printed page: straight vertical strokes combined with horizontal lines, giving the impression of a woven structure. Gutenberg already used the technique of right-justification by using bits of extra white space between words, creating a vertical, not indented alignment at the right-hand side of the column. On top of this, he subsequently let punctuation marks go beyond that vertical line, thereby using the massive black characters to make this justification stronger to the eye.
[edit] Rubrication, illumination and binding
Copies left the Gutenberg workshop unbound, without decoration, and for the most part without rubrication.
Initially the rubrics -- the headings before each book of the Bible -- were printed, but this experiment was quickly abandoned, and gaps were left for rubrication to be added by hand. A guide of the text to be added to each page, printed for use by rubricators, survives.[12]
The spacious margin allowed for illuminated decoration to be added by hand. The amount of decoration presumably depended on how much each buyer could or would pay for. Some copies were never decorated. [13] The place of decoration can be known or inferred for about 30 of the surviving copies. Perhaps 13 of these received their decoration in Mainz, but others may have been worked on as far away as London and Scotland. [2] The more expensive vellum Bibles tend to be more highly decorated, although the vellum copy in the British Library is completely undecorated.[14]
Jensen, Kristian (2003). 'Printing the Bible in the fifteenth century: devotion, philology and commerce', in Jensen, Kristian (ed.), Incunabula and their readers: printing, selling and using books in the fifteenth century. London: British Library, 115-38.
Although many Gutenberg Bibles have been rebound over the years, 9 copies retain fifteenth-century bindings. Most of these copies were bound in either Mainz or Erfurt.[2]
Most copies were divided into two volumes, the first volume ending with The Book of Psalms. Copies on vellum were heavier and for this reason were sometimes bound in three or four volumes. [9]
[edit] Early owners
The Bible seems to have sold out immediately, with initial sales to owners as far away as England. [9]
At least some copies are known to have sold for 30 florins,[15], making them too expensive for most students, priests or other people of ordinary income. It is assumed that most were sold to monasteries, universities and particularly wealthy individuals.[12] At present only one copy is known to be have been privately owned in the fifteenth century. Some are known to have been used for communal readings in monastery refectories, others may have been for display rather than use, and a few were certainly used for study. [9] Kristian Jensen suggests that many copies were bought by wealthy and pious laypeople for donation to rellgious institutions. [14]
[edit] Surviving copies
As of 2009, 47 or 48 42-line Bibles are known to exist, but of these only 21 are complete. Others have leaves or even whole volumes missing. The figure of 48 copies includes volumes in Trier and Indiana which seem to be the two parts of one copy. 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. A further copy is known to have been lost during the destruction of the library of the Catholic University of Leuven in 1914.
There are twelve copies on vellum, although only four of these are complete and one is of the New Testament only.
The country with the most copies is Germany, which has twelve, while the United States has eleven and the United Kingdom eight. New York has four copies, Paris and London have three each, and Mainz, the Vatican City and Moscow have two each.
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. 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.
| Country | Holding institution | Hubay-nr | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria (1) | Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna | 27 | Complete, paper |
| Belgium (1) | Bibliothèque universitaire, Mons | 1 | Incomplete, paper |
| Denmark (1) | Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen | 12 | Vol. II, incomplete, paper |
| France (4) | Bibliothèque nationale, Paris | 15 | Complete, vellum |
| 17 | Incomplete, paper. Contains note by binder dating it to August 1456 | ||
| Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris | 16 | Complete, paper | |
| Bibliothèque Municipale, Saint-Omer | 18 | Incomplete, paper | |
| Germany (12) | Gutenberg Museum, Mainz | 8 | One copy is vol. I, incomplete, paper; the other both vols., incomplete, paper. It is unclear which is which. |
| 9 | |||
| Landesbibliothek, Fulda | 4 | Vol. I, incomplete, vellum | |
| Universitätsbibliothek, Leipzig | 14 | Incomplete, vellum | |
| Niedersächsische Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek, Göttingen | 2 | Complete, vellum | |
| Staatsbibliothek, Berlin | 3 | Incomplete, vellum | |
| Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich | 5 | Complete, paper | |
| Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek, Frankfurt-am-Main | 6 | Complete, paper | |
| Hofbibliothek, Aschaffenburg | 7 | Incomplete, paper | |
| Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart | 10 | Incomplete, paper. Purchased in April 1978 for 2.2 million US dollars. | |
| Stadtbibliothek, Trier | 11 | Vol. I?, incomplete, paper. Possibly sister volume to Hubay 46, in Indiana | |
| Landesbibliothek, Kassel | 12 | Vol. I, incomplete, paper | |
| Japan (1) | Keio University Library, Tokyo | 45 | Vol. I, iincomplete, paper. Purchased in October 1987 for either 4.9 or 5.4 million US dollars (sources disagree) |
| Poland (1) | Biblioteka Seminarium Duchownego, Pelpin | 28 | incomplete, paper |
| Portugal (1) | Portuguese National Library, Lisbon | 29 | Complete, paper |
| Russia (2) | Russian National Library | - | Incomplete, vellum |
| Lomonosov University Library, Moscow | - | Complete, paper | |
| Spain (2) | Biblioteca Universitaria y Provincial, Seville | 32 | Vol. II, incomplete, paper |
| Biblioteca Pública Provincial, Burgos | 31 | Complete, paper | |
| Switzerland (1) | Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, Cologny | 30 | Incomplete, paper |
| United Kingdom (8) | British Library, London | ? | Complete, vellum |
| ? | Complete, paper | ||
| National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh | 26 | Complete, paper | |
| Lambeth Palace Library, London | 20 | New Testament only, vellum | |
| Eton College Library, Eton | 23 | Complete, paper | |
| John Rylands Library, Manchester | 25 | Complete, paper | |
| Bodleian Library, Oxford | 24 | Complete, paper | |
| University Library, Cambridge | 22 | Complete, paper | |
| United States (11) | The Morgan Library & Museum, New York | 37 | Incomplete, vellum |
| 38 | Complete, paper | ||
| 44 | Incomplete, paper | ||
| Library of Congress, Washington DC | 35 | Complete, vellum | |
| New York Public Library | 42 | Incomplete, paper | |
| Widener Library, Harvard University | 40 | Complete, paper | |
| Beinecke Library, Yale University | 41 | Complete, paper | |
| Scheide Library, Princeton University | 43 | Incomplete, paper | |
| Lilly Library, University of Indiana | Incomplete, paper. Possibly sister volume to Hubay 11, in Trier | ||
| Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino | 36 | Incomplete, vellum | |
| University of Texas at Austin | 39 | Complete, paper. Purchased in 1978 for 2.4 million US dollars. | |
| Vatican City (2) | Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana | 33 | Incomplete, vellum |
| 34 | Vol I, incomplete, paper |
[edit] 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. [16] (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.
- Maggs Bros Ltd have handled two copies of the Bible, one belonging to the Russian Government, and bought on behalf of the British Library in 1932, the other the "Dyson Perrins" copy, bought in 1947 for £22,000 on behalf of Sir Philip Frere, and a few years later resold to Mrs. Doheny of California.
- On 22 October 1987 a Japanese buyer, Eiichi Kobayashi, a director at the Maruzen Company, purchased the Old Testament portion (Hubay 45) for $5.4 million at a Christie's Auction.[17] 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.
- In the movie Futurama: Bender's Big Score, Bender returns to the past and steals the Gutenberg Bible which contains the Colonel's secret recipe: "Chicken, grease, salt".
- In the BBC TV series Doctor Who story City of Death Count Scarlioni orders the sale of a Gutenberg Bible to fund his experiments with time.
[edit] See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gutenberg Bible |
- For other works printed by Gutenberg or from the workshop he founded, See: Johannes Gutenberg.
- 36 Line Bible
- Printing press
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Man, John. Gutenberg: How One Man Remade the World with Words. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.. ISBN 0-471-21823-5.
- ^ a b c Estes, Richard (2005). The 550th Anniversary Pictorial Census of the Gutenberg Bible. Gutenberg Research Center. p. 151.
- ^ British Library, The Text of the Bible accessed 4 July 2009
- ^ Needham, Paul (1999). ""The Changing Shape of the Vulgate Bible in Fifteenth-Century Printing Shops"". in Saenger, Paul and Van Kampen, Kimberly. The Bible as Book:the First Printed Editions. British Library. pp. 53-70. ISBN 0712346015.
- ^ University of Texas -The Gutenberg Bible
- ^ British Library, Three Phases in the Printing Process accessed 4 July 2009
- ^ British Library, "Gutenberg Bible: Three phases in the printing process".
- ^ British Library, "The differences in line lengths per page": pictures showing differences between differences between the Keio copy (40 lines per page) and the British Library copy (42 lines per page) in Genesis 1.
- ^ a b c d Davies, Martin (1996). The Gutenberg Bible. British Library. ISBN 0712304924.
- ^ British Library, "Making the Bible: The Gatherings"
- ^ British Library[1] accessed 2008-10-18.
- ^ a b Kapr, Albert (1996). Johann Gutenberg: The Man and His Invention. Scolar Press. ISBN 1-85928-114-1.
- ^ British Library, "Gutenberg Bible; The copy on paper - Decoration", accessed 2008-10-18.
- ^ a b [[cite book | author = Jensen, Kristian | chapter = Printing the Bible in the fifteenth century: devotion, philology and commerce |pages = 115-38 |editor = Jensen, Kristian |title = Incunabula and their readers: printing, selling and using books in the fifteenth century | publisher = British Library | year = 2003 | isbn = 0712347690}}
- ^ Cormack, Lesley B.; Ede, Andrew (2004). A History of Science in Society: From Philosophy to Utility. Broadview Press. ISBN 1-55111-332-5.
- ^ Kenyon College Library http://lbis.kenyon.edu/sca/exhibits/incunabula/z241b58.phtml
- ^ New York Times
[edit] External links
- Treasures in Full: Gutenberg Bible Includes complete digitized texts of the two copies in the British Library
- The Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin Gutenberg Bible website including detailed images
- Digital edition of the Gottingen copy
- Gutenberg site made by the city of Mainz
- Digital editions of the Cambridge and Keio copies
A complete link list of digitized copies can be found in the German wikipedia.
