BIBLE -

The Gutenberg Bible (Reprint of the 1914 Insel Verlag facsimile edition)

      O - The original Bible dates from 1454 and this facsimile edition of the bible edition is the most significant accomplishment of Johann Gutenberg and a first magnificent test of the type printing he invented. According to a rediscovered letter from the late Pope, Pius II, an "amazing man" (vir mirabilis) appeared at the Reichstag in Frankfurt in October 1454 wishing to offer for sale faultless quires of a bible which could be read comfortably without spectacles. At that time, Gutenberg must have largely completed his planned "work of books" in his printing office in Mainz: 641 printed sheets in 2 volumes with two columns per page (2564 in all). The number of lines was 40 at first and was increased to 42 in the course of the printing process, which is the reason why the bible is quoted according to the number of lines. The translation followed the medieval text tradition and was called "verus et vulgata edito" at thye Council of Trent in 1546. Since then, most printed bibles were based on this text version which became binding for the Catholic church in 1592 (as the "Vulgata"). Forty-eight largely completed copies or individual volumes of Gutenberg's printed bible on parchment and paper and a number of relatively large fragments were preserved. In keeping with the significance of the text, many copies were adorned with magnificent illuminations. The Berlin parchment copy is considered to be one of the finest and was published as a facsimile edition for the first time in 1913-14 by Insel Verlag Leipzig. This facsimile edition was reprinted in the year 2000. The facsimile not only makes this work of art accessible again, but it also variously documents the history of books and technology; in surveys carried out on the occasion of the millennium celebrations, the inventor of type printing was named by many as one of the most important figures of the last 1000 years, and the facsimile of 1913-14 is considered as one of the first culminations of the lithographic reproduction of the ancient art of the book. Original size edition: 31 cm x 43,5 cm, 2000, 2 volumes in slip case , paper used is yellowish offset 90 grs. paper covered cloth binding illustrations in black and white. [Attributes: Hard Cover]