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1455 Gutenberg Bible: The first book ever printed
Facsimile reproduction
One would think that the first book would have been very primitive and of poor quality, but this is not the case. Gutenberg's Bible was a stunningly beautiful work done in beautiful type style, and then hand-illuminated in a rainbow of colours, as well as liquid gold. Even the paper used was of the highest quality and bore unusual and artful watermarks."
Experts have established that Gutenberg probably printed 180 Bibles, 30 on parchment and 150 on paper. Today only 20 complete originals exist in the world. Six are in the United States, including one in the Library of Congress.
The Gutenberg Bible was first referred to as the 42-line Bible for purely technical reasons. The typesetting was prepared so that the text would appear in compact columns of exactly 42 lines.
The identical reprint of the Gutenberg Bible required countless hours of work by highly qualified professionals: craftsmen and artists who employed century-old methods first used by 15 th century printers and 16 th century papermakers.
Who was the man responsible for the greatest invention of all time?
To begin with, his real name was Johann Gensfleisch. His family home had a sign in front bearing the inscription, "Zu Guten Berg", meaning " the beautiful mountain", and this pseudonym became the accepted family name. His father was a master goldsmith and coinmaker for the Archbishop of Mainz and belonged to the city's wealthy class of families. The young Gutenberg was a gifted apprentice in his father' s shop, and quickly mastered the necessary skills for metalwork.
Gutenberg was born in Mainz between 1394 and 1399. Almost sixty years later, between 1452 and 1456, Gutenberg printed the first book ever - the Bible. He died in 1468.
Source: Pamphlet by Midwest Library Service, 11443 St. Charles Rock Road Bridgeton, MO 63044
27 comments:
Ongelooflik waardevol!
Hi
This is a very nice book.
Regards
Maria
marias@medunsa.ac.za
Katrien - this is an excellent blog!
Ina
Very interesting information. I will certenly read it in future again.
Interesting
a very nice book, hey!-
Hi This is an excellent feature. Wish we could all have something like this.
h
wao! what a read!
Thanks for your good work.It reminds us of books to read. The Bible is also a good copy.
Thanks for your good work.
MMM
Very interesting piece.
wow what a brilliant idea, have you thought of making it available to blind or print handicappped people
great review
This is interesting to see that Africana Collection is still valuable. Keep up the good work
interesting.!!!!!
Its not only a book but a piece of art
This book is interesting.
It is very interesting that you managed to get hold of a very old book. Where can one get hold of the print copy
This book is interesting.
This book is so interesting, thank you for posting this one.
Keep up the good work.
Hi
I may have seen this book in the Don Africana Library.
Hi Katrien,
This must be so precious. One can barely imagine the time that it took to painstakingly work on that bible, way back then. i wonder if our children or the youth of today can appreciate it seeing that we live in such a fast world. If one consider that Obama became president this week I am sure that within the next few weeks books by "experts' on this will come out - that is how easy it is these days to produce a book.
However, i must say that i can appreciate all the care and dedication that it took to do the first book.
Thank you for the blog. i am in the leadership workshop hosted by your institution and hopefully will learn to blog soon.
Cheers from a fello librarian Lucille Webster from DUT Library
what a great read
How fortunate that you could view such a special book.
What a great read!
Thank you for highlighting this remarkable book. I have seen one of the originals, at the Mainz Museum (unbelievable security!)
Erica
This is very interesting book to look at .Godfrey
Very interesting book, thanks for the blog.Kabelo
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