Gutenberg Bible
Movable type's debut
The Gutenberg Bible is the first substantial book printed in Europe using movable metal type, produced by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany around 1455.
It represents a watershed moment in the history of information technology, making books far cheaper and faster to produce than hand-copying allowed.
The approximately 180 copies printed were Latin Bibles, of which about 49 survive today, making them among the most valuable books in existence.
A single leaf from a Gutenberg Bible sold at auction for over $100,000.
- letterpressPrinting from raised surfaces
- incunabulaEarliest European printed books
- movable typeReconfigurable printing components
- printingReproducing text mechanically
- first editionsOriginal printing runs
vellum · codices · rare books · collector's item · scriptorium · book arts · blackletter · title page · typography · typesetting · colophon · typeface · block printing · folio · Latin · sacred text · woodcut · manuscript
- Historic ManuscriptsCodex Sinaiticus, Lindisfarne Gospels, Magna Carta, Domesday Book, Book of Kells
- printingprinting press, letterpress, printing, lithographers, offset printing
- historical documentsDeclaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Magna Carta, Emancipation Proclamation, Federalist Papers
- Bible editionsKing James Version, KJV, NIV, RSV, Septuagint
- Bible TranslationsKing James Version, NIV, KJV, RSV, King James
- book collectingbibliophiles, first editions, rare books, first edition, antiquarian
Gutenberg Bibleilluminated manuscript
Hand-decorated medieval book
Book of Kells · Lindisfarne Gospels · medieval manuscript · Dead Sea Scrolls · papyrus scroll
Gutenberg Bibleoral tradition
Culture passed by speech
e-book · digital text · audiobook · cuneiform tablet · cave painting