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Johann Gutenberg

Gutenberg’s Blanks

April 28, 2020 - Aaron T. Pratt

Gutenberg Bible, fol. 454 verso (detail).

Even with a print run of fewer than 200 copies, the Gutenberg Bible was a major undertaking. A complete copy, like the Ransom Center’s, includes 1,277 large pages that have text printed on them. Each full page required that approximately 2,500 individual pieces of metal type be set by hand, one at a time. And some pages had to be set twice, because Gutenberg decided to increase the Bible’s print run. With some rough multiplication, we end up with well over 3,000,000 times that someone had to pick up a piece of type and put it into a page forme and, then, after all copies of that page had been printed, take that piece of type out of the page forme and put it back so it could be used again. I think we’d all agree that that’s a lot of work.

[Read more…] about Gutenberg’s Blanks

Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Featured1 Tagged With: early books and manuscripts, Gutenberg Bible, Johann Gutenberg

Instructions for reading aloud in the Gutenberg Bible

July 5, 2017 - Aaron T. Pratt

As many readers of this blog will know, Johann Gutenberg and Johann Fust’s Biblia latina (Mainz, 1454–1455) represents the first substantial book printed from moveable type on a printing press. Without question, it is a milestone in information technology. And yet, it is important to remember that [Read more…] about Instructions for reading aloud in the Gutenberg Bible

Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + Events Tagged With: Aaron T. Pratt, Biblia Latina, early books and manuscripts, Gutenberg Bible, Johann Fust, Johann Gutenberg, Mainz, Pforzheimer curator

The Jenson Bible joins the Gutenberg Bible’s page turning

July 12, 2016 - Gerald Cloud

Biblia Latina. Mainz: Johann Gutenberg, 1454–55.

Genesis, Chapter I. Volume I:5r

[Read more…] about The Jenson Bible joins the Gutenberg Bible’s page turning

Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts Tagged With: bible, font, Genesis, Gerald Cloud, Gutenberg Bible, Jenson, Johann Gutenberg, Nicholas Jenson, page turning, printing, Roman, typeface

New websites for the Gutenberg Bible and the First Photograph

February 28, 2013 - Alicia Dietrich

Page from new First Photograph web exhibition.
Page from new First Photograph web exhibition.

The Ransom Center launched updated websites for its two permanent exhibitions, the Gutenberg Bible and the First Photograph. The websites contain information, interactive components, and content geared toward children related to each exhibition.

The Gutenberg Bible is the first substantial book printed from movable type on a printing press. It was printed in Johann Gutenberg’s shop in Mainz, Germany, between 1450 and 1455. View a video demonstrating Gutenberg’s printing process.

Gutenberg’s invention revolutionized the distribution of knowledge by making it possible to produce many accurate copies of a single work in a relatively short amount of time. View a map that shows the spread of printing after Gutenberg.

Visitors can turn the pages of the Gutenberg Bible, view the pages in high-resolution, and browse by Books of the Bible or page characteristics, including famous passages, illuminations, and watermarks.

The Ransom Center holds one of five complete copies in the United States. View a map of where the other Gutenberg Bibles are housed.

The First Photograph, which Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce produced in 1826, is the foundation of the Ransom Center’s photography collection. The 8 x 6.5-inch heliograph depicts a view just outside the workroom window of Niépce’s estate in Le Gras in east central France.

Website visitors can watch an animated video showing how the First Photograph was made as well as create a virtual heliograph of themselves using a webcam; the virtual heliograph image replicates the photographic technique used to create the First Photograph.

The website offers content geared for younger visitors, including digital coloring pages of the Gutenberg Bible and First Photograph and the opportunity to use Gutenberg’s process to print their own message.

The website was made possible through a generous gift by Margaret Hight.

Filed Under: Books + Manuscripts, Exhibitions + Events, Photography Tagged With: first photograph, Gutenberg Bible, Johann Gutenberg, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, Margaret Hight, web exhibition

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Ransom Center Magazine is an online and print publication sharing stories and news about the Harry Ransom Center, its collections, and the creative community surrounding it.

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