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.
Johann Gutenberg
Instructions for reading aloud in the Gutenberg Bible
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
The Jenson Bible joins the Gutenberg Bible’s page turning
Biblia Latina. Mainz: Johann Gutenberg, 1454–55.
Genesis, Chapter I. Volume I:5r
Among the most striking features of the two volume Gutenberg Bible is the consistency of its printing and the elegance of its letterforms: the rich black ink, evenly pressed into the page resembles the applied precision of a pen—and for good reason. The typeface of the Gutenberg Bible is based on the standard hand-written letterform used in religious works of the late-medieval period: Textura, also referred to as Blackletter, or Gothic. The letters have strong vertical stokes and a boxy appearance. The exact technique by which Gutenberg cast his type in lead is not fully agreed upon by scholars, but it is generally thought that the types were produced by casting molten metal into small letter-shaped molds.
[Read more…] about The Jenson Bible joins the Gutenberg Bible’s page turning
