Where are Gutenberg’s Bibles?

The German printer Johann Gutenberg is credited with the printing the Bibles on a hand made printing press using the movable type, in the year 1455. This was an important landmark as the publications could now be printed instead of being copied by hand, which happened to be a long as well as a tedious process. Also known as the 42 line Bibles these happen to be the most famous piece of printed material in the world.

There were originally 180 copies of the Gutenberg Bible. They were bound in leather in two volumes. The wealthy patrons around the European continent bought the most expensive of these Bibles printed on vellum. The rest of Gutenberg's Bibles were printed on a hemp based paper product that was considered to be not durable enough to stand the test of time.

Of the 180 Bibles that were published, there are a very few copies of the 42 line Bibles that are known to exist. There is also a version of the New Testament that has been published on vellum and its known that 48 copies of Gutenberg's Bible were published on the hemp-based paper.

There are three copies of Bible printed on vellum that are perfectly intact. These are with the countries of England, France and the United States. The copy of the Gutenberg Bible in the United States is kept in the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. In France the Gutenberg Bible is located in the Bibliotheque Nationale. This library happens to be home to some of the exclusive and most expensive of the books. The copy of England's vellum Gutenberg Bible is housed in the British Library situated in London. This Library is also home to some of the original books by the Bard of Avon, Shakespeare. And last but not the least, a fourth and final copy of the Bible rests in Goettigen, Germany's Universitaetsbibliothek.

Some of the other perfect copies of the Gutenberg Bible on paper are located in Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, and the United States. In all, there are about eighteen perfect copies printed on hemp based paper which was at one time considered not durable enough.

One copy of Gutenberg's Bible is in Asia in the Keio University Library in Tokyo. It is an incomplete and imperfect copy, but nonetheless an important copy of the 42 line Bible. This Bible was purchased in 1987 for an exorbitant price of $4.9 million by the Maruzen Company of Tokyo, and presented to the University in 1996.

While traveling do not miss out on any of these imperfect copies of Bible that exist throughout the European continent in many universities, libraries and private collections.

If you are interested in seeing a copy—complete or incomplete—of a Gutenberg Bible, look to the World Wide Web. Many of these Bibles have been digitized and are available for viewing in the comfort of your own home. Look at the Gutenberg Bible census (http://clausenbooks. com/gutenbergcensus.htm) to find a Bible in an area near you or where you plan to travel.

Article Source: http://www.parentingarticlelibrary.com

About the author: Brett Nga writes exclusively for For Bibles there's a wealth of knowledge on the website, plus their free newsletter is well worth signing up for too. If you want to read more Bible articles go to: www.forbibles.com/articles
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