How does the Guttenberg printing press work? The Gutenberg Bible is the rarest Bible See what the “Gutenberg Bible” is in other dictionaries

It is distinguished from other first-print publications by the exceptional quality of its design.

History of creation

In 1448, Johannes Gutenberg borrowed 150 guilders, apparently to establish a printing press. In 1450, he needed another 800 guilders, for which he turned to the wealthy merchant Johann Fust. By 1455, Gutenberg's debt amounted to more than 2,000 guilders, which he could not repay. As a result, the printing house and books went to Fust and Gutenberg's former student Peter Schaeffer. The Gutenberg Bible appeared no later than 1455, when the book was mentioned in his correspondence by Cardinal Piccolomini.

Everything that they wrote to me about this amazing man whom I saw in Frankfurt is true. I didn't see any finished Bibles, just a few notebooks from different parts of the Bible. The handwriting is very neat and legible, not at all difficult to read - Your Lordship will read it without difficulty and, indeed, without glasses. Cardinal Piccolomini in a letter to Cardinal Carvajal. March 1455 .

Before starting to publish the Bible, Gutenberg printed small publications: calendars, Latin grammar textbooks, indulgences. You could say that this was a preparatory work, while the 42-line Bible became Gutenberg's main work.

Characteristic

Influence of the manuscript tradition

In the mid-15th century, large format handwritten Bibles, intended for reading from a pulpit or church lectern, came into fashion again. It is believed that one of these books, the so-called Great Mainz Bible, produced in 1452-1453, served as the prototype for the Gutenberg Bible.

Gutenberg sought to create the most accurate copy of a handwritten book of his time. Initials and headings were entered by hand. Some copies were illuminated. The design of the same characters in a font varies to create a more lively impression.

Such imitation is a characteristic feature of early printed books published before the 1500s. Thus, the appearance of the Gutenberg Bible and other incunabula has a transitional character: from a manuscript to a printed book.

Format and proportions

The previous printing ink was used for woodcut printing and was not suitable for printing with metal type. Gutenberg changed the composition of the paint, adding copper, sulfur, and lead. The latter, apparently, was the reason for the unusual shine.

Changes

While printing the book, Gutenberg made significant changes to its appearance. At first he printed not only the main text, but also the headings. Each sheet went through the machine twice - first, the text was printed in black ink, and then the rubric was printed in red. Gutenberg soon abandoned this idea, leaving empty spaces for initials, headings and footers, which were then filled in by hand.

In science, the Gutenberg Bible is called the 42-line Bible, based on the number of lines on the page. However, at first there were 40 of them. Then, apparently for the sake of economy, Gutenberg increased the number of lines to forty-two. To avoid going over margins when adding new lines, Gutenberg reduced the line spacing.

It was long believed that the so-called Bamberg, or 36-line, Bible was produced before the 42-line Bible, but it was later proven that the printer who printed B36 had the text B42 in front of him.

Further history

According to modern estimates, the total circulation of the Bible was about 180 copies. Most of the books were printed on premium Italian paper. About 45 copies were published on parchment. These copies were more expensive.

Apparently the Bibles sold out immediately. Among the first owners were residents of England, and possibly also Sweden and Hungary. It is known that some copies were sold for 30 florins. Although they were much cheaper than a handwritten Bible, most students, priests and other people with ordinary incomes were not able to purchase them. It is assumed that most of the books were purchased by monasteries, universities and especially wealthy people. Currently, only one copy is known, which belonged to a private person in the 15th century.

The Paris copy, discovered in 1763 in the papers of Cardinal Mazarin, became so famous that all copies of the 42-line Bible were for a long time called "Mazarin Bibles."

As of 2009, there were 47 early printed Bibles in various collections around the world, of which only 21 were complete. The largest number of Bibles are in Germany (12), USA (11), Great Britain (8) and France (4). The editions kept in Trier and Indiana are probably fragments of a single copy. In the Russian Empire there was only one copy of the paper Bible (2 volumes without 1 sheet), but in 1931 it was sold by the Soviet government to London auctioneers, and later entered the Bodmer Library (Cologny, Switzerland).

In 1945, captured brigades, with the active participation

Gutenberg Bible

It’s amazing, but apart from his great work, nothing has survived from this man to our time. Even the graves... There is no real portrait of Johannes Gutenberg. The famous engraving, in which he is depicted in a tall fur hat, dates back to a later time and is the fruit of the artist’s imagination...

Little is known about Gutenberg's life. Even the exact date of his birth has not yet been established. The year is said to be 1394 or 1397, but most biographers believe he was born in 1399 or 1400.

Johann Gutenberg belonged to a noble patrician family in the city of Mainz. In some documents, the future inventor of printing is called Gensfleisch zum Gutenberg. Gensfleisch is the surname of his father, Gutenberg is the surname of his mother and the family in whose bosom Johann was born and spent his childhood.

There is no specific information left about Gutenberg's early life and years of apprenticeship, but subsequent activities indicate his varied knowledge. Apparently, he had an excellent command of the jewelry craft and was a skilled engraver and stone carver. All this was of great importance for his future invention.

The further fate of the Gensfleisch-Gutenberg family was determined by the outbreak of fire at the beginning of the 15th century. in Mainz, the struggle between the patriciate and the guild artisans. As a result of the victory of the latter, the Gensfleisch-Gutenbergs were forced to leave their hometown. Young Johann most likely ended up in Strasbourg. The earliest document about his stay there dates back to 1434. This is Gutenberg's complaint to the Mainz magistrate regarding unpaid rent. Much more important is another court case brought against Gutenberg in 1439 by several Strasbourg burghers. In essence, it introduces us to the background of a great invention. From the acts of this process it is clear that at the end of 1437 or the beginning of 1438, Johannes Gutenberg entered into an agreement with judge Hans Riffe and two other residents of Strasbourg to make mirrors for sale at the fair in Aachen.

The word “Spiegel” in those days had another meaning in the German language - this was the name of educational books illustrated with popular prints - “Mirrors”, which were widely distributed throughout Europe.

A commercial company was created to exploit Gutenberg's invention. Each participant contributed 80 guilders to the common fund. In 1438, one of the shareholders, Andreas Dritzen, died, and his heirs sued Gutenberg, demanding the return of the contribution. Documents related to this case have been preserved, and although the essence of the invention is not directly stated in them, some conclusions are possible. The documents talk about molds, a press and some kind of device consisting of 4 parts (possibly referring to a mold for casting letters).

A witness in the case, jeweler Hans Dunne, testified that he received 100 guilders from Gutenberg for the production of “things related to printing.” All this still does not allow us to say with confidence that already in 1438–1439. Gutenberg had a printing house in Strasbourg, but there is no doubt that even then he made efforts to realize his invention.

The prominent scientist Jacob Wimpfeling, who lived in Strasbourg, in the historical work “Epitome rerum Germanicarum” (1507) calls Gutenberg the inventor of printing (Typographiae inventor) and clarifies that he invented (invenit) printing in Strasbourg, and put it into practice (complevit) in Mainz .

Numerous documents on the history of book printing from this initial period help to form an idea of ​​the printing house of that time, its equipment and printing technology. However, first of all, it is necessary to at least briefly describe how printed letters were made. The fact is that the technology of their casting, invented by Gutenberg, was precisely the basis of his invention.

Gutenberg could take the production of metal coins as a model. But to cast the font, a special, fairly convenient device had to be created. Apparently this was done in Strasbourg.

This device is a rectangular metal mold. How was the font cast in it? Initially, a stamp called a punch was made from hard metal, on which a letter sign was engraved in relief in a mirror image. Then the punch was pressed into a matrix - a plate made of soft metal. The result was a concave, straight image of the sign. The matrix was inserted into a mold and filled with molten metal. The result was a letter with a mirrored raised convex eye of the letter, with which it could be printed. From one matrix it was possible to produce as many letters as needed for printing.

The technical difficulty was that the letters of the alphabet differ from each other in width. Therefore, the casting mold had to be adapted to the width of each die. This was achieved in an ingenious way: the cast form consisted of two parts in the form of a Latin L; by moving the parts it was possible to change the width of the form.

Since it was necessary to squeeze out depressions in the matrix with a punch, it was natural that steel was used for the punches, and soft copper for the dies. But the metal for casting the letters themselves had to have qualities that no natural metal has: it had to melt easily at relatively low temperatures, not be too viscous when molten, and instantly harden when cooling. As a result of long experiments, Gutenberg chose an alloy consisting of 70 parts of lead, 25 parts of tin and 5 parts of antimony.

The solution turned out to be so successful that only very minor adjustments were required in the future.

For lubricating metal type (after all, they were supposed to leave an imprint on the paper), ordinary ink used for woodblock printing was not suitable. Gutenberg made printing ink from soot and linseed oil (linseed oil).

Two other essential pieces of printing equipment are the printing press and the typesetting desk. Neither of these were new. The prototype of the printing press could be presses used in both paper and coin production and in winemaking. The idea of ​​a typesetting cash register could have been inspired by a visit to any moneylender's or banker's office, where such cash registers were used for sorting coins.

Before printing began, it was necessary to prepare the paper. Dry paper does not absorb paint well. Therefore, it was pre-moistened.

Simultaneously with the paper, a printing form was prepared at the typesetting cash desk - a typesetting. A typesetting cash register is a flat box placed at an angle, open at the top, with cells of different sizes, depending on the frequency of use of the letter. For convenience, the typesetting cash register was divided into two parts - the upper one, with cells for capital letters and punctuation marks, and the lower one, for lowercase letters. In the upper cash register the letters were arranged in alphabetical order, and in the lower one - in such a way that the most frequently occurring letters were at hand.

The typesetter, reading the sheet with the typed text mounted opposite him, held a typesetting board in one hand - a special tool probably also invented by Gutenberg - with the other hand he collected the required line in it letter by letter, and then transferred it to the typesetting board on which the printed form.

When the printing plate was prepared, we moved on to the printing press - wooden, with some metal parts. Usually this machine was bulky and heavy and, moreover, securely attached to both the floor and the ceiling. Printing, especially in two colors, required great precision, and absolute immobility of the machine was a prerequisite.

The main part of the printing press was a wooden screw with a pressure lever - kuka. The screw ended at the bottom with a quadrangular pressure plate (crucible, pian). By turning the lever, the screw together with the crucible could be raised or lowered. The work at the machine was hard and required extraordinary physical strength combined with precision and coordination of movements.

Another component of the printing press was a guide frame attached to it: a movable table with a carriage - a thaler, driven by a cord, which was wound on a shaft equipped with a handle. On the thaler there was a printed form with a typesetting - one, two or more pages of typed text. The set was wrapped with a harsh thread so that it would not fall apart or move apart at all. Then it was coated with a thin layer of paint: this work was performed by a special worker. He applied the paint using matzo, which was cleaned and soaked in water for 7–8 hours to soften and make it elastic. The matzos had to be changed frequently, since the quality of the print depended to a large extent on the smoothness of the ink application.

All this took a lot of time, and therefore, while the press operator was printing one sheet, his assistant was preparing another form for printing. The moistened sheet of paper was not placed directly on the mold, but on a tympanum (deckel) - a frame covered with fabric or soft leather, attached with hinges to the thaler.

To prevent the paper from crumbling and moving during printing, it was pricked on two needles in the middle of the tympanum and, in addition, a frashket was placed on top - a wooden or iron frame with paper or cardboard stretched over it, in which a place was cut out where the printed material should go text, and margins are left. The frashket was attached to the tympanum with hinges: they protected the margins of the paper so that they did not get dirty. Having properly prepared the printing form and the tympanum, it was placed on the form, and the thaler was pushed under the crucible of the press. The press operator turned the lever and pressed the paper against the printing plate with force. An imprint appeared on it. Then the screw with the crucible was lifted, turning the lever in the opposite direction, the thaler was removed from under the press, the frashket was lifted, the printed sheet was removed from the tympanum and hung out to dry. This entire sequence of operations was repeated over and over again until the end of the working day.

Hundreds of prints were obtained from one set. The dried sheets were again put under the press to get an impression on the reverse side. They were then placed on a board, covered with another board, and pressed down with a 40-50 pound weight to flatten them. After 5-6 hours they were taken out, put into piles, sorted and sent to binders.

The text in two colors was obtained like this. First, they printed black text, covering with frashket those places that still had to be printed in red. After drying, the sheet was returned to the press, the finished print was covered with frashket and printed with red ink. The difficulty was to ensure that the lines made in different colors did not overlap one another. There were other ways to print in two colors.

In large printing houses there was a division of labor. The recruitment was carried out by specially trained workers. The printing itself was a less complex operation, but required physical strength and accuracy. In addition to the three main operations: typing, applying paint and printing, there were many auxiliary ones: putting dried sheets into piles, laying them out for binding, mixing paint, carrying water, etc. This was usually the job of students. In a large printing house with three or four presses they also had a proofreader and a supervisor - the so-called factor. At the beginning of the 16th century. in large printing houses there were an average of 5 workers per machine, which was also enshrined in law.

It is not known what Gutenberg did before returning to Mainz (this happened in 1448). It has only been established that in 1444 he still lived in Strasbourg, and in 1448 - already in Mainz. In particular, on October 17, 1448, he signed a document there on a loan of 150 guilders. However, some historians believe that Gutenberg could have found himself in Mainz as early as 1445–1446, and it was with him that the first anonymous printed publications, of which only fragments remain, are associated.

The most important fragment of the “Book of the Sibylline” is “The Last Judgment,” presumably printed in 1445. The printing technique itself, still very primitive, allowed us to assume that this was Gutenberg’s first book. Then follow the donata, printed on parchment, and the missal of 1449.

The first printed editions of Gutenberg also include an astronomical calendar for 1448 (later it turned out that this is not a calendar at all, but an astrological table for 30 years in advance and it was published not in 1447, but 10 years later). Around the same time, in 1454–1456, a medical calendar was published, and even earlier - a number of small publications: the so-called “Turkish Calendar”, the “Turkish Bull” of Pope Calixtus III of June 29, 1455, calling for the fight against the Turks, and two indulgences of 1454–1455. In 1456, a description of the dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church was published under the title “Provinciale romanum”. Most of these publications are typed in a font called Donat-Kalendertype in specialized literature. It is similar to the handwritten Gothic font-texture with which liturgical books were copied. Indulgences are already typed in a round Gothic font. Comparing the first of these editions with the latest, one can notice an improvement in printing techniques. These publications, produced mainly for church orders, clearly helped Gutenberg improve his invention. In addition, published in large quantities and sold only for cash, these books enabled Gutenberg to cover the initial costs of equipping a printing house and begin printing the 42-line Bible, a true masterpiece of printing art.

He talks about Gutenberg's activities in Mainz at the beginning of the 16th century. chronicler of the Hirzau monastery Johann Trithemius. Under 1450: “Then in the German city on the Rhine - Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg invented the wonderful and unheard-of art of printing books with movable type; Since he spent almost all his property on this invention and, struggling with insurmountable difficulties, lost all hope of successfully completing the project due to lack of money and already intended to abandon his plans, Johann Fust, also a resident of Mainz, helped him with advice and money. This allowed us to complete the work we started. Indeed, as I heard from Peter Schöffer of Gernsheim, a resident of Mainz and son-in-law of the founder of this art, the art of printing from its very beginning had to face enormous difficulties. For the printing of the Bible already cost more than 4,000 guilders.

The aforementioned Peter Schöffer was a wise man. He invented an easier way to cast type and brought this art to the level of perfection at which it stands today. And these three men kept their method of printing secret, but then the secret was spread by their assistants (whom they could not do without) first in Strasbourg, and then in other cities.”

Thus, Gutenberg, faced with financial difficulties, was forced to turn to the wealthy businessman Johann Fust for help. With the money received, apprentices were hired, including P. Schöffer, an excellent calligrapher and illuminator with experience in Paris. Having quickly learned the art of printing and married Fust's daughter, he became the third partner, and after Gutenberg left the company and Fust's death, the sole owner of the printing house.

Some additional information about Gutenberg's edition of the 42-line Bible is provided by a published letter from the humanist, historian and diplomat Cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini, chancellor of Emperor Frederick III. In this letter, sent from Vienna on March 12, 1455, Piccolomini tells Cardinal Juan de Carvajallo in Rome the following: “Nothing negative was written to me about the amazing man they saw in Frankfurt. I have not seen the complete Bible, but only some of its notebooks with different books, written in a clean and accurate font... Your Grace could easily read them without glasses. From many witnesses I learned that 158 ​​copies were made, some even claimed that 180. I am not entirely sure of the number; but I have no doubt about the quality, if you can trust these people. If I knew your wish, I would buy you one copy. Some notebooks arrived here to the emperor. I will try, if possible, to get a Bible still available for sale and pay for it. But I am afraid that this will not be possible... since even before the printing was completed, buyers appeared for it.”

The letter does not mention the name of this “amazing man,” but it is not difficult to guess that he was Gutenberg.

It has not yet been possible to fully clarify the circumstances of the litigation between Gutenberg and Fust in 1455. Researchers have at their disposal a notarial deed dated November 6, 1455, with a summary of the complaint filed by Fust and Gutenberg’s response to it. From this act it follows that in 1450 Gutenberg had his own printing house and for the final equipment he borrowed 800 guilders from Fust, but then he was forced to pawn the equipment made with this money to cover the debt.

No later than 1452, Fust lent Gutenberg another 800 guilders at interest and entered into a share with Gutenberg. Gutenberg did not want to return the interest from this last amount to the lender, and then Fust decided to terminate the contract and demand both amounts from Gutenberg along with interest, for a total of 2026 guilders. The court granted this claim only partially, ruling that the second amount contributed could not be qualified as a loan, but only as a contribution from a partner to a joint venture.

Be that as it may, the trial, naturally, finally quarreled between Gutenberg and Fust and undermined the financial position of the inventor. And yet, these years were the time of Gutenberg’s greatest triumph: a unique masterpiece of book art was released - the so-called 42-line Bible (as opposed to another, later edition - the 36-line Bible).

Its preparation for printing required a huge amount of work: it began, apparently, in 1452, and was completed, judging by the rubricator’s notes, no later than August 1456. Most likely, according to the quoted letter from Piccolomini, at the beginning of 1455 Gutenberg sought to ensure that in this edition all the beauty of a handwritten book is recreated - not only the intricate initials, headings, etc., but also the richness of the font.

For this purpose, Gutenberg produced 290 different types, including ligatures and abbreviations characteristic of manuscripts. This is a gothic texture, like the one used when printing donuts, but much slimmer and more elegant.

Striving for the utmost perfection, Gutenberg was relentlessly demanding of typesetters. Therefore, work progressed slowly: per day, six typesetters managed to prepare only one page. An analysis of the paper shows what difficulties the publisher had to face. At first the Bible was printed on excellent single-grade paper. After a year and a half, its supply ran out, so I had to buy paper in small portions and even use waste.

In 1454, due to a shortage of paper, work was suspended altogether. To get money, Gutenberg apparently had to take some of his apprentices away from working on the Bible and print more profitable publications - the “Turkish Calendar” and indulgences. Local church authorities paid for these products in cash, and Gutenberg was able to purchase enough quality paper to complete the Bible.

Regarding the circulation of the 42-line Bible, it has so far been assumed that 200 copies were printed, of which 35 on parchment and 165 on paper. However, based on Piccolomini’s letter, the German researcher L. Hoffman comes to the conclusion that the original circulation of the Bible was set at 158 ​​copies, but later, due to the great demand for the book, it was increased to 180.

Under normal conditions, the profits from the sale of this edition should have been enough to pay off creditors and even expand the enterprise, but, as we remember, the litigation with Fust undermined Gutenberg’s financial position to such an extent that he had to sell some of the equipment and fonts, and the printing house itself went to his enemies - Fust and Schöffer.

From this and later periods there remain no printed monuments which could be attributed without hesitation to Gutenberg. The great inventor never put his name on books. In 1457, the Psalter was produced at a high artistic level, often called the Mainz Psalter after the place of publication. Although Fust and Schöffer are named in the colophon of this book, some researchers believe that they only completed the publication, and Gutenberg himself began it.

In 1462, major political events took place in Mainz. A struggle broke out for the position of archbishop. Adolf von Nassau, who won this fight, included Gutenberg in his retinue and created all the conditions for him to live comfortably.

The great printer died on February 3, 1468 and was buried in the Franciscan church. Unfortunately, the church was subsequently rebuilt...

Today, about fifty copies of the Gutenberg Bible - the first book printed in Europe in the 15th century - are kept under seven seals in prestigious libraries and monasteries around the world.

Of course, the more or less generally accepted point of view in historical or bibliographic science recognizes Johannes Gutenberg as the inventor of printing, but skeptics argue that this is more a tradition than an immutable truth - Johannes Gutenberg still hides too many mysteries...

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8.9. REGULAR BIBLE: NOAH'S SWIM ON THE GREAT WATERS. MORMON BIBLE: NEVHIAH'S VOYAGE THROUGH THE GREAT OCEAN “After I, Nephi, had FINISHED THE SHIP according to the instructions of the Lord, my brethren saw that IT WAS GOOD AND OF VERY STRONG WORK, and so they humbled themselves again before

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8. Bible: Noah builds an ark for sailing Mormon Bible: Naevius builds a ship for sailing across the ocean The Mormon Bible tells that, having traveled a long way, the people of Naevius-Noah came to the shore of a huge sea. The story of further events is one of the central ones in the Bible

From the book Rus' and Rome. Colonization of America by Russia-Horde in the 15th–16th centuries author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

9. Bible: Noah's Voyage Across the Great Waters Mormon Bible: Naevih's Voyage Across the Great Ocean “After I, Nephi, had finished the ship according to the instructions of the Lord, my brothers saw that it was good and of very strong workmanship, and so they humbled themselves again before Lord... Voice

From the book Rus' and Rome. Colonization of America by Russia-Horde in the 15th–16th centuries author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

29. The Ostroh Bible is the Perm, that is, the Austrian, that is, the Eastern Imperial “Mongolian” Bible. As we have seen, the modern Bible in one of its first versions was printed at the end of the 16th century in Slavic. This is the famous publication of Ivan Fedorov, the so-called

From the book The Jewish World [The most important knowledge about the Jewish people, their history and religion (litres)] author Telushkin Joseph

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Chapter 6 The conquest of America in the 15th century by the troops of Rus'-Horde and Ottomania = Atamania The biblical patriarch Noah is Christopher Columbus The Regular Bible and the Mormon Bible 1. Our reconstruction and introductory remarks In the biblical book of Genesis there is a famous story about the global flood. Here

From the book Book 2. Conquest of America by Russia-Horde [Biblical Rus'. The Beginning of American Civilizations. Biblical Noah and medieval Columbus. Revolt of the Reformation. Dilapidated author Nosovsky Gleb Vladimirovich

8. Regular Bible: Noah builds an ark for sailing Mormon Bible: Naevius builds a ship for sailing across the ocean The Mormon Bible further tells that, having traveled a long way, the people of Naevius-Noah came to the shore of some huge sea. The story of further events is

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9. Plain Bible: Noah's voyage across the great waters Mormon Bible: Naevih's voyage across the great ocean The Mormon Bible says: “After I, Nephi, had finished the ship according to the instructions of the Lord, my brothers saw that IT WAS GOOD AND VERY STRONGLY WORKED, and so they again

From the book The Road Home author Zhikarentsev Vladimir Vasilievich

author

Chapter II The starting point of Gutenberg's invention Typification and technicalization in the pre-typographic book business Teaching reading. Engraving. 1490 Ornament from a handwritten book BookwriterThe idea of ​​a circulation could not have arisen without some typification of book products in the pre-printing period. IN

From the book Johann Gutenberg and the beginning of printing in Europe author Varbanets Natalia Vasilievna

Chapter IV Helmasperger's notarial act The trial of Fust against Gutenberg The oath scene and characters (bottom left and right) of the Jacobus de Theramo trial. Belial. Magdeburg, 1492. Handwritten colophon by P. Schaeffer. 1449 After four and a half unknown years, Gutenberg

From the book Johann Gutenberg and the beginning of printing in Europe author Varbanets Natalia Vasilievna

Chapter V “The Business of Books” Gutenberg Fonts and Editions Portrait of Gutenberg from the Basel edition of 1578. Fragment of a 36-line Bible (left). Fragment of a 42-line Bible (right) Fragment of indulgence LI 31 (bottom) Starting point for the reconstruction of typographic activity

From the book Johann Gutenberg and the beginning of printing in Europe author Varbanets Natalia Vasilievna

Chapter IX “Traces of the Bear” The ideological meaning of Gutenberg’s feat A message from A. Gelthus about the place of Gutenberg’s grave Mainz, 1499. The Last Judgment. Separation of the righteous and sinners. Jacobus de Theramo. Belial. Magdeburg, 1492. “Book of the Sibylline.” Fragment about the “Last Judgment” (greatly reduced). Unlikely

From the book Islamic Intellectual Initiative in the 20th Century by Cemal Orhan

Original taken from streetart_ekb in Most in Russia - 55

The Gutenberg Bible is more of an identification code, a European civilizational relic, the materialization of the start of some very serious change that happened to our (European) civilization and not only ours. In the Far East, xylography existed for more than half a millennium BEFORE. But only with us this innovation worked a miracle. And then we infected the rest of the world with this miracle.

180 copies were printed. 47 have survived. 2 of them are now in Russia. Paper, a little simpler in the Moscow State University library. Parchment decorated version in the RSL (in the old Leninist style). It must be admitted that both Bibles are trophy. They were taken out from Leipzig after the war. I have already shared with friends my attitude to the topic of trophy art more than once. Among other things, I consider the appearance of these two books as retribution for the mediocre sale by the barbarian Stalin of 1 copy of the paper Gutenberg Bible from the Russian National Library.

This is the first typographic incunabula. In terms of the number of incunabula (the very first European books published from the beginning of printing until January 1, 1501), Russian libraries are not the least in the world. The St. Petersburg National Library is included in the world top 10, taking 7th place. The Moscow RSL is one step away from the top 10 and takes 11th place. I believe that the RSL does not completely take into account all trophy books, although it does very consistent and high-quality work on publishing trophy funds. So it is possible that in this table of ranks our libraries can actually occupy higher positions.

Location of the Gutenberg Bible 1456: 48 surviving copies of the book are kept today in museums and libraries in 14 countries. Estimated value of a 1456 Gutenberg Bible: $25-35 million

Bibliophiles have their own objects of worship. Undoubtedly, on the first shelf of a true lover of ancient publications should be the famous Gutenberg Bible - the first printed book, which appeared in two volumes in 1456. There are several hundred copies of that very Bible (and the cost of one volume is 5.5 million dollars), but the very first copy is located in an unknown place and with whom. And this “someone,” apparently, periodically sells the rarity at auction in parts, that is, literally by page ($5 thousand per sheet). But if the book suddenly appears at auction in its entirety, it will not be sold for less than $25 million, and this will only be the starting price.

The Gutenberg Bible consisted of two volumes, created in 1456. This edition has never been sold in its entirety, but not so long ago one page of the book went under the hammer for twenty-five thousand dollars. To roughly imagine the cost of the originals of this publication, it is worth mentioning the sale of one of its later copies, which was sold at auction for five and a half million.

The 42-line Bible was the first printed book of the Vulgate folio edition produced in the early 1450s in Mainz. Its founder was Johannes Gutenberg, who laid the foundation for the history of printing in Europe. Although the book is not considered the first incunabula, among other early printed copies it stands out for its exceptionally high quality of design. Since each printer fit forty-two lines of text onto a sheet, the Gutenberg Bible is usually called 42-line.

Many scholars at one time believed that the Bamberg Bible, which consisted of 36 lines, was the predecessor of the Gutenberg edition, but it later turned out that it was printed according to the 42-line model. The book was designed in the traditional style of handwritten Bibles created in the mid-fifteenth century. The price of the first copies was on par with the handwritten versions.

According to the calculations of modern experts, Gutenberg produced about one hundred and eighty copies of the Bible, 45 of which were published on parchment, and the rest were printed on Italian paper that had special watermarks. According to the latest data, there are only 21 complete copies of the publication in the world. The Paris Bible, found in 1763 among the papers of Cardinal Mazarin, became so famous that all versions of the 42-line Bible were called “Mazarin Bibles” for quite a long time.

Largest number of Bible editions Gutenberg is stored in Germany, Great Britain and the USA. The Indiana and Trier volumes appear to have been fragments of a single copy. There was also one copy of this printed Bible on the territory of the Russian Empire, but in 1931 the Soviet government sold this expensive antique to auctioneers from London. Over time, this copy was sent to a library in Switzerland. In 1945, two Gutenberg Bibles were exported to the USSR from Leipzig, the official location of which was made public only in 1993. Now the two-volume paper Bible is kept in the library at Moscow State University, and the incomplete one is kept in the Russian State Library.
The pinnacle of Gutenberg's typographic art was the 42-line Bible. It consists of two volumes and has a total of 1282 pages. For this book, Gutenberg produced 290 printing plates, which retained the abbreviations and ligatures characteristic of handwritten books. It is estimated that of the 180 copies of the Bible printed, 150 were printed on paper and 30 on parchment. At the same time, illustrations and screensavers for each book were drawn the old fashioned way, by hand. It took Gutenberg about a year to complete the entire edition - a time during which previously scribes could produce, at best, one single handwritten book.

Johann Guttenberg, the inventor of printing, was born in the German city of Mainz in 1397. After 1420, his family was expelled from the city for political reasons. They moved to Strasbourg, perhaps here Guttenberg received training in the trade. Already in 1434 he was recognized as a master in Strasbourg, in 1438 he began to work with Andreas Dritsena and his Heilmann brothers, he taught them some of the “secret arts”, including printing. At the end of the same year, Dritsena died, and Guttenberg was involved in a legal battle. The brothers of the deceased demanded that his partnership rights be given to them, but the court ruled in favor of Guttenberg.

Researchers are inclined to believe that Gutenberg took the so-called “Giant Mainz Bible” - a 1300-page manuscript created between 1452 and 1453 - as a model for his book. Preparations for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible began soon after 1450, and the first finished copies left the press in 1454 or 1455. This event marked the beginning of mass production of books in Europe.
The 42-line Bible gets its name from the number of lines on each page. This name is used today to distinguish this edition of the Gutenberg Bible from another, rarer 36-line Bible, which is also sometimes called the Gutenberg Bible. The term "Gutenberg Bible" is strictly used to refer to the 42-line edition only. Some researchers have argued that the 36-line Bible represents an early version of the Gutenberg Bible, and that the 42-line Bible was a second, more numerous and improved edition. Others have argued that the 36-line Bible was printed in 1458, 3 years after the 42-line Bible. This discussion ended after it was firmly established that the release of the 36-line Bible was based on the 42-line Bible.

This Bible remains one of the most beautiful printed books in the world. With its help, Gutenberg was able to prove that in terms of aesthetic value, the new type of bookmaking he invented was in no way inferior to the illustrated manuscripts popular at that time. The Gutenberg Bible was also hand-illustrated, making each copy unique.
To date, 48 complete or relatively complete copies of the Gutenberg Bible have survived: 12 in Germany, 11 in the USA, 8 in Great Britain, 4 in France, two copies each in the Vatican, Spain and Russia, one each in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and Japan. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was another, 49th copy of the Gutenberg Bible. This book was kept in the library of the Catholic University in Louvain (Belgium) and, along with the entire book depository, was lost in 1914 as a result of the hostilities of the First World War.

Surviving Gutenberg Bibles include 11 complete copies and one partial copy, printed on parchment rather than paper. In addition, a fairly significant number of scattered fragments of the Gutenberg Bible are known, many of which are simply single pages. On the world market, the cost of one such page can range from 20 to 100 thousand dollars. On October 22, 1987, an incomplete copy of the Gutenberg Bible (part of the Old Testament) was sold at Christie's for $5.4 million, and nine years earlier, a complete copy of the book was sold at the same auction for $2.2 million.
Gutenberg's invention did not make the famous pioneer rich, but it enriched all of humanity unheard of. Previously produced in single copies and costing incredible amounts of money, books have now become a mass-produced product and become accessible to the widest sections of the population. The dissemination and exchange of information has accelerated unheard of. It was one of the greatest revolutions in the history of human culture.

Neither Gutenberg's printing presses nor any equipment from his workshop have survived to this day. There is no documentation left related to the printing press created by Gutenberg; it is also unknown what this press actually looked like and when it was destroyed. It is possible that this happened during Gutenberg's lifetime, around 1462, when during the conflict that broke out between Adolf of Nassau and Dieter of Eisenburg, many houses burned down in Mainz; Among them may have been Gutenberg's workroom, which contained all of his production equipment.

After 1458, Guttenberg continually encountered financial difficulties. There is evidence that a certain doctor Conrad Gomeri (or Gumeri) helped him with the tools and kit necessary for the work. There is an opinion that the Catholicon of Johann Balbus from 1460 was printed in these fonts. But Gutenberg himself was never able to improve his situation with the help of his invention.

The last years of Guttenberg's life were spent in Mainz or in neighboring Eltwil. In 1465 he became a court beneficiary. And three years later, on February 3, 1468, Guttenberg died.

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Gutenberg Bible
(Also 42 line Bible; B42 listen)) is an edition of the Vulgate published by Johannes Gutenberg in the first half of the 1450s. Traditionally considered the starting point of the history of printing in Europe. Although this is not the first incunabula, it is distinguished from other early printed publications by the exceptional quality of its design.

• 1 History of creation
• 2 Characteristics
  • 2.1 Influence of the manuscript tradition
  • 2.2 Format and proportions
  • 2.3 Font
  • 2.4 Printing
  • 2.5 Changes
• 3 Further history
• 4 Notes
• 5 Links

History of creation

In 1448, Johannes Gutenberg borrowed 150 guilders, apparently to establish a printing press. In 1450, he needed another 800 guilders, for which he turned to the wealthy merchant Johann Fust. By 1455, Gutenberg's debt amounted to more than 2,000 guilders, which he could not repay. As a result, the printing house and books went to Fust and Gutenberg's former student Peter Schaeffer. The Gutenberg Bible appeared no later than 1455, when Cardinal Piccolomini mentioned the book in his correspondence.

Everything that they wrote to me about this amazing man whom I saw in Frankfurt is true. I didn't see any finished Bibles, just a few notebooks from different parts of the Bible. The handwriting is very neat and legible, not at all difficult to read - Your Lordship will read it without difficulty and, indeed, without glasses. Cardinal Piccolomini in a letter to Cardinal Carvajal. March 1455.

Before starting to publish the Bible, Gutenberg printed small publications: calendars, Latin grammar textbooks, indulgences. You could say that this was a preparatory work, while the 42-line Bible became Gutenberg's main work.

Characteristic

Influence of the manuscript tradition

In the mid-15th century, large format handwritten Bibles, intended for reading from a pulpit or church lectern, came into fashion again. It is believed that one of these books, the so-called Great Mainz Bible, made in 1452-1453, served as the prototype for the Gutenberg Bible.

Gutenberg sought to create the most accurate copy of a handwritten book of his time. Initials and headings were entered by hand. Some copies were illuminated. The design of the same characters in a font varies to create a more lively impression.

Such imitation is a characteristic feature of early printed books published before the 1500s. Thus, the appearance of the Gutenberg Bible and other incunabula has a transitional character: from a manuscript to a printed book.

Format and proportions

Proportions of typesetting in the Gutenberg Bible

The book format is “in folio”. One sheet of this format fits 4 pages. Five sheets, as a rule, made up a notebook of 20 pages. However, notebook sizes vary.

Trimmed format - 307×445 mm. The aspect ratio (1:1.44) approaches the typical medieval 2:3 format (1:1.5). The typing field has the same proportions and consists of two columns. The upper field is 2 times smaller than the lower one, the inner one is 2 times smaller than the outer one.

There is no numbering. The Bible contains 1272 pages. As a rule, it was bound in two volumes. Thicker copies, printed on parchment, were sometimes bound into 3 or 4 volumes.

Font

The Bible is typed in texture, a type of Gothic script. For the Bible, Gutenberg made a new, improved typeface. Trying to get closer to handwritten practice, he varied the design of the same letter. Thus, the Gutenberg font consisted of 150-300 different characters instead of the minimum 60-70. It contained many ligatures and abbreviations that were often used by the scribes of that time. Thanks to these abbreviations, as well as removing/adding spaces before/after punctuation marks, Gutenberg achieved a perfectly smooth typesetting. The brevity of the Latin language, in which words are, on average, shorter than in Russian or German, also played a role.

Seal

Gutenberg Bible page, hand illuminated

E. L. Nemirovsky writes: “The publications of Johannes Gutenberg, and above all the 42-line Bible, amaze us with blue-black, slightly shiny text stripes that seem to have been printed only yesterday.”

The previous printing ink was used for woodcut printing and was not suitable for printing with metal type. Gutenberg changed the composition of the paint, adding copper, sulfur, and lead. The latter, apparently, was the reason for the unusual shine.

Changes

While printing the book, Gutenberg made significant changes to its appearance. At first he printed not only the main text, but also the headings. Each sheet went through the machine twice - first, the text was printed in black ink, and then the rubric was printed in red. Gutenberg soon abandoned this idea, leaving empty spaces for initials, headings and footers, which were then filled in by hand.

In science, the Gutenberg Bible is called the 42-line Bible, based on the number of lines on the page. However, at first there were 40 of them. Then, apparently for the sake of economy, Gutenberg increased the number of lines to forty-two. To avoid leaving margins when adding new lines, Gutenberg reduced the line spacing.

It was long believed that the so-called Bamberg, or 36-line, Bible was produced before the 42-line Bible, but it was later proven that the printer who printed B36 had the text B42 in front of him.

Further history

According to modern estimates, the total circulation of the Bible was about 180 copies. Most of the books were printed on premium Italian paper. About 45 copies were published on parchment. These copies were more expensive.

Apparently the Bibles sold out immediately. Among the first owners were residents of England, and possibly Sweden and Hungary. It is known that some copies were sold for 30 florins. Although they were much cheaper than a handwritten Bible, most students, priests and other people with ordinary incomes were not able to purchase them. It is assumed that most of the books were purchased by monasteries, universities and especially wealthy people. Currently, only one copy is known, which belonged to a private person in the 15th century.

The Paris copy, discovered in 1763 in the papers of Cardinal Mazarin, became so famous that all copies of the 42-line Bible were for a long time called “Mazarin Bibles.”

As of 2009, there were 47 early printed Bibles in various collections around the world, of which only 21 were complete. The largest number of Bibles are in Germany (12), USA (11), Great Britain (8) and France (4). The editions kept in Trier and Indiana are probably fragments of a single copy. The Russian Empire had only one copy of the paper Bible (2 volumes without 1 sheet), but in 1931 it was sold by the Soviet government to London auctioneers, and later entered the Bodmer Library (Cologny, Switzerland).

In 1945, captured brigades, with the active participation of M.I. Rudomino, took two Bibles from Leipzig to the USSR. Their whereabouts were officially made public only in 1993. A complete (two-volume) paper Bible from the library of the University of Leipzig is stored in the Scientific Library of Moscow State University, and an incomplete parchment illuminated Bible from the German Book and Type Museum is in the Russian State Library.

A copy of the Moscow State University library was stolen in 2009, but the theft was announced only in 2014, when the book was found and three of the thieves (FSB officers) were arrested and convicted.

This is far from the rarest incunabula, but one of the most valuable. The cost of one sheet of the Mainz printed Bible at auctions reaches up to 80 thousand dollars. In 1987, at a Christie's auction, the incomplete first volume of a paper Bible (324 pages) was sold for $4.9 million. It is now in the collection of Keio University, Tokyo. Like a number of other copies, this copy has been digitized and posted for public viewing on the Internet.

Notes

1. Warren Chappel, Robert Bringhurst. A short history of the printed word. Vancouver, 1999. P. 65-66.
2. British Library, Gutenberg's life: the years of the Bible
3. Diana Childress. Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press. Minneapolis, 2008. P. 62.
4. Estes, Richard (2005). The 550th Anniversary Pictorial Census of the Gutenberg Bible. Gutenberg Research Center. p. 151.
5. E. L. Nemirovsky. Invention of Johannes Gutenberg. M., 2000. P. 70-71.
6. E. L. Nemirovsky. Invention of Johannes Gutenberg. M., 2000. P. 79-80.
7. British Library, Three phases in the printing process
8. Margaret Bingham Stillwell, The Beginning of the World of Books, 1450 to 1470, Bibliographical Society of America, New York, 1972. P. 11
9. Davies, Martin (1996). The Gutenberg Bible. British Library.
10. Cormack, Lesley B.; Ede, Andrew (2004). A History of Science in Society: From Philosophy to Utility. Broadview Press.
11. Kapr, Albert (1996). Johann Gutenberg: The Man and His Invention. Scolar Press.
12. Gutenberg Bible Census
13. Rudomino Family Archive - Half a century in captivity
14. Ex-employees of the FSB of the Russian Federation were imprisoned for stealing the Gutenberg Bible
15. Former FSB officers convicted of stealing Gutenberg Bible
16. Former FSB officers convicted of stealing Gutenberg Bible. Video

Links

• Electronic facsimile
• Electronic facsimile. Copy from the Library of Congress
• Catalog of surviving copies (English)

❦ The art of printing
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People	Bi Sheng Johann Gutenberg Nicolas Jeanson Johann Zeiner Aldus Manutius Robert Etienne Schweipolt Fiol Hakob Megapart Albrecht Durer Geoffroy Tory Francis Skorina Ivan Fedorov Christopher Plantin John Baskerville Pierre Fournier Francois Ambroise Didot Firmin Didot William Blake Giambattista Bodoni William Morris T. D. Cobden-Sanderson Daniel Upday to Bruce Rogers Eric Gill Stanley Morison
Printing houses	House of Alda Plantin Press House of Elsevier Chiswick Press Kelmscott Press Merrymount Press Eragny Press Ashenden Press Vale Press Dows Press Dun Emer Press Golden Cockerell Press Nonsuch Press Oficina Bodoni
Electronic archives	Online gallery of the British Library World Digital Library Gallica Docusphere Munich Digitization Center Union catalog incunabula Europeana Google Books Incunabula Short Title Catalog Normannia Open Library Rare Book Room
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