The Gutenberg Bible: Landmark in Learning

by James Thorpe

The Gutenberg Bible, which appeared about 1455, represents the invention of printing in the Western world. The Huntington Library holds one of three vellum copies of the Gutenberg Bible in the United States. Color reproductions of several pages and initial letters from the Bible accompany this text, which details the early history of printing and the way the Gutenberg Bible was produced. The author also discusses Henry Huntington's purchase of the Bible in 1911 for the then-unimaginable sum of $50,000.

Genres: Books About Books, Nonfiction

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Nikki Tasabia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy quick read, interesting history

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It got about to the depth of a museum tour guide, which is essentially what it is designed to be--well, a book equivalent of the same. The was probably designed as a museum gift store piece, particularly for those who had seen a particular copy of the Gutenberg Bible (the Huntington copy). The criticisms of this book by a few reviewers seemed to have missed the obvious enough purpose of the book, and judged it as failing to meet a standard it was never intended to meet. So be sure to take it for what it is. I'm sure I would probably have given it four stars had I been as fortunate as another more impressed reviewer that had the privilege of seeing actual volume.

The book is charmingly made: nice paper, pretty pictures, a brief account with interesting facts and anecdotes.

If you're looking for a book on the history and significance of the Gutenberg Bible, then you may want to look elsewhere; but given the intent of this book, I enjoyed it. And that I could read it in the margins of a single day.

[librarian4Him02 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up because I needed a short book to help me reach my goal of 30 books foe the year.I was visiting my dad and he recommended this as an interesting read.

It was an interesting, informative read that touched both on the life of Gutenberg as all as the history of printing prior to the invention of moveable type and the printing press. I came away feeling informed and interested in knowing more about this point in history.

[T Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not nearly as interested in the text as advertised; more interested in pictures and in collector stories. Considering the vast and fascinating history of the Gutenberg Bible itself, the author's egotistical focus is disappointing.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a quick read and provides history and insight into one of the twelve copies of The Gutenberg Bible printed on vellum and on display at The Huntington Library. The colour pictures of the illuminated letters are amazing and bring to light details I've missed in visits over the years.

[Alex Richmond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short read, rather easy as well. I assume it's meant for younger readers. That said, I feel the book was more of a bragging from the owner then much history about Gutenburg, the bibles that share his name, or any real information that stands out.

Less then a third of the book is about The actual history of Gutenberg and how he created his printing press. While the information is interesting, it's barely truly touched. The chapter after that talks briefly about how many of the Bibles are remaining, and the last chapter is about the most recent Bible sold at auction, which sold for $50,000. While some of this information is interesting, and talks about the value of the Bible. It doesn't truly talk about the influence that the Gutenberg Bible had on printing, or at least, it quickly talked about that before moving on. The book feels more like bragging from the author about his ownership of one of the bibles, something that I feel is a hold very little importance in the book, at least not enough to justify a sizable percentage of it.

There is a Book series "Magic Ex Libris", or better known to some by the name of the first book in the series, "Libriomancer", by Jim C Hines. I feel that the book series, the focus is more on people with the magical ability to pull content of books out of those books, would be a better use of time in gaining any information about Gutenberg and the Bibles. I may be overly harsh about this, but is the first book I've read in a while that love me truly disappointed.

[Vlad Golovach · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nicely printed, sharp photos, little text.

[Lizanne Whitlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had the privilege of seeing the real thing in Pasadena and that was incredible!