The Day the Gutenberg Bible Binding was Finished
On this day, 24th of August, 1456, Johannes Gutenberg finished making the first book in Europe using movable type. Quires were printed in 1455 (or even before). There is a letter by Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (future pope Pie II) dated 12 March 1455, that suggests that pages were already printed.
The date “24 August 1456” appears in the note, left by the binder in the back of the copy now held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Less than 50 copies out of supposed 180 initial copies of the Gutenberg Bible have survived.
More information:
- http://amzn.to/1MIrymd
- http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/gutenberg-bible
- http://mazarinum.bibliotheque-mazarine.fr/selection-de-document/
Image from the Digital Library of the Bibliothèque d’agglomération de Saint-Omer. You can find the full scanned version of the Gutenberg Bible there.
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