"This is the beauty of digitization, to take something of great intellectual value which is rare and fragile, and make it available to anyone and everyone," said Kristian Jensen, head of Western European Printed Collections. She added "We've been able to magnify them to such an extent that you can see details that it's very difficult to see with the naked eye."

The digitized copies of the Gutenberg Bible, printed in 1455 are available on the Internet at http://prodigi.bl.uk/gutenbg/default.asp.

The British Library collaborated with ten researchers and technical experts from Keio University in Tokyo and from NTT. They spent two weeks in The British Library creating digital images of the two Bibles.

The Gutenberg Bible was printed in Mainz around 1454-5. It is the first major book printed in the west. About 180 copies were printed and significant parts of 48 copies still survive. The British Library has two complete copies of the Gutenberg Bible.

Source: United Bible Societies, Bible Network News

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