AUSTIN, Texas, USA, July 24, 2003 — Revolutionary 15th Century Bible is now accessible to scholars and the public online.
The Book that forever changed books is now available to the public online. The University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, in collaboration with IImage Retrieval Inc. of Carrollton, Texas, has digitized the center's Gutenberg Bible.
The completed project provides web users with more than 7,000 images from the two-volume Bible, with its large illuminated letters and numerous handwritten annotations visible in great detail.
The task of digitizing the Bible began in June of 2002, using an I2S Digibook 6000 overhead scanner. While the initial scanning of each double-page spread of the Bible took less than a week, the complete online project involved "an incredible investment of time and energy" for the nine-person project team according to Steve Wilson, associate curator of film.
While the Ransom Center edition is not the first to go digital - Gutenberg Bibles in England and Japan have already been posted on the Internet and the Library of Congress has one available on CD-ROM - each Gutenberg Bible is unique.
The Bible that Changed the World
The Gutenberg Bible dates back to the mid-fifteenth century, when it revolutionized how books were made. While the earliest books were written on scrolls, most books have been produced in a codex format (bound at one edge) since the second century A.D. During the Middle Ages, manuscript books were produced with pen and ink, and even a small book could take months to complete. A book the size of the Bible could take several years.
Printed in Mainz, Germany, in the 1450s, Johann Gutenberg's Bible was the first major western book printed from movable type, making it a landmark in the history of printing, and in the process, changing the course of western civilization.
Using 290 different cast shapes, the Gutenberg Bible was deliberately patterned to resemble the type of manuscript book commonly produced in northern Europe in the mid-fifteenth century. Its type, closely set in two columns, is designed to save space and speed copying. The two-volume Bible totals 1,282 pages in length, and was created with the help of a staff of 20 people.
The development of moveable type printing began a new era of progress, dramatically accelerating the spread of knowledge and scientific discoveries. It also marked a turning point in the spread of the Bible. Aside from the original Latin edition, this printing process was used to print Bibles in six languages before 1500 - German, Italian, French, Czech, Dutch and Catalan; and eight more by the middle of the sixteenth century - Spanish, Danish, English, Swedish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Polish and Finnish.
A Unique Bible
While it is not known exactly how many copies of the Gutenberg Bible were printed, the number is estimated at about 180, with 145 produced on paper and the remainder done on vellum, making them more luxurious and expensive editions at the time. There are only 48 copies still in existence today.
The Bible was sold in folded sheets and was later bound and decorated according to the wishes of its owner, with local artisans employed to illuminate the initials opening each book, and to supply the page headings and lesser initials. Thus, each of the surviving copies has its own unique features.
The Texas Gutenberg is printed on fine quality handmade paper which was imported from Italy. Each sheet contains a watermark which can be seen when the paper is held up to the light. Two different watermark designs - a grape cluster and a bull's head - were used in this edition.
As with other editions, several pages of the Ransom Center's Bible are set with 40 or 41 lines of type in two columns. These pages would have been among the first ones printed, with the printer realizing thereafter that he could save space and paper by fitting 42 lines on the page. Thus, the Gutenberg Bible is sometimes referred to as the "42-line Bible," or B42, to differentiate it from other early printed Bibles.
The Texas Gutenberg, which is worth up to $20 million, was used in monasteries in southern Germany as late as the mid-eighteenth century. The monks made markings and corrections, and indicated which sections were to be read aloud or reserved for church services.
A Lasting Legacy
The Digital Gutenberg Project opens new doors for scholars and the public, making it possible for them to view and study the historic book without traveling to Austin where it is enclosed in temperature-controlled glass, allowing for only limited access.
"Just as Johann Gutenberg made knowledge more readily accessible with the invention of the printing process, this digitization project continues that legacy," says Richard Oram, Head Librarian at the Ransom Center. "It's appropriate that the Ransom Center launches a new phase in its digitization efforts with the first book ever printed with movable type. Combining today's technology with a treasured work from the 15th century makes it possible for anyone with Internet access to view every page of the Bible."
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