The Gutenberg Bible Examined
Potential Apprentice Domino
October 16, 2019
Potential Apprentice Domino is desirous to study under a Master of the Occult Arts and Sciences and, until that fortuitous time, is content to apprentice with Yours Truly. So as to not overwhelm, potential Apprentice Domino, we suggested the uncontroversial topic of the Gutenberg Bible.
I am so excited to be a potential Apprentice I've filled out my application and everything.
Per Wikipedia:
Per Wikipedia:
The Gutenberg Bible... was among the earliest major books printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed books in the West. The book is valued and revered for its high aesthetic and artistic qualities as well as its historic significance. It is an edition of the Latin Vulgate printed in the 1450s by Johannes Gutenberg. Forty-nine copies (or substantial portions of copies) have survived.
It is not known how many books were printed, with most estimates suggesting between 150 and 180 copies. Interestingly, there is no indication of either of the date of printing or of the name of the printer.
The future Pope Pius II [reigned 1458-64] in a letter to Cardinal Carvajal [March, 1455]:
The future Pope Pius II [reigned 1458-64] in a letter to Cardinal Carvajal [March, 1455]:
"All that has been written to me about that marvelous man seen at Frankfurt [sic] is true. I have not seen complete Bibles but only a number of quires of various books of the Bible. The script was very neat and legible, not at all difficult to follow—your grace would be able to read it without effort, and indeed without glasses."
To demonstrate the Gutenberg Bible's "high aesthetic and artistic qualities", we provide the following images from the New Testament courtesy of the Bodleian Library:
The pages were printed in black with sufficient space for the handwritten chapter numbers to be added in blue ink and the initial letter of the first verse to be in red ink.
The Gutenberg Bibles are known by the Hubay number. We provide the partial provenances of certain Bibles.
1.
8. 9. 13. 15. 16. 17. |
Bequeathed by Edmond Puissant to the city of Mons in 1934, but not identified until 1950.
The Shuckburgh copy. George Shuckburgh-Evelyn [1751-1804]. Vol. II, the Solms-Laubach copy acquired in 1925. Vol. II, first leaf missing. Acquired in 1749 Sold to the library in 1788 by Cardinal Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne The first copy to be discovered around 1760 in the Bibliothèque Mazarine, Inscribed with the earliest date that appears on any copy- August 24, 1456 on the first volume and August 15, 1456 on the second volume, the dates on which the rubricator and binder (Henricus Cremer) completed his work. |
19.
22. 24. 25. 27. 37. |
The Grenville copy bought in 1817 by Thomas Grenville, who bequeathed to the British Museum in 1846.
Acquired as part of a gift in 1933. Bought in 1793 from Cardinal Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne. Acquired for £80 by George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer some time before 1814,[ Obtained from Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal in 1793. Acquired in 1815 by Mark Masterman-Sykes |
The information for Hubay number 17 concerning the addition of rubrics and is dated to 1456. The addition of the chapter numbers and initial letter of the first verse are to be understood as the rubrics.
We note that as late as 1950 Gutenberg Bibles are still being identified [Hubay 1].
We note that as late as 1950 Gutenberg Bibles are still being identified [Hubay 1].
Per Wikipedia:
Cardinal Hugo de Sancto Caro is often given credit for first dividing the Latin Vulgate into chapters in the real sense, but it is the arrangement of his contemporary and fellow cardinal Stephen Langton who in 1205 created the chapter divisions which are used today. They were then inserted into Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in the 16th century. Robert Estienne (Robert Stephanus) was the first to number the verses within each chapter, his verse numbers entering printed editions in 1551 (New Testament) and 1571 (Hebrew Bible)