Johann Gutenberg was a German skilled in engraving and metalworking. He and his associates, Peter Schoeffer and Johann Fust, printed the Gutenberg Bible in Germany’s Mainz in 1455. Thus, Gutenberg made the scriptures potentially accessible to every individual. According to some sources, just 48 copies of the Gutenberg Bible are known to have survived, of which 36 are printed on paper and 12 on vellum. To own a piece of history, you can get a facsimile reproduction of the Gutenberg Bible.

The Gutenberg Bible in Latin text is a two-volume work, which was printed in 42-line columns. During the later stages of this Bible’s production, six compositors worked on it simultaneously. Sometimes, the Gutenberg Bible is called the Mazarin Bible, because the first copy that the bibliographers described was located in Cardinal Mazarin’s Paris-based library.

Knowing Johann Gutenberg...