On Wednesday, April 14, Google posted a splash screen on its search engine – a doodle in honor of the German pioneer printer Johannes Gutenberg.
Provided by Deutsche Welle
The exact date of birth of Johannes Gutenberg is unknown, so the day was chosen for the doodle (www.google.com/doodles) when a new exhibition was opened at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz in 2000 after reconstruction. In 2001, the Gutenberg Bible was entered by UNESCO in the “Memory of the World” register – a list of documentary heritage of mankind.
Provided by Deutsche Welle
What is Gutenberg's Bible famous for?
With the Gutenberg Bible, typography began in Europe, although formally this is not the first incunabula. But the printing press, invented by Johannes Gutenberg, made it possible to achieve exceptionally high quality and revolutionized printing. Thanks to him, books have become available to many.
How did the Gutenberg Bible come about?
Gutenberg's Bible was printed in Latin at his printing house in Mainz between 1452-1454. Gutenberg had to go into debt to get it done. A total of about 20 people worked on the Bible. A total of 290 different typefaces were cast. Colored capital letters and drawings were later done by hand.
Johannes Gutenberg at his printing house. 1456 engraving
Both volumes include 1282 pages. Each has two columns of 42 rows. Therefore, in the scientific literature, the Gutenberg Bible is often referred to as “B 42”.
How many copies were printed?
About 180. Of these, 150 copies are on paper and another 30 are on more noble parchment. Only 49 copies have survived to this day, and not always complete ones: from some there is only one volume or even separate fragments. 13 copies are kept in Germany, in university and state libraries. Other copies of the Gutenberg Bible, which were sold to private individuals in the 15th century, are in the USA, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland and other countries.
Gutenberg Bible in Russia
Two copies of the Gutenberg Bible are kept in Moscow: one is in the Russian State Library, the other is in the library of the Moscow State University. Both were smuggled out of Leipzig to the Soviet Union as “trophies” after World War II. This fact was officially recognized only in 1993.
At the 2019 exhibition in Moscow, a folio was presented, which is kept in the Russian State Library. And an unusual criminal story is connected with the Gutenberg Bible from Moscow State University. In the fall of 2012, three former FSB officers, one of whom, Colonel Sergei Vedishchev, was appointed vice-rector of the university and supervised the security guard of Moscow State University, stole two volumes of the Bible and tried to sell them for 40 million rubles. They were caught. Vedishchev received three and a half years in a general regime colony, his accomplices (major and FSB captain) – a year and a year and two months.
How much is the Gutenberg Bible worth today?
This question is not easy to answer, because only a few copies of the Gutenberg Bible are privately owned today, and, of course, state and university libraries do not put them on the antique market. In 1987, a Japanese publishing concern purchased only one volume of the Gutenberg Bible from an American collector for more than $ 5 million.
And when the Gutenberg Bible traveled from Berlin in 2010 to an exhibition in South Korea, it was insured for $ 25 million.
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Author: Efim Shuman
