The Gutenberg Bible, also called the 42-line Bible after the number of lines in each column, is a Latin Vulgate Bible printed in Mainz by Johannes Gutenberg. He worked with the financier Johann Fust and the scribe Peter Schoeffer, and printed it in two volumes using metal movable type and oil-based ink. Spaces were left for decorative initials and rubrication, which were added by hand, so that no two copies are identical. It is regarded as the first major book printed with movable type in Europe, although East Asian printers had used movable type earlier. Gutenberg himself ran into debt and lost his press to Fust, but his method spread quickly across Europe and transformed the production and circulation of knowledge.
Before and after
- 1445Birth of Sandro Botticelli
- from 14 May 1448 to 31 July 1448Siege of Svetigrad
- from 17 October 1448 to 20 October 1448Battle of Kosovo
- 1450Birth of Hieronymus Bosch
- c. 1450sGutenberg Bible
- from May 1450 to July 1450Jack Cade's Rebellion
- from 1451 to 1526Lodi dynasty
- from 1451 to 1950Construction of Berlin Palace
- 1451Birth of Christopher Columbus
More in Art, literature & culture
- 631 CEOrigins of Islam
- 823 CEOrigins of Shingon Buddhism
- 12th centuryPublication of Primary Chronicle
- c. 1260sPublication of Poetic Edda
- 14th centuryPublication of Water Margin
- 1499Pietà (Michelangelo)
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 15th century.