The Gutenberg Bible

Gutenberg Bible

The Gutenberg Bible is a collection from the Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, self defined as a Research Center that seeks the advances of the study of the arts and humanities by acquiring, preserving, and making accessible original cultural materials.

Collection Principles
���With extensive collections of rare books, manuscripts, photography, film, art, and the performing arts, the Center supports research through symposia and fellowships and provides education and enrichment for scholars, students, and the public through exhibitions and programs.���

The Gutenberg Bible is the first surviving book printed with movable type. It was completed in Mainz, Germany, around 1455 and acquired by the Harry Ransom Center in 1978
Notable features of the two- volume Texas copy on paper are the copious indications of actual use dating from the 15th through the 17th centuries. These are found on over a third of its pages and include instructions on how and when passages were to be used in monastic services, marginal divisions of the text for reading aloud, lectionary marks, and textual corrections or insertions. In addition, the first volume of the Texas copy of the Gutenberg Bible contains over forty beautifully illuminated large initial letters added by artists around the time it was printed.

Metadata
The Bible is completely available on-line. It can be viewed by Volume or subject, and pages can be enlarged (verso-recto).
Descriptive Summary brings information about the Digital Images (the bible can be accessed); a Introduction to the Bible (explaining the importance of the collection); Information about The Book before Gutenberg (including rare images about earliest books); Johann Gutenberg (life and more); Principles of the Bible; The Spread of Printing; The Appearance of the Bible; The Ransom Center Copy (bringing metadata about ownership, binding, decoration and annotation); Anatomy of the Page; Selected Passages (digital Image of passages are followed by its translation to English); Digital Gutenberg Project; K-12 Educator materials; and Additional Resources (list of books and webpage related to the collection).

Satisfactory data is provided for each exhibited document and information regarding the digitization process is available.


Objects Characteristics
Images of the Bible available in JPEG 560 X 368 pixels, pages can be enlarged and not copied. Messages in the bottom of the webpage give orientation for the reproduction of the images, which should be done by contacting the Center���s staff in order to acquire a written consent for a high definition digital image.
Additional images of the collection available in GIF Image that can be enlarged and viewed in 709 X 909 pixels.
The Gutenberg Bible is available in CD-ROM with high-resolution images of the first book printed with movable type, and is available for sell at Harry Ransom Center.
The CD-ROM edition of the Ransom Center's Gutenberg Bible incorporates high-resolution and enlargeable 'flattened' images of each page. The resolution permits easy viewing of such small details as the papermaker's hair embedded in the fibers of a page. This two-disk set may be used on both Windows and Macintosh computers with CD-ROM drives

Audience
Significant collection for all bibliophiles and historians of the book. Interested in the Bible, art history, and the history of the book, librarians, students, and researchers constitute groups that certainly would take advantage of this rare collection.