DC -- Library of Congress -- Exhibit: Bible Collection:
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- Description of Pictures: Library of Congress Bible Collection
The Giant Bible of Mainz and the Gutenberg Bibles are on view in the East Corridor on the first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building. The Bibles are surrounded by six murals collectively referred to as The Evolution of the Book.
These murals depict the process of recording and imparting knowledge from the use of symbolic rock structures through the invention of mechanical printing by Johann Gutenberg. The Bibles are displayed here because the Mainz and Gutenberg Bibles are representative of two important elements of human written communication—manuscript and printed writing.
The Bibles can be seen as bookends, representing the end of an era (Mainz and manuscript writing) and the beginning of an era (Gutenberg and movable type). Both Bibles were produced in the same city during the same period.
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- LOCBIB_141220_12.JPG: The Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible is the first great book printed in Western Europe from movable metal type. It is therefore a monument that marks a turning point in the art of bookmaking and consequently in the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern world. Gutenberg's invention of the mechanical printing press made it possible for the accumulated knowledge of the human race to become the common property of every person who knew how to read -- an immense forward step in the emancipation of the human mind.
The printing of the Bible was probably completed late in 1455 at Mainz, Germany. Johann Gutenberg, who lived from about 1400 to about 1468, is generally credited for inventing the process of making uniform and interchangeable metal types and for solving the many problems of finding the right materials and methods for printing. This Bible, with its noble Gothic type richly impressed on the page, is recognized as a masterpiece of fine printing and craftsmanship and is all the more remarkable because it was undoubtedly one of the very first books to emerge from the press.
The text of the Gutenberg Bible is the Latin translation known as the "Vulgate," which was made by St. Jerome in the fourth century. The Bible is printed throughout in double columns, for the most part, with forty-two lines to a page. The capital letters and headings are ornamented by hand in color. The three volumes are in white pigskin bindings, which date from the sixteenth century.
The Library of Congress copy is printed entirely on vellum, a fine parchment made from animal skin, and is one of only three perfect vellum copies known to exist. The others are at the Bibliothèque
- LOCBIB_141220_15.JPG: Nationale and the British Library. For nearly five centuries the Bible was in the possession of the Benedictine Order in their monasteries of St. Blasius and St. Paul in Austria. Along with other fifteenth-century books, it was purchased from Dr. Otto Vollbehr by an act of Congress in 1930.
Printed in three volumes, the Gutenberg Bible is a recognized masterpiece of world culture. To protect against light damage and to preserve this important work, the volume on exhibition is exchanged with another every six months. The damaging effects of exposure to light are cumulative; therefore this case is illuminated with low intensity and low ultraviolet light that falls in he least damaging portion of the spectrum. The Bible rests on an inert, cast acrylic cradle that minimizes stress to its binding by uniformly supporting the covers and pages while the volume is open.
This case is designed to provide temperature and relative humidity levels that significantly slow chemical deterioration and prevent moisture content fluctuations that place stress on the volume. These preservation measures ensure that this significant volume will be available to visitors for generations to come.
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- Description of Subject Matter: Library of Congress Bible Collection
Ongoing exhibition, opened April 11, 2008.
In the Great Hall of the Library of Congress, two monumental Bibles face each other as if in dialogue: one, the Giant Bible of Mainz, signifies the end of the handwritten book—and the other, the Gutenberg Bible, marks the beginning of the printed book and the explosion of knowledge and creativity it would engender. This exhibition explores the significance of the two Bibles, and, through an interactive presentation, the relationship between the Mainz Bible, the Gutenberg Bible, and sixteen selected Bibles from the Library’s collections.
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