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The German printer Johann Gutenberg is credited with the printing the Bibles on a hand made printing press using the movable type, in the year 1455. This was an important landmark as the publications could now be printed instead of being copied by hand, which happened to be a long as well as a tedious process. Also known as the 42 line Bibles these happen to be the most famous piece of printed material in the world. There were originally 180 copies of the Gutenberg Bible. They were bound in leather in two volumes. The wealthy patrons around the European continent bought the most expensive of these Bibles printed on vellum. The rest of Gutenberg's Bibles were printed on a hemp based paper product that was considered to be not durable enough to stand the test of time. Of the 180 Bibles that were published, there are a very few copies of the 42 line Bibles that are known to exist. There is also a version of the New Testament that has been published on vellum and its known that 48 copies of Gutenberg's Bible were published on the hemp-based paper. There are three copies of Bible printed on vellum that are perfectly intact. These are with the countries of England, France and the United States. The copy of the Gutenberg Bible in the United States is kept in the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. In France the Gutenberg Bible is located in the Bibliotheque Nationale. This library happens to be home to some of the exclusive and most expensive of the books. The copy of England's vellum Gutenberg Bible is housed in the British Library situated in London. This Library is also home to some of the original books by the Bard of Avon, Shakespeare. And last but not the least, a fourth and final copy of the Bible rests in Goettigen, Germany's Universitaetsbibliothek. Apart from the copies that were printed on vellum, there were also certain copies that are available on paper. There are about eighteen of these perfect copies that were published on hemp based paper product. These copies are located in Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, and the United States. There is even a copy of one of Gutenberg’s Bibles in Asia. The Keio University Library in Tokyo is home to an incomplete, but still important copy of the 42 line Bible. This Bible is an imperfect copy printed on hemp based paper. Purchased in 1987 for a phenomenal $4.9 million by the Maruzen Company of Tokyo, the Bible was given to the University in 1996. Apart from these, many imperfect copies of Gutenberg Bibles exist in the universities, libraries, and private collections all over Europe. You can have a look at them when you travel in Europe. Nowadays, it is also possible to view the complete as well as incomplete versions of the Gutenberg Bible on the Internet. Now you can watch them in ease and comfort of your room. Visit the url- http://clausenbooks.com/gutenbergcensus.htm, to know more about the Gutenberg Bible census and to find all the areas where you can find Bibles.
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Brett Nga runs a very interesting website at For Bibles it's one of the webs most up to date Bible sites, while you're there sign up for the free newsletter. Want to read more Bible articles?, just go to: www.forbibles.com/articles This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.
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