Mazarin Bible

Mazarin Bible , considered to be the first important work printed by Gutenberg and the earliest book printed from movable types. The Bible, printed at Mainz, probably required several years of work; it was completed not later than 1455 and printed in an edition of about 180 copies. The text of the Bible is Latin. The type is a Gothic style related to Old English and similar to the best handwriting of the time. Colored initials and other illuminations were hand drawn. The pages of the book are folio, each page is in two columns, and, with few exceptions, each column has 42 lines. The edition includes both vellum and paper copies. In design and workmanship, the Mazarin Bible holds its place as one of the finest of all printed books. It is called the Mazarin Bible because the first copy to recapture attention was in the library of Cardinal Mazarin, in Paris. It is called also the Gutenberg Bible and the 42-line Bible.

Mazarin Bible. A Latin Bible so called from a copy in the library of Card. Mazarin. It is also known as the ‘Gutenberg Bible’, after J. Gutenberg, its printer, and as the ‘42-line Bible’, from the number of lines in each column. It is the earliest full-length book ever printed, probably in 1453–5; it was certainly complete by 1456.

Gutenberg, Johann (1400–68) German goldsmith and printer, credited with the invention of printing from movable metallic type. He experimented with printing in Mainz, Germany, in the 1430s. He made the first printed Bible, known as the Gutenberg Bible or Mazarin Bible (c.1455).