![36-line Bible](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/36-line_Bible.jpg)
The 36-line Bible, also known as the "Bamberg Bible",
[British Library]
/ref> (and sometimes called a "Gutenberg Bible") was the second moveable-type-printed edition of the Bible. It is believed to have been printed in Bamberg, Germany, circa 1458–1460. No printer's name appears in the book, but it is possible that Johannes Gutenberg was the printer.
The primary, or particular meaning of the term Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the " Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed ...
, is the first moveable-type-printed edition of the Bible, circa 1450–1455. The Gutenberg has 42 lines of text on each page in comparison to the Bamberg's 36 lines, and the Bibles are thus sometimes therefore referred to by this criterion. However, because the 36-line Bible could have been printed by Gutenberg and was printed at a similar time, it is sometimes referred to by, and included in, the term "Gutenberg Bible".
Date
In the past, some scholars have argued that the 36-line Bible was an early, and primitive, version of Gutenberg's 42-line Bible, which would have meant that it was printed prior to 1455. Careful comparisons of the texts, however, have since shown that (with the exception of the first few pages) the 36-line Bible was set ''from'' the Gutenberg's 42-line Bible, thus proving the 42-line was the first.[ Stillwell p. 11.]
The date "1461" was marked by a rubricator
Rubrication is the addition of text in red ink to a manuscript for emphasis. Practitioners of rubrication, so-called ''rubricators'' or ''rubrishers'', were specialized scribes who received text from the original scribe. Rubrication was one of ...
(a scribe who hand-wrote initials and other items in red text, for decoration or emphasis) written in one copy of the 36-line Bible, indicating that it would not have been printed any later than this.[British Library]
Incunabula Short Title Catalogue
Page accessed 6 July 2009 Most scholars now agree that the 36-line Bible can be dated to c. 1458–60, making it the second printed edition of the Bible.
An existing fragment of a 40-line Bible was probably printed around 1458 or earlier, and printed with the same type. However it is believed that the fragment is only a trial piece, and that this Bible was never fully printed. It has been suggested that the first few pages of the 36-line Bible (the pages that were not made from Gutenberg's 42-line Bible) were set from the same manuscript used for the 40-line Bible fragment.
Place of printing
Several pieces of evidence suggest that the 36-line Bible was printed in Bamberg, Germany. Firstly, the paper used is from a group of Italian papers known to have been used at Bamberg, and not found in use at Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
, the location of Gutenberg's press. Second, those copies in early bindings show evidence of having been bound in or near Bamberg. Thirdly, many copies can be shown to have early Bamberg provenances. Furthermore, fragments of the 36-line Bible have been found among the waste-paper used in binding executed at Bamberg or for other books printed there.
Identity of printer
The printer's identity is unknown. It may have been Gutenberg, someone who had worked for him, or someone who had bought type and other equipment from him. Several pieces of evidence show that Gutenberg was linked in some way with the 36-line Bible. In the 1980s cyclotron
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Jan ...
analysis performed by Richard Schwab and Thomas Cahill established that the ink used was similar to that used for the 42-line Bible.[Time Magazine, March 10, 1986](_blank)
/ref>
The type is a version of the so-called D-K type, also known as the 36-line Bible type.[ Stillwell pp. 3–13] This type is crude and older than that used for the 42-line Bible. It had been used for some very early works, probably predating the 42-line Bible and almost certainly printed by Gutenberg, such as an ''Ars minor'' by Donatus (various printings c. 1452-53) and several leaves of a pamphlet called the Turkish Calendar for 1455 (likely printed in late 1454), hence the name D-K for "Donatus-Kalendar". Gutenberg lost much of his original equipment to his banker Johann Fust
Johann Fust or Faust (c. 1400 – October 30, 1466) was an early German printer.
Family background
Fust was born to burgher family of Mainz, traceable back to the early thirteenth century. Members of the family held many civil and religio ...
in a lawsuit in 1455, and it is possible this type was the only one left available to him. A number of works seem to have been printed with the D-K type in Mainz between 1455 and 1459, perhaps by Gutenberg.
Albrecht Pfister
Albrecht Pfister (c. 1420 – c. 1466) was one of the first European printers to use movable type, following its invention by Johannes Gutenberg. Working in Bamberg, Germany, he is believed to have been responsible for two innovations in the use ...
, who is known to have used the D-K type in Bamberg from at least 1461, has also been suggested as the printer. Many authorities believe that Pfister is unlikely because later works known to be by him have poorer-quality printing.
Surviving copies
Fourteen complete or nearly complete copies are known, all on paper, plus many fragments and single leaves from vellum
Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...
copies, which have survived because they were used in the bindings of later books. The small number of surviving copies suggests that far fewer were printed than of the 42-line Bible. A higher proportion may have been printed on vellum.
Eight of these copies are in Germany. This Bible has been much less sought after than the 42-line Bible, with a higher proportion remaining in Germany and only one having been acquired by an American library, an incomplete copy at Princeton University Library
Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...
. A copy is on permanent display in th
Sir John Ritblat Gallery
in the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, and another is contained in the Plantin-Moretus Museum
The Plantin-Moretus Museum ( nl, Plantin-Moretusmuseum) is a printing museum in Antwerp, Belgium which focuses on the work of the 16th-century printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing esta ...
in Antwerp.
See also
* Incunable
References
Sources
* G.D. Painter, ''Gutenberg and the B36 group. A re-consideration'', in Essays in honour of Victor Scholderer (1970)
* Margaret Bingham Stillwell, ''The Beginning of the World of Books, 1450 to 1470'', Bibliographical Society of America, New York, 1972.
External links
Digitised copy from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Includes photographs of one leaf
Details of surviving copies
{{Authority control
1450s books
15th-century Christian texts
15th-century Latin books
Early printed Bibles
Editions of the Vulgate
Incunabula