Books and Manuscripts

[Gutenberg, Johannes] 
Biblia Latina
(Paterson, New Jersey and New York City: Pageant Books, 1961). In two volumes. First and limited facsimile edition of the Gutenberg Bible, one of 1,000 numbered sets (this set out-of-series). Large thick folio (18 3/4 x 12 1/2 in.; 475 x 312 mm). 653 pp (I); 635 pp (II). Lithographic and photogravure-printed leaves. Full tan niger over oak boards, decorated in blind; all edges untrimmed; marbled endpapers; leather and brass clasps; by E.A. Thompson, Santa Barbara, California, ca. 1977; some text leaves unopened. Lot includes two T.L.s's from Thompson regarding the binding of the set.

A finely bound facsimile edition of the Gutenberg Bible, the first book printed in the West. This is the first Gutenberg facsimile ever printed in the United States, and only the second facsimile printed in the world. This reproduction derives from the 1913 Insel Verlag facsimile edition, which derives from the copies at Berlin and Fulda, widely regarded as the most beautiful of the 47 copies extant.