Asian Influence Illuminated manuscripts early german printing

MICHAEL OLMERT, THE SMITHSONIAN BOOK OF BOOKS

“The Bible’s power and influence over the past four millennia are incalculable. Both its Testaments have been revered as sacred scripture, as literature, as magic, as the ultimate self-help books.”

C. 680 Book of Durrow, opening page, the Gospel of Saint Mark

C. 800 Coronation Gospels, opening pages of Saint Mark’s Gospel

A copyist writing on a sheet of parchment

St. Jerome learning to write on parchment

1180 Gospels of Henry the Lion, cover

C. 1400 Book with space hollowed out for owner’s spectacles

C. 1400 Collection of French and Italian love songs

ATTRIBUTED TO SAINT COLUMBA C. 794 – 806 Book of Kells, the Chi-Rho page

ATTRIBUTED TO SAINT COLUMBA C. 794 – 806 Book of Kells, canon table of the four Gospels

ATTRIBUTED TO SAINT COLUMBA C. 794 – 806 Book of Kells, symbols for the authors of the four Gospels

ATTRIBUTED TO SAINT COLUMBA C. 794 – 806 Book of Kells, beginning of the summaries of Matthew

ATTRIBUTED TO SAINT COLUMBA C. 794 – 806 Book of Kells, St. John the Evangelist

ATTRIBUTED TO SAINT COLUMBA C. 794 – 806 Book of Kells, the genealogy of Christ page

C. 698 The Lindisfarne Gospels, initial page of the Gospel of Matthew

C. 698 Lindisfarne Gospels, carpet page facing the opening of Saint Matthew

C. 800 Codex Aureus, stolen by Vikings and ransomed back in 880

C. 1300 Illuminated Qur’ân – text is written in Rayhani and Kufic

C. EARLY 1200S Maimonides’ A Guide to the Perplexed

945 Moalia in lob, commemorative labyrinth

1047 Beatus of Fernando and Sancha, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

1047 Beatus of Fernando and Sancha, the fourth angel

1265 Douce Apocalypse, multitude worshipping God

C. EARLY 1300S Ormesby Psalter

C. LATE 1200S Liber regimenti acutorum, medical text

1410 The Canterbury Tales

WILLIAM OF DEVON C. 1200S Bible

C. 1400 Jack of Diamonds, woodblock-printed playing card

C. 1400 Jack of Spades, woodblock-printed playing card

1466 Ars Moriendi, “the art of dying”

c. 1394 – 1468

Johann Gutenberg

Mainz, Germany

Johann Gutenberg

Gutenberg’s workshop Reproduction in the Gutenberg Museum, Germany

JOHANN GUTENBERG 1450 Gothic moveable type

Gutenberg’s system for casting type

Type mold

Type mold

Type moldPunch

Matrix

Printing press

JOHANN GUTENBERG C. 1454 Letters of Indulgence

Jan Fust and Johann Gutenberg

JOHANN GUTENBERG 1450-55 The Gutenberg Bible

JOHANN GUTENBERG 1450-55 Pages from the Gutenberg Bible

JOHANN GUTENBERG 1450 – 55 Gutenberg Bible detail

JOHANN GUTENBERG 1450 – 55 Gutenberg Bible detail

JAN FUST AND PETER SCHOEFFER 1457 Page detail from Psalter in Latin

JAN FUST AND PETER SCHOEFFER 1457 Colophon and trademark from Psalter in Latin

JAN FUST AND PETER SCHOEFFER 1459 Page from Rationale divinorum officiorum

1468 Gutenberg is back in business

Statue of Gutenberg Mainz, Germany