Printed leaf, Folio 148 from Volume I, being 2 Samuel, Chapter 3 (with parts of Chapters 2 and 4). With 2 hand-executed initials in red, one on either side. 14½x11¾, set in custom-made burgundy cloth chemise and folding box.

Original leaf from the most famous book in the annals of western civilization, the 42-line Bible of Johannes Gutenberg, acknowledged as the first book printed with moveable type. A tremendous project, the culmination of years of effort and the toil of many workmen, the printing of the Bible marked a turning point in the social, political, economic and religious life of Europe. The dissemination of information which resulted from the advent of the printing press, both religious and secular, demolished many of the boundaries which had for so long held Europe stratified, and set loose the full vigour of the renaissance. Of the production itself, Printing and the Mind of Man (1) states "Standards were set in quality of paper and blackness of ink, in design and professional skill, which the printers of later generations have found difficult to maintain; it is only in legibility of type that they have been able to improve on this, the first and in many ways the greatest of all printed books." Original leaves from the Bibles printed by Gutenberg are justly prized, and are a cornerstone of any library concerned with the evolution of the printed book.