I have recently become fascinated with the Bible because of reading “Jesus, Interrupted” by Bart Ehrman before class last week. I used to think of the Bible as being a very long and tedious book, but seeing Gutenberg’s Bible reminds me of how much this book created much of history, and how Gutenberg made history by creating this book.
I think the Gutenberg bible is attractive, in an archaeic, historical way. It would be very dull without the illustrations; just two straight columns of text. (It is true that after a while, every page starts to look the same). The fact that the grids are aligned so perfectly is amazing to me. I also admire the large drop cap letters.
This book is done so skillfully, and I am sad to see that according to the website, it did not make Gutenberg rich. I was happy to see that Gutenberg, like many other people, had to go through a long and tedious process of trial and error in order to get his Bible printed correctly.
I cannot read the Gutenberg Bible, and I wish that I could. I can only admire it for what it is and notice how both religion and the written word have always been merged as a power of force in human history. It would be better to learn how to read it, and I plan to if I get the time. (Which I probably won't)
