On February 23, 1455, 567 years ago, Johannes Gutenberg, the German who invented movable type printing, finished printing the Holy Bible.
According to some sources, the process of printing the “42-line Bible” or “Gutenberg Bible” began in 1450.
It was the Vulgate, a Latin translation used by the Catholic Church. It was called the “42 Line Bible” because of the number of lines printed, in two columns, on each page.
Due to its importance and print run of about 180 copies, the text achieved the status of an icon of the beginning of the “age of printing”.
Currently, 48 copies are preserved, but only 21 are complete. In Spain one is preserved in the Public Library of Burgos.
Although the most widespread fact is that the Bible was the first book reproduced with Gutenberg’s printing press, the truth is that in 1449, the German inventor reproduced the so-called “Constance Missal” in the Mainz printing press, of which there are now only three specimens in the world.
A missal is the Catholic book that contains the texts used to celebrate the Eucharist.
