B42: Princeton University Library’s Gutenberg Bible

By Dan Linke

Princeton University’s “Middle Ages For Educators” is designed to bring  experts and primary sources to those who teach the Middle Ages in schools and colleges.  Will Noel shared his video on a medieval English book of Psalms with you on this blog in February 2024.

The video is one of seven in which Princeton-based scholars discuss prized items from the Princeton University Library (PUL), including medieval coins, a Hebrew prayer book from 15^th century Florence, a Zoroastrian manuscript, a medieval Egyptian document of sale, and the Scheide Library’s copy of the Gutenberg Bible. The Gutenberg, or B42, as early printing historians refer to it—shorthand for the 42-line Bible—is one of the Scheide’s signature treasures, and Eric White, who wrote a book about B42, spoke about it in this series.  Our copy celebrated its centennial within the Scheide Library last year.

In just over 12 minutes, Eric clarifies and contextualizes Gutenberg’s place in printing history, explaining that he was the “head of several inventions for making books legible in multiple [copies], beautifully, in Europe.” What struck me is that while Gutenberg worked to produce identical texts, of the surviving 48 (of an estimated 160) Gutenberg Bibles, each are slightly different, owing to the post-printing customization that individual owners chose to do, including binding, rubrication, and other visual embellishments. (Modern spell-checkers do not recognize the word rubrication, suggesting lubrication instead.  Rubrication is the addition of color ink—often red, frequently blue—for certain letters or text for emphasis—often the beginning of a chapter.  It does not involve 10W-40 motor oil.) These variations provide important clues about each books’ individual history, and consequently, inform us on larger questions about early printing and social history.  The Scheide copy is particularly rich in terms of its embellishments, as the video amply demonstrates.

For Further Reading:

Bible. Mainz, Germany: Johann Gutenberg and Johann Fust, 1456.

Princeton University Library. “Gutenberg & After: Europe’s First Printers, 1450-1470,” 2019.

White, Eric Marshall. Editio Princeps: A History of the Gutenberg Bible. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2017.

White, Eric Marshall. “The Gutenberg Bible: An Invention for Medieval Europe,” Middle Ages for Educators, January 10, 2024.