Johannes Gutenberg

First edition of this monumental facsimile of the first major book printed with moveable type in the West, also called the "Cooper Square Facsimile".

• Sold as a set of 2.
• After Johannes Gutenberg (German).
• Biblia Sacra [Facsimile of the Gutenberg Bible].
• Paterson, New Jersey and New York City: Pageant Books, Inc, [1961].
• Two volumes.
• Illustrated in color and gilt photogravure.
• Limited run of 1,000 copies.
• Bound in original red cloth, gilt lettering to spine, edges speckled red, and red marbled endpapers.

"I really consider the Cooper Square printing to be a national treasure." – Tim Yancey

Gutenberg's printing press was one of the most radical turning points in European recorded history. It created a leap in communication and accessibility that transformed Europe, playing a critical role in the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and countless other movements that have shaped the modern world.

Gutenberg Bibles are the Holy Grail of handpress books in the West, and their rarity on the market has led to efforts to sell incomplete copies piecemeal (as Scribner did in the 1950s), as well as to produce high-quality facsimiles. Working from the copy held by the Koniglichen Bibliotehek, Berlin – "considered by authorities to be the most beautifully illuminated of the 47 copies known to exist" – the copy held by the Standischen Landesbibliothek in Fulda, and the first Gutenberg facsimile published by Insel Verlag in 1914 (colophon), Pageant Books published this, the second ever facsimile of the landmark book, the first in the United States. Its issue was to coincide with the estimated 500th anniversary of the Gutenberg Bible's first printing, a US American tribute that master bookbinder Tim Yancey notes employed "the best of American craftsmen and technology."

The hand-bound pages of this facsimile are made of 100% rag paper; the text has "been printed by lithography and the illuminated pages by sheet-fed gravure" (colophon). An appropriate tribute to the revolutionary publication.

Nate Pedersen, "Lost Gutenbergs: An Interview with Tim Yancey," Fine Books & Collections.