Lot 99: GUTENBERG, JOHANN

GUTENBERG, JOHANN
Biblia Sacra. Paterson, New Jersey: Pageant Books, 1961 2 vols. complete. Folio, red cloth boards, gilt lettering to backstrip, in publisher''s original clamshell case. "This is the first Gutenberg facsimile ever printed in the United States and only the second in the world. The reproduction derives from the Insel Verlag edition which was based on the copy in the Koniglichen Bibliothek in Berlin and the copy in the Standischen Landesbibliothek in Fulda, considered by authorities to be the most beautifully illuminated of the 47 copies known to exist. The text pages have been printed by lithography and the illumintated pages by sheet-fed gravure. The paper used is 100 per cent rag content made especially for this book. The edition has been hand bound in two volumes and is limited to 1000 numbered sets, of which 996 are for sale." Light wear to edges and extremes of clamshell case; fading and light soiling to boards and clamshell case; otherwise a fine set.