Editing Johannes Gutenberg (section)

=== Printed books ===
{{further|Gutenberg Bible}}
[[File:Gutenberg Bible.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Gutenberg Bible]]'', now housed at the [[Library of Congress]] in Washington, D.C.]]
Between 1450–55, Gutenberg printed several texts, some of which remain unidentified; his texts did not bear the printer's name or date, so attribution is possible only from typographical evidence and external references. Certainly church documents including a papal letter and two [[31-line Indulgence|indulgence]]s were printed, one of which was issued in Mainz. In view of the value of printing in quantity, seven editions in two styles were ordered, resulting in several thousand copies being printed.{{sfn|Meggs|Purvis|2016|pp=435–436, 442–443}} Some printed editions of ''Ars Minor'', a schoolbook on Latin grammar by [[Aelius Donatus]], [[List of editiones principes in Latin|may have been printed by Gutenberg]]; these have been dated either 1451–52, or 1455. Every copy of printed books were identical; this was a significant departure from handwritten manuscripts, which left room for possible human error.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Stuart |title=The Library: An Illustrated History |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing}}</ref> 

In 1455, [[Editio princeps|Gutenberg completed copies of a well-executed folio Bible]] (''Biblia Sacra''), with 42 lines on each page. Copies sold for 30 [[Florin (Italian coin)|florins]] each,{{sfn|Cormack|Ede|2004|p=}} roughly three years' wages for a clerk. Nonetheless, it was much cheaper than a manuscript Bible that could take a single scribe over a year to prepare. After printing, some copies were [[Rubrication|rubricated]] or [[Illuminated manuscript|hand-illuminated]] in the same elegant way as manuscript Bibles from the same period.

48 substantially complete copies are known to survive, including two at the [[British Library]] that can be viewed and compared online.<ref name=britLibrary>{{cite web|url=http://prodigi.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/search.asp|title=Treasures in Full: Gutenberg Bible|access-date=19 October 2006|publisher=[[British Library]]|archive-date=17 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417060843/http://prodigi.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/search.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> The text lacks modern features such as page numbers, [[Indentation (typesetting)|indentations]], and [[paragraph break]]s.

An undated [[36-line Bible|36-line edition of the Bible]] was printed, probably in [[Bamberg]] in 1458–60, possibly by Gutenberg. A large part of it was shown to have been set from a copy of Gutenberg's Bible, thus disproving earlier speculation that it was the earlier of the two.{{sfn|Kapr|1996|p=322}}