The Gutenberg Bible, one of the most significant artifacts in the history of printing, has recently been reunited with a rare devotional print after being separated for two centuries. The story of this reunion begins in 1911, when Henry E. Huntington purchased a vellum edition of the Gutenberg Bible for $55,000, which would be worth approximately $1.8 million today. However, the Bible was incomplete, missing three devotional prints that had been removed and sold separately in 1825.
Last spring, Stephen Tabor, the curator of rare books at the Huntington Library, learned about an upcoming sale of one of the missing prints, “Christ on the Mount of Olives.” The library seized the opportunity to bring the print back to the Bible, enhancing both scholarship and public appreciation. After months of research, paperwork, licensing, and fundraising, the print was finally reunited with the Gutenberg Bible at the Huntington Library in California.
The devotional print, created using a technique known as “dotted metal cut,” depicts Christ in prayer on the night before his crucifixion. The highly detailed black-and-white image was later colored by hand, showing Christ with his disciples and the impending betrayal by Judas. This print, along with two others, was likely added to the Bible by its first owner in the 1450s or 1460s for private devotional use.
The Gutenberg Bible, printed by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s using movable type, revolutionized the way books were made and information was accessed. Only about 50 copies of the Bible are known to exist today, making each copy extremely rare and valuable. The vellum edition owned by the Huntington Library is considered one of the most beautiful copies in the world, with only two other vellum editions in the United States.
The reunion of the devotional print with the Gutenberg Bible at the Huntington Library has sparked new discoveries and insights into the history and unique features of this landmark of printing. The Bible, once separated from its prints for centuries, continues to hold surprises for those who study it closely. The return of “Christ on the Mount of Olives” has inspired further research and exploration, shedding light on the Bible’s rich history and significance in the world of rare books and artifacts.
