A Gutenberg Bible, printed in and considered the first book of movable type ever printed, is usually considered the zenith of book collecting. Some books become rare not because of the content of the book itself, but because a famous person owned it. If the book has personal notations in the margins, the value goes up even more. If you'd like to know how much a Gutenberg Bible is worth, how many there are in the world and why it has such lofty status, this article has all the details, along with nine more of the world's rarest books -- including those sleepers you can find in the dusty shelves of used bookstores.
Johannes Gutenberg experimented with movable type throughout the s, using his own casting process to set type from an alloy he invented. He had printed some relatively unremarkable items before working on the Bible, which he first offered for sale in [source: University of Texas at Austin ].
It is believed that copies of the Bible were produced -- on paper and 35 on vellum , or calfskin. Today, only 48 copies are known to exist, some of them only partial, almost all of them in the hands of museums, universities and libraries [source: Clausen Books ].
Gutenberg Bibles are rare and valuable for a number of reasons. In addition to their scarcity and status as the first of their kind, they're books of exceptional quality. Gutenberg used finely crafted paper and vellum, as well as a special ink of his own invention that has remained vivid for centuries. Most of the Bibles were sold in folio form , or as loose pages that the owner would then have bound in the style of his or her desire. That gives each Gutenberg Bible a certain uniqueness.
Each Bible is usually split into two volumes, with the Old Testament filling the first volume, and the second volume containing the remainder of the Old Testament and the entire New Testament. How much is a Gutenberg Bible worth? No author has exerted more influence on Western literature than William Shakespeare.
His works have been performed and read around the world and continue to be revered almost years after his death in The First Folio is a remarkable book because it is the first authoritative collection of Shakespeare's plays ever published.
The works were compiled by Shakespeare's friends and business partners, John Heminge and Henry Condell, who helped run his theater company. For this reason, they had access to early drafts, notes and stage directions, as well as direct knowledge of the author's work [source: British Library ]. For historians and fans of the Bard's plays, the First Folio is the best representation of Shakespeare's writing, unadulterated by editors or modern translations. An estimated copies of the Folio were printed in and It contains 36 plays -- which includes almost every play Shakespeare is thought to have written.
Many of the plays were published for the first time in the Folio, which is superior to earlier quartos , or abridged reproductions of single plays. However, the First Folio isn't perfect itself: Some plays have lines altered or deleted to fit the book, and each copy has a variety of typographical errors.
Today, many theater companies prefer to use the First Folio versions instead of modern editions, and reprints of the First Folio make these easy to access. You can even find digital versions of it for free. However, the rarity of original editions combined with Shakespeare's reputation make this one of the most valuable rare books in the world. In , a copy was auctioned by Sotheby's for 2. A small collection of poems by American poet Edgar Allen Poe is notable for a number of reasons.
Poe was one of the first widely renowned American authors, and is considered one of the earliest writers of stories with macabre, supernatural themes. The first book Poe ever published was called "Tamerlane and Other Poems. What makes "Tamerlane" really exciting for the average book collector is that, for some reason, Poe wanted it published anonymously.
The cover lists the author simply as, "a Bostonian. The Codex Leicester is a notebook of scientific observations produced by Leonardo da Vinci between and [source: American Museum of Natural History ].
It differs from the other previously mentioned books in that it was never published or printed in any quantity. It is literally a one-of-a-kind book, handwritten by da Vinci himself. Da Vinci was a genius whose scientific observations were matched only by his innovative inventions and artistic talent. The Codex is a direct look at his observations and thought processes. It isn't in book form -- the 18 leaves are separated, though they could fold together to form a page book.
Aras, on the other hand, suffered a fractured skull. Out of some original printed copies of the Gutenberg Bible, 49 still exist in library, university and museum collections. Less than half are complete, and some only consist of a single volume or even a few scattered pages.
Germany stakes the claim to the most Gutenberg Bibles with 14, while the United States has 10, three of which are owned by the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you. Marine Corps. Christian Books And Bibles. Disney Vhs Collection Part 2. Found My Way Home.
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