The British Library– Part Two

The Gutenberg Bible was probably the first book ever printed with movable type, in Mainz around 1455. This invention was in part what jump started the Protestant Reformation because all of a sudden all kinds of mss. could be printed quickly including Bibles, and thus even the Bible was no longer under the control of governments or the rich and the powerful. Previously, apart for the uber wealthy who could afford to bankroll copying by hand, Bibles were chained to pulpits or found in monasteries that had scriptoriums or were excerpted into various languages for special purposes, again usually for the wealthy. This page above is printed on vellum, and is part of a lost mss. which we know ended up in England in the 1400s. The illuminations were added by hand. This is King Henry VIII’s illuminated Psalter, and fascinating are his annotations in the margin. The image on this page is King Henry being a penitent like King David, and wondering about the consequence of some of his questionable actions morally speaking. This image accompanied Psalm 68. The Bishop’s Bible, like Tyndale’s and Coverdale’s was a predecessor, and in part a consulted basis for the later King James Bible from the b...