Read The Lost Gutenberg The Astounding Story of One Book FiveHundredYear Odyssey Margaret Leslie Davis 9781592408672 Books
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“A lively tale of historical innovation, the thrill of the bibliophile’s hunt, greed and betrayal.” – The New York Times Book Review
"An addictive and engaging look at the ‘competitive, catty and slightly angst-ridden’ heart of the world of book collecting.” - The Houston Chronicle
The never-before-told story of one extremely rare copy of the Gutenberg Bible, and its impact on the lives of the fanatical few who were lucky enough to own it.
For rare-book collectors, an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible--of which there are fewer than 50 in existence--represents the ultimate prize. Here, Margaret Leslie Davis recounts five centuries in the life of one copy, from its creation by Johannes Gutenberg, through the hands of monks, an earl, the Worcestershire sauce king, and a nuclear physicist to its ultimate resting place, in a steel vault in Tokyo. Estelle Doheny, the first woman collector to add the book to her library and its last private owner, tipped the Bible onto a trajectory that forever changed our understanding of the first mechanically printed book.
The Lost Gutenberg draws readers into this incredible saga, immersing them in the lust for beauty, prestige, and knowledge that this rarest of books sparked in its owners. Exploring books as objects of obsession across centuries, this is a must-read for history buffs, book collectors, seekers of hidden treasures, and anyone who has ever craved a remarkable book--and its untold stories.
Read The Lost Gutenberg The Astounding Story of One Book FiveHundredYear Odyssey Margaret Leslie Davis 9781592408672 Books
"Very I formative book."
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The Lost Gutenberg The Astounding Story of One Book FiveHundredYear Odyssey Margaret Leslie Davis 9781592408672 Books Reviews :
The Lost Gutenberg The Astounding Story of One Book FiveHundredYear Odyssey Margaret Leslie Davis 9781592408672 Books Reviews
- Interesting read of the journey of Gutenberg Bible. This book is written in the present tense, which I find difficult to read and believe is not the best approach for a historical book. More pics of the actual BIble would have been nice.
- The book in question (No.45) was never ‘lost’, nor is there any explanation why someone chose such a title. The subject of the book and the writing of the same are sufficient to generate interest in most all folks who read and have some curiosity regarding the origins of moveable-type printing.
Aside from that and occasional attempts to invest the book with more spirituality than warranted, it’s a delightful read. Ms. Davis tracks Gutenberg Bible No. 45 from late in the 18th century until its current home in the 21st and along the way populates the pages with well-drawn portraits of the owners, dealers and others associated with the book.
As well, most readers know the Gutenberg bibles are rare, but the author makes clear exactly how rare (they number 48 known volumes), and how individual they are; as far as is known, not one matches another totally. Each uniquely rare, as it were.
No. 45 goes on to become the first to be examined by nuclear processes and becomes the first to be completely digitized, moving a ‘first’ in the printing arts to the ‘first’ on the web.
Fascinating. - This book gets two stars for the way it is written rather than the content. The author chose to write mostly in the present tense to describe things in the past. For some unknown reason she occasionally slips back int a past tense almost as if it is an accident. This is very unfortunate because the content of the book is very good
- Very I formative book.
- This book was a disappointment to me. Lost Gutenberg will probably be enjoyed by many readers, but the subtitle “The Astounding Story of One Book’s Five-Hundred-Year Odyssey†led me to expect just that. I was intrigued by how the author would have traced the ownership of the book, known as Book 45, back so far and eager to hear how the Gutenberg books were treated in the early years. Alas, the book did not deliver what the subtitle promises. Except for a short four-page discussion of Gutenberg and his time in the first chapter, Lost Gutenberg does not take up the history of the Gutenberg bible until it is purchased by Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford, in 1836. Book 45 then goes through five private owners and the Catholic Church before it is purchased by a Japanese publishing conglomerate in 1987.
In 1950 the only known woman collector to own a Gutenberg, Estelle Betzold Doheny, bought Book 45. Doheny is portrayed as someone with a sincere appreciation for the book as a piece of history and a reflection of her faith as a devout Catholic. She also no doubt had a “shrewd mind for the bottom line†and considered herself to have gotten a real bargain thanks to a strong US dollar and a devaluation of the British pound. The attitudes of other owners were rather different. As author Davis says, “In some hands, books are little more than inert propsâ€, and, indeed, Gosford even writes his name in the book and underlines it with a flourish! To such men, their book collections were simply an ostentatious display of a wealth that some of the debt-ridden owners did not really have. There are many descriptions of grand estates and feasts like a coming-of-age party where over 550 guests were served 700 pounds of plum pudding.
The last third of the book is rather different, as the world-changing technology of Gutenberg meets today’s technology. In the chapter The Nuclear Bibliophiles, we hear how physicists use a proton beam from a cyclotron to get insights into Gutenberg’s printing process and to learn the secret to his non-fading ink. Estelle Doheny was not the only Book 45 owner to take advantage of international economic ups and downs. The big Japanese economic bubble of the late 20th century enabled the Japanese company Maruzen to become the first known Asian owner of a Gutenberg bible. I loved the company’s response when an American reporter asked them why they wanted a Gutenberg bible “If it were not for Gutenberg, there would be no Maruzen.†The book now rests at Japan’s Kelo University, where modern technology is again used with great care to preserve it for future generations to revere and to bring it to a wider audience for the first time by creating a “virtual Gutenberg†online.
Lost Gutenberg has a lot of interesting stories and information that will probably be enjoyed most by history buffs, who will delight in the recent histories of the owners like the heir to the Lee and Perrins Worcestershire sauce fortune or the scandal involving Estelle Doheny’s oil tycoon husband. As for me, I know enough not to judge a book by its cover, but I think I should be able to believe its title. - I wanted to love this book - but sadly, I didn't. In fact, I gave up a page 145. It tells about a specific copy of the first bibles printed by Gutenberg using moveable type - Bible #45. The focus in on the owners of the bible in the 1800s and 1900 hundreds, with stories about how this copy of the bible was acquired, and the various dealers involved in buying and selling this book. It also tells the relationship of the bible's owners to the book - some were fascinated, and one just saw is a trophy to have in his collection.
I didn't find the stories of the owners that interesting. I did enjoy learning a bit more about how the first bibles were produced, decorated, and bound and would have loved to have a much deeper level of detail about the manufacture of the books, how many are currently in existence, and how they vary. Some of these elements are touched upon along the way, but I would have liked to know much more.
My interest just fizzled out - I didn't find the owners's stories that interesting, and was deeply curious about the missing 300+ years of the book's history. - Not only does this rather well done book give the fascinating history of one Gutenberg Bible, it also allows us a view of early printing and gives us a view into the lives of some of those who owned the books. This is a book about books and will delight those who are interested in books.
Now I love book and have been collecting them....well no, not collecting them, but rather ‘hording†them for over 70 years now, and I enjoyed the motivation that other people have in collecting them. As with anything rare and extremely expensive many of the collectors were more interested in the “having†rather that the cherishing with I found to be sad.
The author was just a bit light as to the specifics as to how these books were printing but doing a simply google search and a visit to the local library will bring a person up to day on this aspect quite well.
The scholarship was excellent and there were plenty of source document included...something I appreciate and the book, while giving good technical data was quite readable and read more like a story rather than a tech manual.
All in all I was delighted with this book and will no doubt give it another read on down the lime.
