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186:. It is assumed that the same model book was used in each case. There has been speculation that the Master of the Playing Cards worked on the Giant Bible, and may also have been an associate of Gutenberg, though there is no hard evidence. The Princeton copy of the Gutenberg Bible seems to have been decorated by a different artist than the Giant Bible.
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The Bible is bound in two volumes, with 244 leaves in the first and 214 in the second. It is likely that one preliminary and two end leaves are missing. The binding is of plain pigskin over wooden boards and is more or less contemporary with the rest of the book. The text block is secured by nine
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of high quality. The pages measure 576 x 405mm (22.6 x 15.9in) and the text is arranged in two columns of 60 lines, with wide margins. There are decorations in a range of styles, by more than one artist. The decoration was never completed, for unknown reasons. Only a few pages in the first volume
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was printing his Bible, and possibly in the same town. The
Gutenberg Bible was clearly modelled on the large-format manuscript Bibles being written at this time, for instance in its page size and its wide margins. There has been speculation that the Giant Bible was a particular influence on
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records that the scribe began work on April 4, 1452, and finished on July 9, 1453. Around this time large Bibles, designed to be read from a lectern, were returning to popularity for the first time since the twelfth century. In the intervening period, small hand-held Bibles had been usual.
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Although the place of production cannot be known with certainty, several pieces of evidence link it to Mainz, including the style of decoration. The style of the script also suggests an origin somewhere in the Middle or Lower Rhine region, and the Bible is known to have been owned by
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deposited it in the cathedral library. It is unclear whether he was donating it to the cathedral or simply transferring it to the library from the chantry. In 1631 the library was seized as a
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or nearby. It is notable for its beauty, for being one of the last manuscript Bibles written before the invention of printing in the West, and for its possible connections with the
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style, but it does not seem that the hand of the Giant Bible's scribe was the model for it. The text of the Giant Bible is not especially close to the
Gutenberg Bible.
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The Bible is in very good condition, suggesting that it was never regularly read. There are no thumb-marks and very little discoloration to the outer margins. It was
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Several animals, humans, and flowers featured in the decorated borders added to some pages closely resemble figures in the
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Medieval and
Renaissance Manuscript Books in the Library of Congress: a Descriptive Catalogue, Vol. 1
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Medieval and
Renaissance Manuscript Books in the Library of Congress: a Descriptive Catalogue, Vol. 1
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of the Bible is known from 1566 onward. In that year
Heinrich von Stockheim of
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have the complex and finely drawn illuminated borders the Bible is known for.
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The Giant Bible of Mainz: 500th anniversary, April 4th 1452-April 4th 1952
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The Giant Bible of Mainz: 500th anniversary, April 4th 1452-April 4th 1952
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The Giant Bible of Mainz: 500th anniversary, April 4th 1452-April 4th 1952
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The text of the Bible has been little-studied but is close to other
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cords with head and tail bands of red, white, and green silk.
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The 550th
Anniversary Pictorial Census of the Gutenberg Bible
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Gutenberg, but the evidence for this is limited. Gutenberg's
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copy of the
Gutenberg Bible and also in the work of the
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webcast by Mark G. Dimunation and Daniel P. De Simone
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422:The Gutenberg Bible and the Giant Bible of Mainz
264:The Gutenberg Bible and the Giant Bible of Mainz
162:The Giant Bible was written at the same time as
135:. It remained in Bernard's family until sold to
143:, in 1951. In 1952 Rosenwald donated it to the
383:Gutenberg and the Master of the Playing Cards
262:Dimunation, Mark G. and De Simone, Daniel P.
131:, who gave the Bible to one of his officers,
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308:Johann Gutenberg: The Man and His Invention
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335:. Gutenberg Research Center. p. 151.
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418:, Library of Congress Bible Collection.
215:, Library of Congress Bible Collection.
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458:15th-century illuminated manuscripts
23:A page from the Giant Bible of Mainz
402:. Library of Congress. p. 47.
365:. Library of Congress. p. 16.
350:. Library of Congress. p. 11.
280:. Library of Congress. p. 42.
83:The Bible was written by a single
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453:15th-century biblical manuscripts
295:. Library of Congress. p. 6.
38:produced in 1452–53, probably in
379:Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmutt (1966).
229:The Book: a History of the Bible
158:Relationship to Gutenberg Bible
225:de Hamel, Christopher (2001).
1:
310:. Scolar Press. p. 161.
398:Library of Congress (1989).
276:Library of Congress (1989).
50:Place and date of production
184:Master of the Playing Cards
154:in the nineteenth century.
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266:. Accessed 8 October 2009.
233:. Phaidon Press. p.
387:. Yale University Press.
361:Miner, Dorothy (1952).
346:Miner, Dorothy (1952).
331:Estes, Richard (2005).
291:Miner, Dorothy (1952).
133:Bernard of Saxe-Weimar
103:Bibles of the period.
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79:Detail of another page
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306:Kapr, Albert (1996).
139:, via the bookseller
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416:Giant Bible of Mainz
213:Giant Bible of Mainz
180:Princeton University
137:Lessing J. Rosenwald
125:Gustavus Adolphus II
67:from at least 1566.
29:Giant Bible of Mainz
448:Vulgate manuscripts
145:Library of Congress
164:Johannes Gutenberg
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71:Description
432:Categories
113:provenance
33:manuscript
89:parchment
169:typeface
152:foliated
56:colophon
173:textura
101:Vulgate
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129:Sweden
107:Owners
85:scribe
443:Mainz
190:Notes
40:Mainz
36:Bible
312:ISBN
239:ISBN
111:The
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