The Lost Gutenberg
The Astounding Story of One Book's Five-Hundred-Year Odyssey
2 of 3 copies available
"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.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
March 19, 2019 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781984842817
- File size: 184844 KB
- Duration: 06:25:05
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Coleen Marlo is an experienced and empathetic narrator. This audiobook history of one beautifully preserved copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the world's first and most valuable printed book, is a capsule study of the peculiar passion that motivates book collectors--what one critic has called "a gentle madness." While the listener discovers that this particular Gutenberg was never really "lost" and that its passage from owner to owner over the centuries wasn't all that astonishing, the author finds her narrative center in the trade in and preservation of rare books. That, more than the biographies of the owners themselves, is the chief interest here, and the real drama of this story is in the auction houses and the acclimatized vaults and cases where some of our greatest treasures live on. Marlo delivers it all beautifully. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
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