The Gutenberg Bible, which appeared about 1455, represents the invention of printing in the Western world. The Huntington Library holds one of three vellum copies of the Gutenberg Bible in the United States. Color reproductions of several pages and initial letters from the Bible accompany this text, which details the early history of printing and the way the Gutenberg Bible was produced. The author also discusses Henry Huntington's purchase of the Bible in 1911 for the then-unimaginable sum of $50,000.

James Thorpe is a distinguished scholar and former director of the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens from 1966–1983. He is now a Senior Research Associate at the Huntington.