Using the printing press he invented, and with the help of 20 artisans, Gutenberg was able to produce 180 copies of his Bible over a period of three years. Up until then, scribes in abbeys had needed much longer than that just to copy a single book by hand. The stage was set for the age of mass media. To mark Gutenberg s 600th birthday, G ttingen University has decided to celebrate the ingenious reproduction technique pioneered by the Mainz native. To protect the priceless book from damage during the process, Manfred Mayer, a restorer from Graz, designed a special imaging table.
Gentle suction holds the ancient pages in place so their portraits can be taken.
Click, click, click, and the Bible begins life in cyberspace.