Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-13
GUTENBERG BIBLE
IS BROUGHT TO D. c.
FOR PUBLIC EXHIBIT
Librarian OF. Congress
Fetches Rare Book
From Austria.
REPORTED OBJECTIONS
TO PURCHASE DENIED
Treasure Kept in Zinc-Lined Trunk,
Sealed Pending Arrangements
for Exhibition.

The Gutenberg Bible, purchased this
Summer by a congressional appropria-
ton for the Library of Congress, has
been brought to Washington from Aus
tria by Herbert Putnam, librarian Of
Congress, 1t was announced today.
This Bible was printed on vellum by
Gutenberg some time before 1856. 1t
was the central item of the collec-
ton of incunabula, or fifteenth CEN
tury books, of DR.. otto F. H. Voll-
bellr, wealthy German collector, which
was purchased by Congress for ST.
100000.
Book Has COlorful History.
The book, one of the first printed
volumes In the world, has colorful
history Its existence became known
to modern scholars in the eighteenth
century when 1t was found in the Bene-
dictine abbey of st. Blasius in the
Black Forest. Its previous history is
somewhat uncertain, but it is believed
to have been sold to the BenedictineS
in Paris by Johan Fust, or Faust, GU
tenberg's partner and the original OF
SO frequently In literature. Faust, &C
cording to the story, cheated" the
Benedictines. He is said to have mis-
represented the book as manuscript.
After the French revolution the
friars, fearing that the French army
which had come over the Rhine would
loot the monastery, transferred the
book to the abbey Of Einsiedeln In
Switzerland. When this, in turn, be-
came unsafe in the stirring days of the
Napoleonic wars, they retired to the
81 Tarytara 4xa
tria, to which they had been invited
by Emperor Francis II. From here
they moved in 1909 to the monastery OF
st. Paul In Carinthia, where the Bible
has remained ever since.
In 1926 the abbot of st. Paul, need
ing funds for the restoration on the
monastery, sold the Bible to DIR. Voll-
behr. DR.. Vollbehr had planned to
bring the Bible to Washington him
self, but evidently the plans were
changed with the arrival of DR.. Putnam
in Austria.
Austrian Objections Denied.
: Dispatches from Vienna lastSmonth
said that the Austrian government had
objected to removal of the Bible from
the country, but this is denied by the
Library of Congress. An export duty
Of $4,000 was collected on the cook.
AS soon as arrangements can be
made the Bible will be placed on ex-
hibtion adjacent to the portrait of
Gutenberg, presented to the library by
Gabriel Wells of New York.
The volume is now In vault in
the Office OF DR.. Putnam, sealed In a
cubical, zinc-lined trunk. The seal will
not be broken, DR.. Putnam said, until
the book can be placed in its proper
setting.
Price Rumors Denied.
The following statement was issued
today by the Library Of Congress:
THE transaction for the acquisition
of the Bible was one purely between DIR.
Vollbehr and the monastery. 1t was
he, therefore, who paid the purchase
price and all the incidentalS, including
the export duty. The sole part paid by
the authorities Of the Library in the
settlement in Austria was to convenience
him in making the final payment. AS
between him and the Library of Con-
gress, the Bible has at no time been
valued as an item. The 81 500 900 paid
TO him was for the collection as a whole,
which, quite apart from the Bible, has
been valued at over that sum. It is
quite incorrect to say that the Library
has paid over $300,000 for the Bible,
and there is still less warrant for the
statement which appeared in European
newspapers that the Library was pay
ing over $l,500,000 for it."