• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Facsimile Gutenberg Bible Page—But Which One?

Frideswide

Fortea Morgana :) PeteByrdie certificated Princess
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
16,318
Location
An Eochair
Can anyone see this well enough to work out where in Exodus this is from? I can't get a better picture unfortunately.

1562074085419.png
 
and something I didn't know:

Do you see the geese at the bottom? It is Gutenberg's trademark. His complete name is Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg. The middle high German word Gensfleisch translates as "goose meat".

pers. comm. my mate who doesn't want to be named!
 
Magnificent @Krepostnoi ! thank you!

And from the illuminated letter I can now read

Haec sunt nomina filiorum Israel qui ingressi sunt in Egyptum cum Jacob

complete with long s, contractions and appropriate to the time capitalisation!

Thank you thank you thank you!
 
:hoff:

Thank you for deciphering the sentence. I'm glad to see my schoolboy Latin remains robust enough to understand it. I had been a bit downcast, as I don't know enough about the conventions of written Latin in that period to have been able to make much sense of the text on the facsimiles.
 
I was reading the initial on mine as N and couldn't get anywhere. Your version is obviously H @Krepostnoi and so the first word becomes Haec - or something like it. Having been brought up by a classics and clergy family I could then cheat by remembering roughly what the first verse of Exodus was likely to be (in Latin) ... and bingo!


I'm guessing a bit about Egyptum. I want it to be Egyptium but I don't know why. @Yithian ? I'm braced for the rest of my translation being pants by the way, I just wanted to get something posted in the thrill of discovery moment :)

It seems like cheating to go back and compare it to a real version.
 
:hoff:

Thank you for deciphering the sentence. I'm glad to see my schoolboy Latin remains robust enough to understand it. I had been a bit downcast, as I don't know enough about the conventions of written Latin in that period to have been able to make much sense of the text on the facsimiles.

Haec sunt nomina filiorum Israel qui ingressi sunt in Egyptum cum Jacob

I make that something like: These are the names of the sons of Israel who entered Egypt with Jacob.

(But I'd be lying if I knew why that second 'sunt' is there). Actually, isn't it some kind of perfect: "who have entered"?

Screenshot 2019-07-03 at 01.31.16.png
 
Without cheating, I'm guessing it is some sort of passive verb: These are the names of the sons of Israel who were given entry [?] into Egypt with Jacob. But without knowing more of the context than I do, it seems like an odd time to reach for the passive voice.
 
Ah, well, I was close. Turns out that it is a deponent verb: passive in form but active in meaning. Another term which shifts uneasily in its slumber packed away in some dusty filing cabinet in a basement storage area of my memory. The verb itself is ingredi: to go into, or enter (so you were right, too). I am delighted that not only do we - obviously - derive the word ingress, but also the word ingredient: the things that go into your pie.
 
lovely lovely!

Thank you both :)
 
Speaking of Gutenberg bible pages...

Single sheets sometimes are available on the market. Who knows, maybe these just fetch the price of a house (in a zone I can't afford, anyway); I have no idea about the real prices for those.

For the book below, I would advise against buying it outside of trusted antiquaries; I don't know if fake copies of this are not floating around, though to be frank I didn't found any on the market, fake or otherwise.

Here are some images of a curiosity--a single, original page, bound in hardcover, taken from and ended Biblio offer [ https://www.biblio.com/book/text-judith-vii-ix-bible-latin/d/1004831272 ]:

1004831272.1.x.1.jpg1004831272.0.x.1.jpg
1004831272.2.x.1.jpg
1004831272.3.x.1.jpg1004831272.4.x.jpg

Personally, I'm interested on the content of books, not originals (yes, I'm a filthy plebeian). I can't justify to myself buying an original when I can get the same information for a fraction of the price (allowing me to get more books).

At this site: [ https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/classics/all/04669/facts.the_gutenberg_bible_of_1454.htm ], there is a nice facsimile of both volumes, available for £ 100. This is one of the facsimiles I want to buy someday; another is a reproduction of the first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, in three volumes (ISBN 1122141947).
 
Last edited:
It'll have to wait for a windfall!
 
Back
Top