The Crandall Historical Printing Museum in downtown Provo unveiled all 244 type characters that Johanne Gutenberg, inventor of the first printing press, used to print the Gutenberg Bible.

"The Gutenberg Bible is considered today as the most beautiful book in the world, and the standard by which all modern printing is judged," said Louis Crandall, president and founder of the museum.

At the event, Provo Mayor Lewis K. Billings wore a workman's apron and pulled the handle of an old wooden press, printing a replica page of the Gutenberg Bible.

It was first time a page was printed using complete Gutenberg moveable type outside Gutenberg's shop in Mainz, Germany, Crandall said.

The page that was printed contained passages from John 10, "Other sheep which are not of this fold . . ., and Isaiah 29, "And thou shalt be brought down . . ."

The replica page is going to be framed and placed in the Provo City Center.

It took two months to set the characters on the type, said Thomas K. Hinckley, museum technician. The setting of the type is a complicated procedure that takes a lot of time and patience. It is an art that has died throughout time, he said.

But the skill is being brought to life as additional replica pages will be printed and be sold in a limited edition. Plus, with the help of BYU students, rubricating of the printed text will begin, creating the authenticity of the beautiful tapestry of text.

Along with the printing, the museum coordinators demonstrated how ink was made. Onions, charcoaled bread and flaxseed oil were combined to make ink that was used in the days of Gutenberg.

"Making ink is an art in of itself," said Steve Pratt, museum ink maker. "Being able to get the right color through natural materials is a quite a study."

Crandall and Pratt are combining craftsmanship and scholarship to their work. Pratt has been able to find flaws in previous studies about the ink made by Gutenberg. He published his own study on the topic including "The Making of Gutenberg's Ink."

"The Gutenberg type changed the world in many ways," said Neil Johnson, special counsel to the museum. "The infusion of the Bible throughout the world changed the way people live and think."

In addition to the Gutenberg type, an actual page from one of the 49 Gutenberg's original Bibles will be on display at the museum.

The museum is hoping to expand its collection as historical printing artifacts are being acquired and a new vision of the further study of historical printing continues, Crandall said.

The museum is located at 275 East Center St. in Provo and is opened weekdays from 1 to 5 p.m. The museum features exhibits and narratives of printing history, from the wood block prints of ancient China to the most current computer generated printing of the 21st Century.

"We are delighted to be the only place in the world that prints pages identical to the way they were printed over 500 years ago," Crandall said.



Copyright Brigham Young University 7 Oct 2003