The
Gutenberg Bible (also known as the
42-line Bible, the
Mazarin Bible or the
B42) was the first major book printed using mass-produced
movable type. It marked the start of the "
Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of the printed book in the West. Widely praised for its high aesthetic and artistic qualities, the book has an iconic status. Written in Latin, the Catholic Gutenberg Bible is an edition of the
Vulgate, printed by
Johannes Gutenberg, in
Mainz, in present-day
Germany, in the 1450s. Forty-eight copies, or substantial portions of copies, survive, and they are considered to be among the most valuable books in the world, even though no complete copy has been sold since 1978. The
36-line Bible, believed to be the second printed version of the Bible, is also sometimes referred to as a Gutenberg Bible, but is likely the work of another printer.