Gutenberg Sale

A steal at $999,999

Johann Gutenberg had to go into debt to finish the first Bible ever printed, a two-volume edition. Plagued by lawsuits and lack of cash, he struggled for two years fashioning each character and symbol by hand--46,000 pieces in all. When it was completed in 1454, the 150-copy paper edition fetched about 20 guilders (roughly $1,000) apiece; the 35 parchment copies were a little more. Now three of the 48 complete or partial Gutenberg Bibles still known to exist are on the market in New York City. The asking price has been as high as $2.5 million, which is what Rare-Book Dealer Hans P. Kraus tried, unsuccessfully, to get for the Bible he acquired in 1970. But the price for the copies being put up for sale by the General Theological Seminary and the Carl H. Pforzheimer Library is considerably less. There is some doubt that the seminary's copy, which will be auctioned at Christie's next month, will even fetch $1 million.

Whether all the Gutenbergs will find buyers is another matter. Like great master paintings they are thought to be a splendid investment, but usually only a very few institutions or individuals can afford one. "What can you do with the damn thing?" asked one irreverent book dealer. "These days the Arabs could buy it, but it would be easier to sell them a 10th century Koran than a 15th century Bible."

Curious New York readers who do not happen to have a million dollars can look at a Gutenberg for the price of a subway fare. The Pierpont Morgan Library has two complete copies, with one always on view. The New York Public Library also has one. In fact, of the 14 Gutenbergs in the U.S., nearly all can be seen in libraries. Each volume is about 16 in. high, 24 in. across when opened, and contains either 648 or 634 pages. Americans, who by and large have given up the study of Latin, may be put off by the fact that all copies begin, "In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram. "

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