Not just a book: What is a Gutenberg Bible? And why is it relevant 500 years after its printing?

A Gutenberg Bible is not your ordinary book. The first major work printed in Europe with moveable metal type by the mid-1450s gradually led to a massive multiplication of biblical texts, which eventually affected how parishioners related to religion. Out of the 180 copies that the German inventor Johannes Gutenberg originally printed, around 48 complete Bibles are preserved. Three of them are kept at the Morgan Library & Museum, in New York City. Why should anyone — religiously observant or not — feel compelled to see a Gutenberg Bible up close? Here’s a look at how its printing influenced the history of books and the religious landscape. And what a 500-year-old volume can still reveal.