The Gutenberg Bible, which appeared about 1455, represents the invention of printing in the Western world. The Huntington Library holds one of three vellum copies of the Gutenberg Bible in the United States. Colour reproductions of several pages and initial letters from the Bible accompany this text, which details the early history of printing and the way the Gutenberg Bible was produced. The author also discusses Henry Huntington's purchase of the Bible in 1911 for the then-unimaginable sum of $50,000.