Gutenberg Bible pages expected to fetch more than $500,000 at auction

NEW YORK, June 16 (UPI) -- Eight pages from a copy of the Gutenberg Bible are expected to fetch upwards of $500,000 at a Sotheby's sale this week, the auction house said.

The consecutive pages, which contain the entire Book of Esther, are scheduled to hit the auction block Friday at Sotheby's New York location. The decorated pages were from one of 180 copies of the Latin Bible produced in the 15th century using the Gutenberg press.

The Bible was the first book printed in its entirety by the moveable type press invented by Johann Gutenberg. Some 49 copies of the book still exist in varying states of completeness, Sotheby's said.

Each book was printed in black type, which was later decorated and colored in according to the wishes of a particular buyer. Therefore, each Bible had a unique appearance.

"No incunable had as pervasive a textual influence as the Gutenberg Bible, and even small typographical errors in its setting sometimes persisted for generations in later editions," Sotheby's said in a description of the text. "At the end of the 18th century it became commonly recognized that this black letter, large-format Bible in double columns of 42 lines was the true 'Gutenberg Bible.'"

The eight pages could fetch between $500,000 and $700,000. They were collected in the 19th century by Robert Curzon, an English baron. His property eventually passed on to his great-niece, who sold the pages at auction through Sotheby's in 1920. A New York dealer bought the pages at that auction.