THE BIBLE
JOHANNES GUTENBERG,1455

290 x 420 mm / 60 gridded sheets
2-column grid of 42 lines

In the mid-15th century Johannes Gutenberg invented a mechanical way of making books. Before Gutenberg, every book had to be copied by hand. It was now possible to speed up the process without sacrificing quality, producing many copies of the same text with speed and economy. The type used by Gutenberg resembles a formal type of contemporary handwriting known as 'textura', because its strong vertical and horizontal lines gives the impression of the texture of a woven pattern across the page.
If a designer looks carefully at some of the vellum sheets of Gutenberg's original forty-two-line bible, he will find traces of the grid on which he based the layout of his pages. These lines guided the positioning of the double columns of forty-two lines, controlled the margins, and located the folios and headings. This pattern of lines was inspired in part by the guidelines of inscribed Gothic manuscripts and in part by the rigid wooden frames and metal type that made up Gutenberg's primitive forms.
For most all-text pages of contemporary books a simple concern for reading pleasure, an awareness of proportion, and a straightforward margin scheme normally dictate a grid that is not much more complex than were the guidelines for type placement in Gutenberg's day.