Hey Guys,
Tried this on COW and only got one contributor... Looking for more!
As I search for a print house that will print on parchment for me for my Magna Carta I got the idea for a MAMMOTH project... The Gutenberg Bible. I've always wanted one but obviously since the project is so huge I've never seriously considered attempting it. Bear with me as I explain my idea for hopefully finally attaining this treasure of the literary world...
What if a large group of us worked on one? The more the better. I would like to recruit as many people as possible to work on typing pages so that they can be formatted into a master vector PDF of the whole Bible as it was printed by Gutenberg. I have a PDF of scans of the entire Bible as well as a font that mirrors the typeset used for the originals.
Everyone that signs up would get the following:
1. PDF copy of the Gutenberg Bible
2. Page numbers to work on
3. Gutenberg font
4. Character map (to find the unusual characters on your keyboard)
5. Tips on things to look for to prevent errors (ie. some "s" look like "f")
Returned from each person to me would be a word doc (or other similar format) of all the pages they were assigned laid out so that I can decipher what belongs on each line and which column. Then, for each page I would format them to match the original and compile a full PDF of the printed Bible.
The reward? Everyone who participates gets a copy of that final PDF file, a treasure in itself.
To better illustrate what I mean here's a history:
When Gutenberg printed his Bible he printed it without rubrication or illumination. This means that when the Bible left his shop is was a simple black & white print which needed finishing by the purchaser. At first he attempted to print the rubrication but soon gave up as it was too timely. For those that don't know the lingo rubrication is the red text and illumination is the fancy scroll work and decoration as shown here:
What I propose we do is make the bible as it was intended to leave his shop, with rubrication printed (for purists this can be removed easily from the PDF you will receive so you can hand write it in).
The final PDF will not have any illumination on it. That will be added later by each individual as he/she sees fit based on which version of the Bible they wish to reproduce or invent.
This is an example of a test page that I whipped up to show a sample of what you would be getting. There is no rubrication on this one and the second column is a copy paste of the first but it gives the right idea. It's the same page as the pic above.
Rules for usage of the final PDF would be something like this:
1. PDF isn't to be given away for free to anyone who didn't contribute. There will be a lot of work done by the people involved and it wouldn't be fair to any of us.
2. For the same reason the PDF isn't to be sold.
3. You CAN sell or give away prints of the PDF, preferably with your own illumination added. Whether you want to sell individual pages or the whole bible is up to you. Once the bible is printed you can do whatever you like with it. Keep in mind though that the page size is large, close to tabloid size.
So what are your thoughts? Am I crazy or is this doable? The PDF I have is 1282 pages long, with 20 people working on it that would only be 64 pages each to type up. I find it takes me about 30mins to do a page but I'm sure I'd get quicker as I worked through them. Once it's all typed up it only takes me about 5-10mins to format a page. I think, if we got enough people, we could have a Gutenberg Bible by Christmas. I'm particularly looking for responses like "I'm in".
CONTRIBUTORS LIST
1. orange_blend
2. knibs7 (from COW)
3. TheMalum
4. Brigandia36
5. shagger999uk
6. bigrex (from COW)
7. indywan kenobi (from COW)
8. quiznak
9. asavage
10. bondoking
11. Henriko2
12. Fetts.Sobriquet
13. NakedMoleRat
14. bqk333
15. shaunsheep
16. DaJudgeinator
17. rollerboi
18. Serling1979
19. Goodwolf
20. rob3d
21. Eradicator
22. kalarcana
23. Ranger36 (from COW)
24. farrin
25. Sporak
26. Westcroft
27. dkwd
When it's done this will be AWESOME.
Tried this on COW and only got one contributor... Looking for more!
As I search for a print house that will print on parchment for me for my Magna Carta I got the idea for a MAMMOTH project... The Gutenberg Bible. I've always wanted one but obviously since the project is so huge I've never seriously considered attempting it. Bear with me as I explain my idea for hopefully finally attaining this treasure of the literary world...
What if a large group of us worked on one? The more the better. I would like to recruit as many people as possible to work on typing pages so that they can be formatted into a master vector PDF of the whole Bible as it was printed by Gutenberg. I have a PDF of scans of the entire Bible as well as a font that mirrors the typeset used for the originals.
Everyone that signs up would get the following:
1. PDF copy of the Gutenberg Bible
2. Page numbers to work on
3. Gutenberg font
4. Character map (to find the unusual characters on your keyboard)
5. Tips on things to look for to prevent errors (ie. some "s" look like "f")
Returned from each person to me would be a word doc (or other similar format) of all the pages they were assigned laid out so that I can decipher what belongs on each line and which column. Then, for each page I would format them to match the original and compile a full PDF of the printed Bible.
The reward? Everyone who participates gets a copy of that final PDF file, a treasure in itself.
To better illustrate what I mean here's a history:
When Gutenberg printed his Bible he printed it without rubrication or illumination. This means that when the Bible left his shop is was a simple black & white print which needed finishing by the purchaser. At first he attempted to print the rubrication but soon gave up as it was too timely. For those that don't know the lingo rubrication is the red text and illumination is the fancy scroll work and decoration as shown here:
What I propose we do is make the bible as it was intended to leave his shop, with rubrication printed (for purists this can be removed easily from the PDF you will receive so you can hand write it in).
The final PDF will not have any illumination on it. That will be added later by each individual as he/she sees fit based on which version of the Bible they wish to reproduce or invent.
This is an example of a test page that I whipped up to show a sample of what you would be getting. There is no rubrication on this one and the second column is a copy paste of the first but it gives the right idea. It's the same page as the pic above.
Rules for usage of the final PDF would be something like this:
1. PDF isn't to be given away for free to anyone who didn't contribute. There will be a lot of work done by the people involved and it wouldn't be fair to any of us.
2. For the same reason the PDF isn't to be sold.
3. You CAN sell or give away prints of the PDF, preferably with your own illumination added. Whether you want to sell individual pages or the whole bible is up to you. Once the bible is printed you can do whatever you like with it. Keep in mind though that the page size is large, close to tabloid size.
So what are your thoughts? Am I crazy or is this doable? The PDF I have is 1282 pages long, with 20 people working on it that would only be 64 pages each to type up. I find it takes me about 30mins to do a page but I'm sure I'd get quicker as I worked through them. Once it's all typed up it only takes me about 5-10mins to format a page. I think, if we got enough people, we could have a Gutenberg Bible by Christmas. I'm particularly looking for responses like "I'm in".
CONTRIBUTORS LIST
1. orange_blend
2. knibs7 (from COW)
3. TheMalum
4. Brigandia36
5. shagger999uk
6. bigrex (from COW)
7. indywan kenobi (from COW)
8. quiznak
9. asavage
10. bondoking
11. Henriko2
12. Fetts.Sobriquet
13. NakedMoleRat
14. bqk333
15. shaunsheep
16. DaJudgeinator
17. rollerboi
18. Serling1979
19. Goodwolf
20. rob3d
21. Eradicator
22. kalarcana
23. Ranger36 (from COW)
24. farrin
25. Sporak
26. Westcroft
27. dkwd
When it's done this will be AWESOME.
Last edited:
