The Mazarin Bible
Preserved but no longer current.
The first printed Bible (an edition of the Vulgate), and the first known book to be printed from movable type. It contains no date, but was printed probably in 1455, and was certainly on sale by the middle of 1 456. It was printed at Mainz, probably by Fust and SchoerTer, but as it was for long credited to Gutenberg — and it is not yet agreed that he was not responsible — it is frequently called the Gutenberg Bible.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The Mazarin Bible” mean?
The first printed Bible (an edition of the Vulgate), and the first known book to be printed from movable type. It contains no date, but was printed probably in 1455, and was certainly on sale by the middle of 1 456. It was printed at Mainz, probably by Fust and SchoerTer, but as it was for long credited to Gutenberg — and it is not yet agreed that he was not responsible — it is frequently called the Gutenberg Bible.
Is “The Mazarin Bible” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.