Scotland's Gutenberg Bible

In 2004, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) an agency of the UN dedicated to spreading world peace and understanding bestowed the capital of Scotland with its first ever City of Literature award. It is not hard to see why they selected Edinburgh, as the city has a lot to boast about when it comes to the written word.

They have the Walter Scott Memorial, a gothic spaceship-like structure located on Princes Street, that is one of the world's largest monuments dedicated to an author. The Writer's Museum (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-writers-museum), a gallery that celebrates the lives of three giants of Scottish published works: Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. Not to mention the numerous authors who followed, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Muriel Spark.

Then there is The National Library of Scotland, a massive structure that houses every book published in Scotland. This mid-20th century building has roots that date back to the 17th century. It also contains a rotating exhibition of printed materials that showcases its vast collection. This hall is known as the Treasures of the National Library of Scotland. One of the precious items on display is an extremely rare edition of the Gutenberg Bible.

This Bible is unique in that it is one of only twenty complete copies in existence that were printed using a method of movable type invented by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s. This printing invention would revolutionize how printed materials were published. How this edition got from Germany to Scotland is worthy of a mystery novel. What is known is that this copy was sold to a precursor of the National Library in the 1600s.