116 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1923 



Probably the specimen which attracted the greatest attention dur- 

 ing the year was The Book of Joshua, a fragment of the Gutenberg 

 Bible loaned by Gabriel Wells of New York City, for several months. 

 This bible is considered the earliest and most precious piece of print- 

 ing from movable type in the world. It is estimated that this bible 

 was printed between 1450-1455. It was among the very first works 

 done by Johannes Gutenberg, who by general consent is given the 

 credit for the invention of printing from movable type. The artistic 

 quality of the work is exceptional and even today ranks among the 

 best pieces of printing ever produced, and this fact has made some 

 doubt that Gutenberg Avas more than the perfecter of the process. 

 In the case of Senefelder, the inventor of lithography, the whole art 

 was discovered and perfected and it may have been the same with 

 Gutenberg and movable type. One leaf of the Gutenberg Bible is in 

 the permanent exhibits of letter press printing. Historically it is 

 the most important specimen received this year. 



The making of a newspaper is an exhibit Avhich has been recently 

 completed. The Washington Evening Star gave the bulk of the 

 specimens, and Barnhart Bros, and Spindler, the galley and chase. 

 Some of the photographs and the other specimens were furnished 

 by the Goss Printing Press Company, The Challenge Machinery 

 Company, The Mergenthaler Linotype Company, The Speedau- 

 matic Compan}^, and the Wood Newspaper Machinery Corporation. 

 A brief outline of this exhibit is as follows: The rough newsgath- 

 erer's copy, linotype composition, corrected proof, a galley with 

 type, assembling the page, the assembled page in a chase, the mak- 

 ing of the matrix, casting the curved plate, finishing it and plac- 

 ing it on a printing press, printing presses, the finished newspaper 

 ready for local distribution, tlie final step being wrapping and 

 addressing for out of town circulation. 



The technical part of the bookbinding exhibit is also new. Several 

 firms by their cooperation have made it possible. The principal 

 credit is due to George A. Simonds and Company of Washington and 

 the Plimpton Press of Norwood, Mass., the one for hand binding 

 and the other for machine binding, both of which were arranged 

 especially for this exhibit. The hand binding part consists of 

 unsewed signatures, signatures sewed to strings, the book laced in 

 boards, inside of the cover finished and the outside of the cover 

 finished. The last two are handsomely bound in full French green 

 levant, inlaid with red morocco and finely tooled. Tools and photo- 

 graphs aid in the understanding of the methods used. Machine bind- 

 ing furnished by the Pimpton Press shows first a single printed 

 signature, next a set forming a whole book, then a set of end papers, 

 the sewed signatures, the trimmed book and the book rounded and 

 backed. Following this comes the making of the case into which the 



