People of the Book

By Joan Kurtz

This summer, after postponing this trip for two years due to Covid, my husband and I took a cruise to the British Isles. As part of the cruise, we visited Edinburgh, Scotland.

As a retired librarian, I enjoy visiting libraries in the new places to which we travel. We stopped in the National Library of Scotland where we saw its copy of the Gutenberg Bible. This is one of only 21 complete copies of Europe’s first book printed with moveable type. Joseph Gutenberg (Germany) was the first to set up the first printing press in Europe. He printed 180 copies of the Latin Bible.

As Jews are the “people of the book,” I truly appreciated seeing this amazing, historical bible.