The British Library has put the Gutenberg Bible online for all to view.


"For the first time ever people will be able to compare both original copies of the Bible side-by-side," said Kristian Jensen, head of Incunabula books.



The British Library has two original copies of the 15th Century Bible, one printed on paper, and one on Vellum skin.
It also plans to put the collection of Caxton's first works on the web, with other projects in the pipeline.



"Putting the Bibles
online provides not only scholars with more access, but the Internet-viewing
public," said Jensen.



He added: "Instead of only seeing one page, you can view the whole bible in its two formats."



Experts from Tokyo's Keio University and Japanese telecommunications company NTT spent two weeks at the Library digitising the pages.



A prototype single-shot digital camera provided
by NTT was used to
capture the pages, with each shot taking three seconds.
The British Library recently signed a 25m deal with Digital Library Systems and IBM to
create a national "Digital Library". The Gutenberg Bible can be viewed at: www.bl.co.uk.


Story by Andy Scott.