Gutenberg Publishers

06/17/2022

Preparing for when Kranz Bookbinding, now known as BOOKFORGE, is back up and running, we just got in some beautiful spotted Binding Calf Parchment/vellum from Pergamena!

06/06/2022

Here’s some fun and cool news; I’ve just committed to doing a guest lecture/demonstration for a Pitt-Greensburg summer course called “History of the Book.” I am scheduled for Tuesday, July 26th.

The course is built around a collection of nine original medieval manuscripts and codices.

I will be speaking on features of various atypical binding structures and what I have learned through research and the physical act of making them, a kind of experimental archaeology of the book if you will.

I’ll be recording this program for release on my Patreon page and snippets will be available on the various social media platforms.

More information as it comes in…

04/06/2022

The new quarter-sawn white oak boards are finally in!

Between supply issues still affected by COVID complications and finding reliable suppliers who understand historical bookbinding, art, and the creative process, finding the right board supplier has been a challenge.

Gutenberg Publishers and Kranz Bookbinding have partnered with Erie local Master Woodworker, Bryan Geary, to ensure the finest quality quarter-sawn white oak boards are crafted for our 15th Century period style Gutenberg Bible facsimiles.

Thank you Bryan for your invaluable work, professionalism, and high standards of excellence!

02/23/2022

Image 1 of Page view volume 1

The Library of Congress digitized a version of a Gutenberg Bible. It was donated by Gutenberg Bible by Lessing J Rosenwald in 1952 to commemorate the 500th anniversary.

You can flip through a beautifully illuminated piece of history.

Ms. codexes. Latin. Title and description taken from the full description in Library of Congress. Medieval and Renaissance manuscript books in the Library of Congress, v. 1, p. 41-61, by Svato Schutzner. Very regular littera textualis formata, one hand throughout. Ink black to grayish black. Two col...

01/25/2022

Great news! The first two sets of our Home Edition of our Gutenberg Bibles are up from print! They are currently on Edward's workbench at Kranz Bookbinding for quality control!

The Hone Edition is a smaller and more affordable reproduction of our 14th Century Period Style Gutenberg Bible facsimiles. The Home Edition is in an A4 format (210 x 297 mm or 8-1/4 x 11-3/4 in).

01/18/2022

Great news! The final proofs for our Home Edition of the Gutenberg Bible reproductions are in and approved! The first couple of sets are printing as you read this!

12/27/2021

It's been a little quiet here over the holidays. I hope everyone had a fantastical Christmas and is looking forward to a magical New Year!

The major update is our 15th Century Period Style Gutenberg Bible Home Edition is ready for the printer! It will be off for proofing the first week in January and we should have the first copies in hand for Kranz Bookbinding to bind before the end of the month!

The much anticipated Home Edition is a more affordable scaled-down reproduction of our 42-line large paper 15th century period style facsimiles. We anticipate them to be the Gutenberg Publishers' store before March 2022!

12/17/2021

Bound for history: Erie bookbinder preserves and recreates the past

Kranz Bookbinding received some great press today from Jim Martin, Business Reporter for GoErie.com | Erie Times-News. He mentioned the work being done on our Gutenberg Bible facsimiles and included some new images by Greg Wohlford.

Edward Kranz has remodeled hotels and worked as an aircraft analyst and mechanic. Now, he's opened a book bindery in Erie.

12/16/2021

It wasn’t the world’s first printed book.

While the Gutenberg Bible helped introduce printing to the West, the process was already well established in other parts of the world. Chinese artisans were pressing ink onto paper as early as the second century A.D., and by the 800s, they had produced full-length books using wooden block printing. Movable type also first surfaced in the Far East. Sometime around the mid-11th century, a Chinese alchemist named Pi Sheng developed a system of individual character types made from a mixture of baked clay and glue. Metal movable type was later used in Korea to create the “Jikji,” a collection of Zen Buddhist teachings. The Jikji was first published in 1377, some 75 years before Johannes Gutenberg began churning out his Bibles in Mainz, Germany.

Text courtesy of history.com

12/16/2021

An interesting note: The Gutenberg Bible mixes the apocrypha into the Old Testament. You will find the Prayer of Manasses after 2 Paralipomenon. 3 and 4 Esdras comes after 1 Esdras and Nehemias (2 Esdras). The Prayer of Solomon is after Ecclesiasticus in the Gutenberg Bible.

These are the first pages for each of the apocrypha in our Gutenberg Bible facsimiles.

12/13/2021

Last of the current B42 edits. There are more pictures to come later. This 15th century period style binding is the first from Gutenberg Publishers hand-bound at Kranz Bookbinding in historic Erie Penna.

You can find Gutenberg Publishers on Instagram and Facebook. Their official Website is coming this Christmas!

The set pictured was bound by Michael L. Chrisman at Kranz Bookbinding. Edward Patrick Ezju Kranz is actively hand-binding the second set to be fully bound in alum tawed pigskin.

12/07/2021

The first set of Gutenberg Publishers 15th century period style Gutenberg Bible facsimiles in two volumes has arrive at the client's place yesterday. We are very excited and the client seems thrilled! This set was hand-bound at Kranz Bookbinding by Michael L. Chrisman in Erie, Penna.

12/03/2021

Five new photographs our first set of 15th century period style Gutenberg Bibles in two volumes in the stunning Cathedral of St. Paul in downtown Erie, PA.

12/01/2021

Here are a few more images from the Kranz Bookbinding photo shoot of our first set of 15th century period style Gutenberg Bibles in two volumes.

11/30/2021

A couple weeks ago, we had a wonderful opportunity to photograph our first set of 15th century period style Gutenberg Bibles in two volumes in the stunning Cathedral of St. Paul in downtown Erie, PA. This set is being packaged up this week and sent off to its new home in a private collection. It is a bittersweet occasion, but this photo session will commemorate this milestone and be featured on our Website upon launch on January 1st, 2022.

This is round one of the photo shoot images. We are saving the best for round two! Check back in a few days for those images.

The Cathedral of St. Paul is an Episcopal cathedral in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the seat of the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania. St. Paul's Church was founded on St. Patrick's Day in 1827. The church became the cathedral for the Diocese of Erie on February 21, 1915.

The Cathedral of St. Paul is located at 134 W 7th St, Erie, PA 16501
T
his set of 15th century period style Gutenberg Bibles in two volumes was hand-bound by Master Bookbinder Michael L. Chrisman at Kranz Bookbinding.

11/25/2021

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a fantastical day to the rest of the world!

11/18/2021

Gutenberg Publishers updated their info in the about section.

Gutenberg Publishers updated their info in the about section.

11/17/2021

With the Gutenberg Publishers Website under development, it's time to start sewing the second set today!

11/16/2021

With the Gutenberg Publishers Website under development, it's time for the second set to be sewn at Kranz Bookbinding today.

11/15/2021

Work has officially started on the official Gutenberg Publishers Website. The planned launch date is January 1st, 2022. If the Website is complete sooner, we may bump that date up to Christmas Day.

11/15/2021

We will be offering a few different options in 15th century period style bindings for our Gutenberg Bible facsimiles. The first is a quarter-bound leather with exposed boards. The ones pictured here were hand-bound by Michael L. Chrisman at Kranz Bookbinding,

11/15/2021

The in-house photo session took place today. Lots of editing in Lightroom in my near future...

a glimpse of what is to come...

11/12/2021

Gutenberg Publishers - The Gutenberg Bible

I've given the Gutenberg Publishers' Website a small update since we missed our initial launch date. We have officially moved the date out to January first, 2022. Excellent things take time.

http://gutenbergpublishers.com

11/08/2021

The first set of our Mid-15th century period style Gutenberg Bible facsimiles is now complete! This set was custom bound for a client by Master Bookbinder Michael L. Chrisman at Kranz Bookbinding in Erie, PA.

Michael L. Chrisman released this image on his social media. "... Mid-15thC style binding. It's a beautiful full colour facsimile of the Gutenberg Bible...created to look old and slightly distressed."

Professional pictures of the finished work will be published here and on the Kranz Bookbinding social media in the coming weeks. There will be a studio session and we plan to photograph this Bible at Saint Peter Cathedral, Mother Church of the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania.

11/01/2021

Quick update on the first set of our Gutenberg Bible 15th Century Style Facsimiles: One volume is 100% complete and the second is to be finished this coming Thursday.

These volumes are being hand-bound at Kranz Bookbinding by Master Bookbinder Michael L. Chrisman. The second set will be hand-bound by Master Bookbinder Edward Patrick Ezju Kranz starting mid-November!

Images of the finished set will be taken and posted mid-November and a photo shoot is being scheduled at St. Peter Cathedral, Mother Church of the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania. Those images will be released around Christmas time.

10/22/2021

As the first set of 15th century period style Gutenberg Bible facsimiles nears completion, the next set is getting ready to be bound. The second set will be full beautifully aged alum tawed pigskin! Work on the second set will commence the first week in November. Stay tuned for images.

10/20/2021

Quick update: There has been quite a bit of work going on at Kranz Bookbinding with Michael L. Chrisman binding our first set of 15th century period representational Gutenberg Bible facsimiles. The finishing touches will be worked this week and then a professional photo session with these beautiful half-bound leather exposed board (red oak) Bibles. We could not be more excited at this point! Stay tuned!

10/11/2021

Gutenberg Facsimile Update:

From Michael L. Chrisman
"I'm tying-up Vol. I now, Vol. II after coffee & toast (with Plum jelly!).
In decades of tying-up folio's in alum-tawed pigskin; calf and vellum, I still get a lump in my throat when it turns out just the way I want it!"

Stay up to date at:
Kranz Bookbinding
Edward Patrick Ezju Kranz

and also,
Michael L. Chrisman

10/04/2021

Endbands are being hand-sewn at Kranz Bookbinding by Michael L. Chrisman on our first two volume set of 15th century period Gutenberg Bible facsimiles.

The core of these endbands have a direct history with the 'Lost Gutenbergs.' The 12/3 natural linen made by Margaretta Larson of Sweden was hand spun (twisted) by Michael into cords to bind the 'Lost Gutenbergs.' We are excited to be including that little bit of Gutenberg history into our 42-line large paper copy facsimile editions!

10/01/2021

The first set of our Gutenberg Bible facsimiles is getting closer to completion. Michael has lined the spine with leather and getting ready to sew the endbands. Soon the leather will cover 1/3 of the boards leaving a beautiful exposed wood finish. The final touch will be endpapers and done!

09/25/2021

This past week ended with our first sold edition of our Gutenberg Bibles having its exposed Red Oak boards oiled and the rough tooling design sketched out where the leather will cover it. There will be subsequent applications of wood oil applied to further bring out the beautiful grain in these boards.. This is Vol I of a two volume set being traditionally hand-bound in period accurate style at Kranz Bookbinding !

09/22/2021

Period accurate bindings take craftmanship to the next level. The Red Oak boards on my Gutenberg Bible facsimiles have to be fitted into the shoulders and the shoulders have to be constantly massaged into the boards for a perfect fit!

In these images, Michael is shaping the hinge profile of the boards with a wood rasp at Kranz Bookbinding!

You can also follow this project at Kranz Bookbinding.

09/22/2021

𝄞 ♪ ♫ ♪ " Michael, row the boat ashore" ♪ ♫ ♪...um, wait, that isn't a boat...It's muslin cotton being glued-up on the spine of a Gutenberg Bible at Kranz Bookbinding! Nice!

Kranz Bookbinding

09/21/2021

I had mentioned sawn-in dovetailed kerfs in a previous post. What does that mean to a bookbinder? These images show Michael L. Chrisman setting h**p cords into the kerfs of Kranz Bookbinding & Gutenberg Publisher's first set of Gutenberg Bible facsimiles.

09/21/2021

Getting the flax core ready for the hand-sewn endbands.
Kranz Bookbinding

09/21/2021

Once the initial board fitting is complete, it is time to saw-in the dovetailed kerfs to receive the cords...shown here with Master Bookbinder Michael L. Chrisman at Kranz Bookbinding.

Follow this project here and at Kranz Bookbinding.

09/20/2021

This Sunday was not a day of rest. It was a Gutenberg Bible binding day! We accomplished a fair amount of work ranging from trimming down the Red Oak boards to fit in the lying press to custom fitting the boards to the first volume. The volume had already been rounded. The glue was loosened with heat and the shoulders were formed.

You can follow this project closely here or at Kranz Bookbinding. We are binding the first two volume facsimile set of the Gutenberg Bible at Kranz Bookbinding with Master Bookbinder Michael L. Chrisman

09/16/2021

Great news! The oak boards for the first two sets of my Gutenberg Bible facsimiles has arrived! To follow this journey here and on my Kranz Bookbinding page!