A reproduction of the Gutenberg Bible, considered to be the first major work printed in Europe with moveable metal type, has been given to the National Library of Australia.

Present at a handover event in the library, where the Canberra Girls Grammar School Choir sang, were Paolo Crudele (Italian ambassador), Cathy Pilgrim (assistant director-General, Collection), Marie-Louise Ayres (NLA director-general) and Col. Marco Bertoli (Italian defence attaché).

Originally 180 Gutenberg Bibles were printed, yet only around 48 survive. This reproduction was made by students of La Fondazione Scriptorium Foroiuliense in Italy and has been made as part of a program conducted by the Foundation for Disadvantaged Children.

The NLA already holds two facsimile copies of the Gutenberg Bible, this new reproduction is distinctive because it is wood-covered,  has corners/roses in hand-chiselled bronze, with paper made in the same way as that in the original Gutenberg Bible and reproduces a Bible different from the copies in the library’s other facsimiles.

Other copies have been given to Pope Francis, the Kiev Book Museum, the Italian Air Force Museum, the General Commander of the Italian Carabinieri and the National Library of Paraguay in Asunción.

Library staff said that the item has been catalogued and added to the Library’s collection where it can be called up and viewed in the Special Collections Reading Room.