A lively tale of historical innovation, the thrill of the bibliophile’s hunt, greed and betrayal.”—The New York Times Book Review
Finalist for the Marfield Prize/National Award for Arts Writing
Amazon Editor's Pick for Best Nonfiction
"The remarkable tale of 'Number 45,' one of the finest copies of the Gutenberg Bible in existence… Davis does a fine job telling a fascinating story that touches on the origin of books, the passion of collectors, the unseen world of rare-book dealers, and the lives of the super-rich, past and present. A great read for any book lover.”—Kirkus (starred review)
“An addictive and engaging look at the ‘competitive, catty and slightly angst-ridden’ heart of the world of book collecting…. The Lost Gutenberg reads like a comedy of manners starring the cast of an Ayn Rand novel…. It’s improbable and riveting.”—Houston Chronicle
“A gripping, well-researched account of the importance of books as cultural artifacts and of one particular work that transformed the world, as well as the lives of those who owned a copy, that will appeal especially to bibliophiles.”—Library Journal
“The depth of Davis' research cannot be understated. The writing in this book is straightforward and, at times, even heartbreaking, but outstanding reporting lies at its core.... The Lost Gutenberg pulls readers into a five-century saga, plunging them into the minds of those who desired the Bible and the prestige that came with it. This makes it a book about not only Number 45 and its owners but also a narrative that explores our collective obsession with art, technology, change, and history.”—NPR
"A fascinating read for anyone who cares about books."—Star Tribune
"An entertaining and insightful human story of obsession."—Daily Telegraph
"A thrilling page-turner."—Daily Mail
“The Lost Gutenberg has two protagonists: a singularly beautiful copy of the Gutenberg Bible—known as #45—and the California heiress who emerged from scandal to chase it. Along the way, Davis takes in the larger-than-life stories of the aristocrats, libertines, billionaires, and bibliomaniacs who all competed to own this unique piece of literary history. A fascinating exploration of the shifting value we place on rare books, and the shifting wealth and power of those who hunt them.”—Michael Blanding, New York Times bestselling author of The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps
“Bibliophiles love books, and none more than the book collector’s dream of dreams, a Gutenberg Bible. Davis tells not just with skill but also with sympathy and even love. A richly informative but finally a deeply moving story.”—Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography
“The great protagonist is the book itself, the beautifully preserved Gutenberg 45, its immortality assured through, of all things, a cyclotron scanning its pages, analyzing its ink and paper, as it entered the digital age. The Lost Gutenberg is a spellbinding read, and Margaret Leslie Davis is a damn good storyteller.”—Noël Riley Fitch, author of Sylvia Beach: Une américaine à Paris
"Margaret Leslie Davis’s The Lost Gutenberg is a fascinating and apt successor to her Mona Lisa in Camelot, for the Gutenberg Bible is to the book arts what the Mona Lisa is to painting—a Holy Grail and epitome of the art it embodies. Davis writes of the succession of owners of a particular copy of Gutenberg’s masterpiece, number 45. She gives a haunting and at times heartbreaking account of the way a material object can acquire a mystical resonance and affect different people and lives across centuries."—Victoria Steele, former Brooke Russell Astor Director of Collections, New York Public Library
“This wonderful, elegant story, which reads like a thriller, will delight anyone who loves books, collecting, history, and biography. The Gutenberg Bible was the object of admiration, greed, and speculation, but also of brilliant scientific discoveries. Populated by remarkable and quirky individuals, their passions and tragedies, this superbly researched historical gem is a veritable page-turner.”—Diana Kormos Buchwald, Director and General Editor, Einstein Papers Project, The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Professor of History, Caltech
“Margaret Leslie Davis has done it again—unearthed fresh information about a cultural icon and turned it into a compelling story that reveals human nature while illuminating a slice of history. In this case her subject is the Gutenberg Bible or, to be more precise, Number 45 of the 48 existing copies of the book. The larger story digs into 500 years of book-collecting and all the love, lust, and drama that can afflict proud possessors.”—Suzanne Muchnic, author of Odd Man In: Norton Simon and the Pursuit of Culture and LACMA So Far: A Portrait of a Museum in the Making; former art reporter and art critic, Los Angeles Times
“The fascinating story of how one Gutenberg Bible traveled through two centuries and how one woman, the legendary Los Angeles book collector Estelle Doheny, pursued, purchased, and cherished it. This tale, written for both ardent bibliophiles and those seeking an engaging historical narrative, includes a sad episode of betrayal, exciting nuclear discoveries, and the arrival of Gutenberg into the digital age.”—Alan Jutzi, former Avery Curator of Rare Books, Henry E. Huntington Library
"Davis records the history of this book with enthusiasm and attention to detail."—History Today
"Fascinating.... An engaging analysis of bibliomania which also throws light on commercial and investment history in Britain and America."—Church Times
11/26/2018
Davis (Mona Lisa in Camelot) follows a single copy of the Gutenberg Bible through a series of different book collectors and institutions in this enjoyable but unsatisfying history. After a brief account of the Bible’s creation sometime around 1456 by Johann Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany, Davis skips ahead to 1836, when the 3rd Earl of Gosford, a shy and scholarly Irish aristocrat, acquired Gutenberg Bible Number 45. Later owners included a “lord, a sauce tycoon, a papal countess, and a nuclear physicist.” Davis places the primary focus on Estelle Doheny, oil tycoon Edward Doheny’s widow. One of the only female American book collectors of the early 20th century, Estelle secured the book in 1950 after a four-decade-long search. In addition to character sketches, Davis also traces changes in the study of books, from in-person inspection via magnifying glasses, to chemical analysis using a cyclotron’s proton beam, then software comparisons of digitized editions. Despite these intriguing facts and characters, Davis’s overall thesis—that “each owner and his or her circle left a mark” on the book—doesn’t leave the reader with any meaningful insights by the end of her book. Agent: Betsy Amster, Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises. (Mar.)
Coleen Marlo is an experienced and empathetic narrator. This audiobook history of one beautifully preserved copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the world’s first and most valuable printed book, is a capsule study of the peculiar passion that motivates book collectors—what one critic has called “a gentle madness.” While the listener discovers that this particular Gutenberg was never really “lost” and that its passage from owner to owner over the centuries wasn’t all that astonishing, the author finds her narrative center in the trade in and preservation of rare books. That, more than the biographies of the owners themselves, is the chief interest here, and the real drama of this story is in the auction houses and the acclimatized vaults and cases where some of our greatest treasures live on. Marlo delivers it all beautifully. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Coleen Marlo is an experienced and empathetic narrator. This audiobook history of one beautifully preserved copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the world’s first and most valuable printed book, is a capsule study of the peculiar passion that motivates book collectors—what one critic has called “a gentle madness.” While the listener discovers that this particular Gutenberg was never really “lost” and that its passage from owner to owner over the centuries wasn’t all that astonishing, the author finds her narrative center in the trade in and preservation of rare books. That, more than the biographies of the owners themselves, is the chief interest here, and the real drama of this story is in the auction houses and the acclimatized vaults and cases where some of our greatest treasures live on. Marlo delivers it all beautifully. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
