The Gutenberg Bible was not typeset in a simple sequence from the
first to the last pages. By studying the distribution of paper-
types we can identify six different
units of composition.
They may reflect the division of work between six different compositors,
at the height of the production process, most often each working
on a separate section of the Bible, but sometimes also working more
closely together on adjacent texts.
On the division of the work into six units see Paul Schwenke, 'Die
Gutenbergbibel', in: Johannes Gutenbergs zweiundvierzigzeilige Bibel:
Ergänzungsband zur Faksimile-Ausgabe (Leipzig, 1923).
On some points relating to the relative timing of the production
units Schwenke's conclusions have been modified by R. N. Schwab
and others, 'New evidence on the printing of the Gutenberg Bible:
The inks in the Doheny copy', The Papers of the Bibliographical
Society of America, 79 (1985), 375-410.
The units of composition identified by Schwenke are analysed in
greater detail, revealing further complications, in Paul Needham,
'Division of copy in the Gutenberg Bible: Three glosses on the ink
evidence', The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America,
79 (1985), 411-26.