From Thomas à Kempis's “The Imitation of Christ,” written in the 1400s: “Vain and brief is all human comfort. Blessed and true is that comfort which is derived inwardly from the Truth.”

The printing press made books of all kinds more accessible. One of the most popular was “The Imitation of Christ,” a devotional text by Thomas à Kempis that became, after the Christian Bible, the most widely translated book in early Christian literature. Many of these early printed books were beautifully illustrated to look like earlier hand-copied manuscripts.

After the invention of the printing press, printers experimented with the Bibles they produced—both in size and in the way they were decorated—to meet the needs of a public with a growing interest in the Bible. As you engage with this book, you’ll discover the rich layers in how it has been preserved and presented over the course of time.

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