Declan: This is a Biblia Latina, better known as a Gutenberg Bible, dated 1455.
Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith from the city of Mainz, Germany, undertook the development of a new method of printing.
Gutenberg's innovation was the combined use of movable metal type, oil-based printing ink, and a mechanical printing press, enabling the mass production of virtually identical texts, which revolutionized European production of books.
Collector and library founder James Lenox acquired the library's copy, the first one brought to the Americas, in 1847.
Its arrival in New York City occasioned a romantic legend that Lenox's agent instructed customhouse workers and officials to deferentially remove their hats upon first seeing it.