I don’t remember exactly when I first stumbled across the Gutenberg Bible — maybe it was during one of my endless online wanderings, or tucked into a movie scene that quietly stayed with me. What I do remember is the feeling: a small, almost reverent awe at the idea that one book could help spark something so big. It made me think about how things begin. A printing press in a dusty workshop. A pixel blinking to life on a screen. A single idea quietly setting off a revolution. As we live through our own digital revolution, I find myself drawn to the old world of trophy books — not just because they are rare or valuable, but because they remind me how powerful it is when words, ideas, and dreams find a way to last. So here’s a little dream list of books I’d love to meet one day — each carrying a piece of history, a whisper of mystery, and the simple, beautiful proof that sometimes the things we start have no real end.
The Gutenberg Bible — The Grand Elder
Imagine walking into a room and meeting a book that changed the world. The Gutenberg Bible would sit there, massive and wise, the kind of book that has seen revolutions and renaissance. It was the first major book printed with movable type, making knowledge accessible beyond monasteries and royal courts. I’d picture it speaking in a deep, steady voice, telling me about how it kick-started a literacy revolution. There have even been daring heists of single pages—imagine stealing just a leaf of wisdom!
Current location: Several institutions house copies, including the Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.), the British Library (London), and the New York Public Library.
2. The Book of Kells — The Artist Who Sees Magic Everywhere
This one would be dazzling — a book that practically sparkles. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript so intricate that scholars still debate how the monks achieved such detail without magnifying glasses. I’d imagine it as the kind of person who sees magic in every leaf and star. I’d love to time-travel to a medieval monastery and peek over a monk’s shoulder while he inks delicate swirls. Fun fact: it was stolen in the 11th century but later recovered—though its jeweled cover was lost forever.
Current location: Trinity College Dublin’s Old Library, Ireland.
3. The Voynich Manuscript — The Beautiful Enigma
If I could meet the Voynich Manuscript, I think I’d be both thrilled and slightly unnerved. It would be like talking to someone who laughs at private jokes you don’t understand. Strange plants, unknown languages, secret symbols — it dares you to solve it. Some have called it a medical manual, others a coded secret—no one knows. Imagine keeping humanity guessing for 600 years.
Current location: Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
4. The Codex Leicester — The Mad Scientist
Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester would be scribbling notes even as I walked in. This book is a window into one of the most brilliant minds ever—an explosion of sketches and theories about water, the moon, fossils, and science centuries ahead of its time. Bill Gates bought it for over $30 million, which feels like the ultimate nerd flex.
Current location: Privately owned by Bill Gates; occasionally exhibited, such as at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
5. Shakespeare’s First Folio — The Storyteller Who Knows Everybody
The First Folio is the party host you can’t wait to meet. Without it, we might not have half of Shakespeare’s plays today—Macbeth, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, gone! It’s been stolen, lost, and rediscovered over centuries, including a dramatic theft from Durham University Library in 1998. (Recovered—phew.)
Current locations: Multiple institutions, including the Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, D.C.), British Library (London), and Meisei University (Tokyo).
6. The Bay Psalm Book — The Humble Pioneer
This little book doesn’t shout for attention, but it’s a giant in spirit. And we’ve all read it! Printed in 1640, it’s the first book printed in what would become the United States. It helped forge a spiritual and literary identity for a new world. One copy sold for $14.2 million. Not bad for a tiny Psalm book!
Current location: Museum of the Bible, Washington, D.C.
7. The St. Cuthbert Gospel — The Tiny Survivor
Meet the oldest intact European book, dating from the early 700s. It’s small enough to fit in your hand but carries a thousand years of whispered prayers. Buried with St. Cuthbert, it was hidden from Viking raids, surviving against all odds. It’s now safe in the British Library, after a record-breaking £9 million fundraising campaign.
Current location: British Library, London.
8. The Magna Carta — The Rebel Lawyer
Ok, technically not a book, but definitely a document I’d want to meet. The Magna Carta (1215) planted the seeds for democracy, human rights, and the idea that no one—not even a king—is above the law. Copies have been stolen, hidden during wars, and lovingly preserved. A true rebel spirit.
Current locations: Four original 1215 copies exist; two at the British Library (London), one at Lincoln Castle, and one at Salisbury Cathedral.
9. The Gutenberg Psalter — The Unsung Twin
If the Gutenberg Bible is the famous elder, the Psalter is its quieter twin. It was one of the first books to use printed color initials. Fewer people know about it, but it paved the way for illustrated printing—and it is every bit as breathtaking.
Current location: State and University Library, Göttingen, Germany.
10. The Rothschild Prayerbook — The Silent Luxury
A jewel of the Renaissance, created for the super-wealthy. Lavish, colorful, private—a silent luxury object. It vanished during World War II when Nazis seized it, then re-emerged decades later. Today, it stands as a reminder of beauty surviving through dark times.
Current location: National Library of Australia, Canberra.
Maybe I’ll never sit across from the Gutenberg Bible or solve the mysteries of the Voynich Manuscript. But just knowing these books are still out there — stubborn little survivors of time — makes me happy.
It’s the same kind of happiness I feel when my four-year-old dances to Pump Up the Jam like she’s at a 1980s roller disco, or somehow knows most of the words to Beastie Boys’ No Sleep Till Brooklyn (thanks to the Super Mario movie).
The best things don’t disappear — they just find new voices, new feet to dance with, new hearts to sing to. And maybe that’s all we can hope for: to leave behind a little piece of magic that keeps moving long after we do.