No. The Gutenberg Bible, produced in Mainz in the mid-1450s, was not the world's first printed book. A surviving Chinese printed copy of the Diamond Sutra bears a date corresponding to 11 May 868.
The British Library's International Dunhuang Programme describes that scroll as woodblock printing on seven joined sheets of paper. The Library of Congress identifies Gutenberg's Bible more specifically as the first great book printed in Western Europe from movable metal type.
These are different printing methods and different historical milestones. The Diamond Sutra provides a documented earlier example; its status as the earliest dated printed book does not establish that printing itself began in 868.
Gutenberg's Bible marks a major European printing milestone, not the beginning of printed books worldwide.
British Library — International Dunhuang Programme
The collection interpretation identifies the Diamond Sutra as a woodblock-printed Chinese scroll. Its colophon dates the sponsorship of this copy to 11 May 868, centuries before Gutenberg's Bible.
Based on: British Library — International Dunhuang Programme
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress describes the Gutenberg Bible as the first great book printed in Western Europe from movable metal type and places its probable completion in late 1455.
Based on: Library of Congress
British Library and Library of Congress
The institutions' descriptions establish that the printed Diamond Sutra of 868 existed centuries before the Gutenberg Bible of the mid-1450s. This directly contradicts the worldwide-first claim.
Based on: British Library — International Dunhuang Programme
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