Final answer:
Few Gutenberg Bibles were sold to private individuals because they were expensive and literacy rates were low, making them inaccessible to the majority of the population at the time.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reason why so few of Gutenberg's Bibles were sold to private individuals lies in the socioeconomic context of the 15th century. Gutenberg's invention of the printing press was a significant advancement, making it possible to produce books more efficiently than the hand-copied volumes that came before.
However, at that time, the Bible was primarily available in Latin and typically owned by the Church or wealthy individuals due to the high cost of books. Despite the increased availability of the Bible due to the print culture of the Enlightenment, many people still faced obstacles in acquiring these books.
These obstacles included low levels of literacy and a lack of leisure time for those at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder, making it less feasible for them to own or read a Bible. The concept of 'Scripture Alone,' popularized by Luther and other reformers, emphasized personal reading of the Bible, but this was difficult for the majority who could neither afford books nor read them. The Gutenberg Bibles were still expensive and out of reach for most individuals, which explains the low number of sales to private individuals.