Early Printed Book

Technology ~ Extending the Manuscript

Overview
! The Manuscript, Model for Early Printed Book ! Pages and Their Technology ! Letterforms ! Gutenberg and Moveable Type ! Fust & Schoeffer ! The Sacking of Mainz Spread of Printing ! Noted Printers of Early Printed Book ! Incunabula

Written Manuscripts, Printed Books

Gutenberg did not so much start an information revolution as introduce a second technology for the creation of the familiar codex (Brantley, 2007, p. 634).

Origins of Printing

Three Periods of Printing

! Period One: Far East and Moveable Type
!

Mechanical printing started 8th century;11th century introduced moveable type

! Period Two: West and Moveable Type

! ! ! !

Mid-15th century carving & casting of letters & characters Mechanized press to the base (paper, vellum). Units of visible language include letters, punctuation, characters, spacers) Units are assembled and reassembled to print many texts

! Period Three: Electronic text

What is Printing?
! Duplicating images onto or into base through

mechanical techniques base is usually paper.

! Among various techniques there is: ! Letterpress: Gutenberg mechanized method ! Printing Pressmoveable type ! Intalgio: Engraved image (lowered) produces a

raised image (includes: etching, drypoint) ! Planographic: Image is flush with surface and produced through chemical process/oil vs. water

Paper Technology
! Paper, word derived from papyrus, initially created in China ! Took 7-10 centuries for West to acquire ! Brought to Spain by Moors ! Over 2 centuries, production of rag paper spread ! Technology modernized by harnessing water as energy

source for stamping fiber to wet pulp

Laid Paper Production

! After beating rags, wet fibrous pulp placed on mould and dried ! Wet pulp shaken on mould & fibers adhere ! Fibrous substance placed on a woolen felt and dried flat (e.g.

laid paper)
! Sizing applied to dried sheets ! Sheets hung to dry

Laid Paper: Chainlines

! Linear wire lines created by mould ! Run parallel to each other ! Change direction with different formats of books

Laid Paper: Watermarks

! Watermarks identify the paper mill ! Each mill created their own design ! Position on leaves varies with format folio, quarto, etc ! Folio (centered on recto)
! Quarto (centered in gutter) ! Octavo (top of inner margin of page) ! Duodecimo (more complex)

The Manuscript, Model for the Printed Book

Manuscripts & Printed Books

! The printed codex models the written manuscript ! Alphabet: both technologies use alphabets ! Letters combined into words ! Words combined into sentences ! Sentences into paragraphs ! Paragraphs into pages as a codex ! Print is segmented into pages (vs. scrolls)

Manuscripts & Codex

! Direction of writing is a feature of script emulated in codex. ! Typeface for the early printed book emulated manuscript ! Printed page organization emulates manuscripts ! Basis for letters in early printed book was Roman: ! Left to right ! Geometric, filled out, harmonious composition

Letterforms

Letterforms and Functions

! Font form related to economics, aesthetics, legibility, space ! Square Roman capitals, difficult to write
! The restraint of the form prompted simpler letterforms. ! Simpler meant:
! Fewer strokes ! Fewer pen lifts ! More control over writing faster writing

! Same principle prompted changes in EPB typefaces

Letterforms and Scripts

! Uncials ! Characteristics (rounding off) ! Formal Texts ! Majuscules ! Shortened capitals, less space ! Simple strokes, rounded ! Saved space, time, and money

Letterforms and Scripts

! Lower Case letterforms ! Semi-Uncials or Half-Uncial ! Informal Texts ! Minuscules ! Artistic - Elegant ! Basis for lower case typeface ! Tighter, saved space, time

Scripts to Fonts
! Scripts ! Precursors of typefaces ! Some majuscule, chiefly miniscule formshalf

uncials ! Introduced to impose homogeneity of form ! Aesthetic & harmonious rhythms, legible
Carolingian Script

Scripts to Fonts
! Gothic Script ! Narrowed round forms ! Used feet and couplings clarity between words,

lines, paragraphs, and sections. ! Variant forms associated with regions

Gothic Scripts
! Basis for font in Gutenbergs 42-line Bible. ! Regional Names -! Germany Textura
! Text of Gutenberg Bible

! France Lettre de Form ! England Blackletter

! History & Comparison of Gothic Blackletter ! Gothic Script or Blackletter History & Variations

Compared

Pages ~ Technologies, Books

Pages and the Codex

! Units of Writing ! Major step in evolution of writing & development of ! ! ! ! !

the codex Crude? Chopping up a scroll? Forming Pages Sewing them together Codex did for writing text what alphabet did for writing articulation of the text Staged the elements of the printed book

Bound Manuscripts
! Bound Manuscripts ! Models on which printed book was designed ! Mechanical printing & hand-scripted manuscripts

were not discrete separate technologies of written expression ! Early printed book aimed to replicate manuscripts ! Letterforms of first printers, including Gutenberg, copied manuscript letterforms, pages, size, bindings

Technologies of the Book

! Paper ! Vellum ! Type ! Ink ! Formats !

Bindings

Evolution of Formats
! Folio: One fold and 4 pages ! Quarto: Two folds and 8 pages ! Octavo: Three folds and 16 pages ! Duodecimo: 24 pages. Complicated folding One sheet is

cut or folded across its long side into thirds; one of the thirds is cut away. Then the piece of 2/3s is folded twice the other way. And then the final piece of 1/3 was folded and quired into the folded sheet. Common duodecimos were folded by removing an off-cut (one of the outer thirds).

Illustration

Woodcuts and Woodblock

! Key technologies for illustration in the printed book

until the 19th century.

! Woodblock printing pre-dated printed book well

before the 14th century

! Also applied to other materials including textiles ! What is a print? ! Book Illustration Timeline

Gutenberg & Moveable Type

The Handpress
! The printing press that Gutenberg invented is known

as a handpress or moveable type

! Bed of the press holds the forme for inking sorts (cast

letters) and printing

Gutenberg
! Born in Mainz, Germany in about 1397 ! Lived in Mainz until 1428 and trained as a goldsmith ! Training to work metal gave him skill needed to cut

and cast letterforms

! Moved to Strasbourg due to a dispute with trade guild ! In Strasbourg about 1439, court records indicate that

he was inventing the handpress, cutting and casting letters

Gutenberg Returns to Mainz

! Needed money & obtained loan from merchant Fust ! Offered his print shop & all equipment as collateral ! Needed another loan ultimately unable to repay debts

& Fust foreclosed, taking the printing shop & all contents.
! Fust hires craftsman, Schoeffer, to help run the press &

produce Bible

Gutenbergs Technologies
! Format: Folio ! Font Blackletter, Textura ! Ink Gutenbergs ink was new development -- oil

based unlike most that was water based

! Oil-based ink was necessary to cling to the press & not

run off -- ink has a high metal content

! Paper not necessary for invention of printing (vellum

could be used), but commercial success required paper

The Gutenberg Bible

! Size and format: Royal Folio (pages are 20 by 12.5

inches)
! Vellum copies of the Bible survive (the Bible was

produced with both paper 135 copies & vellum 45 copies)

! Several compositors or typesetters worked on setting

the type into words, lines, columns, and pages

! Gatherings vary in the number of leaves among them

The Gutenberg Bible

! Gutenberg Bible commercial success ! All 180 copies sold immediately & many survive

today ! Buyers were ecclesiastical customers near Mainz ! Wealthy gentry the Bible was expensive
! Gutenberg was the visionary ! Fust & Schoeffer firm commercial footing ! Schoeffer reputed as technical talent & typographer

Fust & Schoeffer

The Mainz Psalter

! In 1457, after the Gutenberg Bible appeared, Fust &

Schoeffer printed illustrated psalter: The Mainz Psalter

! Mainz Psalter bears first instance of their colophon ! Mainz Psalter noted for two-color printed initials ! Textura font used ! Became archetypal model of a printed book for about 15

years following its production

Sacking Mainz

Printing Leaves Mainz

! The sacking of Mainz by a neighboring duchy, forced

many printers to move on

! This exodus of printers from Mainz effected the spread

of printing through Europe

! From 1450-1470, there were only 14 cities with printing

shops.
! By 1480, the number grew to more than 400

The Dispersal of Print Shops

! Printing arrived in France, Italy, Belgium, Spain &

England among other countries

! The Netherlands started printing enterprises in 1473 ! Netherlands important for the English speaking

population

Early Printers ~ Cities

Noted Cities for Printing

! Evolution of Print -- a few prominent printing

centers of the Early Printed Book included: ! Paris ! Basel ! Venice ! Rome ! Nuremberg ! Bruges ! Westminster/London

! Each city boasted a talented printer

Paris, Lyon: Pigouchet

Aimed to reproduce elaborate medieval manuscripts through print. Printed an exemplary color version of a Livre de Heures

Basel: Froben
Frobens work is admired for his scholarship & collaboaration with Erasmus on Biblical & theological texts Hans Holbein created illustrations One of the earliest publishers whose objective turned on scholarship of the text &, in particular, controversial Protestant texts

Venice: Nichols Jenson

! Jenson printed about 150 books & became legendary for

his types or fonts

! The Eusebius type is noted for its elegance, composition,

arrangement of letters & close resemblance to the handwritten manuscript

Jensen & Eusebius Font

Until 1465 the

language of the printed book was exclusively Latin

Jensen produced
Eusebius Font

first type in Greek

Rome: Aldus Manutius

! Founded the Aldine Press in 1494. ! Envisioned using print in reproducing classic

texts. Supported classics scholarsErasmus was oneemployed Erasmus to edit texts.

! Manutius completed Dantes Divine Comedy

in the vernacular, Italian.

Rome: Aldus Manutius

! The visionary:
! Employed great typographer, Griffo ! Griffo created first
! Not cursive ! Based on Chancery Cursive Script

italic font

! Purpose of creating italic: ! Smaller lettering ! Smaller book, portable ! Enabled first technology for octavo

Nuremburg: Koberger
Koberger printed

the extraordinary Nuremberg Chronicles lavishly illustrated early printed books were created by Albrecht Durer

One of the first

Some woodcuts

Bruges: Caxton
! Caxton printed first book in English in Bruges,

Belgium.
! Le Fevres, Recuyell of the Histories of Troy, issued about

1475
From: Recuyell of Histories of Troy

Westminster: Caxton
! Caxton opened a print shop in Westminster (London) ! Produced his first dated book: Dictes and Sayings of the

Philosophers
! Issued first edition of Chaucers Canterbury Tales,

1478
! Printed more than 100 books.

London: Pynson
Noted for converting blackletter to roman type. Printed Boccaccios Fall of the Princes, translated by John Lydgate Technical mastery, one of Englands greatest early printers

Incunabula

Incunabula ends, 1501

! Incunabula ! Refers to any book printed before 1501 ! The British Library holds the international

database for 15th century European printing ! Incunabula Short Title Catalogue ! Additional Resources:
! Essays on the Diffusion of Print ! The Woodcut

Thank You!
Florence M. Paisey, Fall 2011