THE BOOK
The Early Years
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Pagination Imposition
Each topic will be split up into a way so that 16 pages can be produced for each, utilising the space of the pages for efficiency.
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Pagination imposition is a method of printing movable type, in a way that utilised space for printing and binding. This section will explore the first use of moveable type in western civilisation.
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5 Also known as “Bible of the Poor”, woodcut illustrations with manuscript text.
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‘Biblia Pauperum’
Xylographic Incunabula The next two pages are examples of how wooden block has been used to print each page.
An obvious re-occuring theme within the Typographic Incunabula is the use of illustrated drop caps. It’s clear that moveable type had not entirely taken over yet.
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THE INCUNABULA Mid - Life
18 16 As moveable type progressed, the detail for type became sharper and sharper. Type began to appear smaller, but equally as visible to read. A new art had taken over the illuminated transcript, but with function starting to prioritise over form.
Der Edelstein
A complicated and dense typographic incunable, produced in Germany during the late 16th Century. The next four images are also German Incunabula, but the producers of each are unknown.
This was the first typographic incunable to be printed, and was produced in 1461.
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7 The next pages show usage of Typographic Incunabula, which were the more significant change in book history.
Incunabula Mid - Life
Typographic
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n incunabula is a book, image or even a single sheet, that was printed (not hand rendered) before the 16th Century in Europe. Originally, the term was used in relation to ‘typographic art’, but by the late 17th Century, the meaning changed to just any printed book.
The gradual spread of incunabula, mixed with the design of illuminated transcripts of the past, brought new ingenuity within the design of books. Moveable typefaces began to be developed. Many early typefaces were modelled on local forms of writing or derived from the various European forms of Gothic script.
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The Shift
There are two types of incunabula:
An illustration by Ars Moriendi c. 1460. Block books often seemed to have an illustrative focus, due to them having much more freedom than typographic incunabula.
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The shift from Illuminated Manuscripts into the use of Incunabula was slow, due to no major shift in content. Documents were still mainly produced to express religious devotion, and by learning ways of mass produce, it was seen as disrespectful towards Christianity, due to less time and effort being put into your faith.
Xylographic (also known as block books): Each page has been produced by a single piece of wood, carved with the negative of each. Typographic: Type has been printed through the use of organised metal type (wood type was also used).
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21 Wood block printing (as previously mentioned), was first recorded in Chinese history, and was in use in East Asia way before Gutenberg. By the 12th and 13th centuries, many Chinese libraries contained thousands of printed books. The Chinese and Koreans knew about movable metal type at the time, but because of the complexity of it, movable type printing was not used as much as in Europe.
A copy of the Gutenberg Bible, which is current in the New York Public Libarary.
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Was Gutenberg First? Mid - Life
Gutenberg’s Bible In 1455, Gutenberg presented the power of the printing press to the public by selling copies of Bible (Biblia Sacra) for 300 florins each. This was roughly the same as three years work for an average worker, but much cheaper than a handwritten Bible that could take a single monk 20 years to produce.
It is not clear whether Gutenberg knew about techniques being developed in Asia, but this is unlikely, due to movable type being produced using a completely different technique. Some historians claim that a Dutch Goldsmith called ‘Laurens Janszoon Coster’ was the first European to invent movable type.
For the first time, books were almost accessable by the everyday man.
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JOHANNES GUTENBERG
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Johanne Gutenberg died in Mainz, Germany in 1468. Ironically, he never recieved any profit for his work, and died in poverty. Despite this, Gutenberg left a huge impact in history universally, with moveable type still being used and appreciated today.
Gutenberg’s Press As well as producing movable type, Gutenberg also famous produced a press, to aid mass production. Press’ were around at the time, but were used for other jobs, such as squashing grapes to make wine. Gutenberg simply adapted a screw press, where below the screw was a flat plane, in which sheets could be slid into seamlessly, in order to be printed.
An example of a wine / olive press, which Gutenberg was heavily influenced by.
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Gutenberg started to experiment with metal typography after he had moved to Strasbourg (previously in Germany, now in France) at around 1430. He knew wood - block type involved huge time and expense to produce, as it had to be hand carved. He came to the conclusion that metal type could be reproduced quicker and more consistently, once a single mould had been produced.
J
ohannes Gutenberg (1398 – 1468) was a German Inventor & Goldsmith, who became famous due to his invention of the technology of printing with movable type during 1447. Gutenberg has often been credited as being the most influential and important person of all times, with his invention occupying similar status. The A&E Network ranked him at #1 on their “People of the Millennium” countdown in 1999.
A close up page from the Gutenberg Bible.
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The oldest use of movable type. Similarly to the Gutenberg Bible, the Jikji was for religious use, but relating to Budhism instead of Christianity. It was produced 78 years before Gutenberg’s Bible. Ink was rolled over a raised surface of movable hand-set black letters that were held together in a wooden form. The form was then pressed against a sheet of paper.
The Korean Jikji - 1377
The Guterberg Press - 1436
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A total of 200 copies of the Bible were scheduled to be printed on rag cotton linen paper, and 30 copies on velum animal skin. It’s not known exactly how many copies were actually printed. Today, only 22 copies are known to exist, with 7 printed onto velum. If an entire Gutenberg Bible was to be sold, it’s estimated it would go for $100 million. Just an individual leaf can sell for $100,000. Gutenberg’s work is the rarest printed material in the world.
A typeface cast into lead moveable type. The first moveable type originated from hand written blackletter script, meaning lettering originally produced with pen and ink. Obviously ornamental script type could not be set in lead, as it would not be interchangable throughout different documents.
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‘De Symmetria’ 1525
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Albrecht Durer was one of the first typographers that we would call a ‘graphic designer’ today. He questioned the shape and form of type, and experimented with subtle differences that affect readability and legibility. Gutenberg made huge changes on how we mass produced type, whereas Durer was first to experiment with how we can use type and layout in a more functional manner.
ALBRECHT DURER
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Work Mid - Life
Other Typographic
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lbrecht Durer (1471 – 1528) was a German painter, wood carver, engraver, and mathematician.
He is most famous for his woodcut series, including the Apocalypse (1498) & two series on the crucifixion of Christ, the Great Passion (1498–1510) and the Little Passion (1510–1511). He is important for the history of graphic design in that he spent considerable time on the geometry of letters as well as book design.
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Durer is best known for his studies of geometry in letters, in his publication ‘Unterweysung de Messung’ (A Course on the Art of Measurement). The book presents principles that were developed in Reaissance Italy, which Durer has applied to painting, architecture and type.
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Designed & Written by Joe Leadbeater - 2013