c. 1150 - Paper introduced to Spain by the Moors.
1276 - Paper mill established in Fabriano, Italy
1454 - Earliest dated typgraphic printing in Europe
1450 -54 - Gutenberg Bible
1517 - Martin Luther's 95 Theses
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Key Terms
Ars moriendi - ("The Art of Dying") is the name of two related Latin texts dating from about 1415-1450 which offer advice on the protocols and procedures of a good death and on how to "die well", according to the Christian Church of the late Middle Ages. It was basically Church propaganda used to scare you into giving them money.
Block book - before the invention of moveable type, some books were printed in Europe from engraved wooden blocks, with one block for each page. This method was developed by the 9th cent. A.D. in China. The practice has a richer history in the East than in the West since the number of characters used in Chinese writing made printing from movable type exceedingly difficult. The best-known block book is the Biblia pauperum [poor man's Bible].
Broadsheet is when both sides of a broadside are printed on.
A colophon, in publishing, is a brief description usually located at the end of a book, describing production notes relevant to the edition. In most cases it is a description of the text typography, often entitled A note about the type. This will identify the names of the primary typefaces used, provide a brief description of the type's history, and a brief statement about its most identifiable physical characteristics.
Copperplate engraving - an engraving consisting of a smooth plate of copper that has been etched or engraved. Engraving as a printmaking method was developed during the 15th Century when metal plates began to replace the use of carved wooden printing blocks for the reproduction of works of art.
Ex libris - Preceded by handwritten inscriptions, sonnets often with a notice content, ex-libris (leaflets or book labels) were born parallely to the increase of books circulation due to the invention of printing. Their aim was to give to the property of the volume much honour and possibility of distinction in order to make the theft more difficult.
Probably inspired by the so-called “signs of shop” they were born in Germany not only because in that place was originated the printing but especially because, there, the xylography developed extraordinarily. Ex-libris changed under the influence of schools and governments, expressing the tendences, the literary and the artistic taste of different generations.
The most ancient well-known ex-libris belonged to Hans Jgler, chaplain of the Bavarian family Von Shoenstett, whose name is findable in the gothic characters contained in the cartouche, under it there is a sprig with an hedgehog. This specimen, dated 1470-80, already presents the characteristics of modern ex-libris, rectangular framed format, a central figure in a logical and/or semantic relation to the owner, whose name as written in a caurtoche.
In 1500, the ex-libris assumes the characteristics of a coat of arms with the symbols of the different noble families who, in this period, were the greater owner of libraries. Over the centuries, the leaflet enlarges its sizes and makes its figure more complete and refined. The decoration, rich in the Baroque Age, becomes more essential and simple in 1700, at the same time as the diffusion of Neoclassicism, from which it gets its inspiration in the insertion of the owner name in gravestones or monuments inspired by Classic art.
So over the times the nineteenth-century middle class, not owning noble elements that could be represented on its own leaflets, often resorts to the landscape of the romantic art.
Then, ex-libris know a both qualitative and quantitative development at the end of XIX th century, at the coming and diffusion of Art nouveau.
Right from this time also collecting develops on an international scale with the origin of associations, oriented to increase the exchanges and to stimulate the production of ex-libris. So they commissioned more and more as an autonomous work of art, indipendent from its principal use.
Exemplar - A copy of a book or text.
Incunabula - It’s a latin word, and it means “cradle” or “baby linen”. Its connotations of birth and beginnings caused seventeenth-century writers to adopt it as a name for books printed from Gutenberg’s invention of typography until the end of the fithteenth century.An incunabulum is a book, single sheet, or image that was printed — not handwritten— before the year 1051 in Europehese are very rare and valuable items. The origin of the word is the Latin incunabula for "swaddling clothes", used by extension for the infancy or early stages of something. The first recorded use of incunabula as a printing term is in a pamphlet by Bernhard von Mallinckrodt, De ortu et progressu artis typographicae ("Of the rise and progress of the typographic art"), (Cologne , 1639), which includes the phrase prima typographicae incunabula, "the first infancy of printing", a term to which he arbitrarily set an end, 1500, which still obtains. The term came to denote the printed books themselves from the late seventeenth century. The plural is incunabula and the word is sometimes Anglicized to incunable. A former term is fifteener, referring to the fifteenth century.
There are two types of incunabula: the block-book (sometimes called xylographic), made from a single carved or sculpted block for each page and the typographic , made with movable type on a printing press in the style of Johann Gutenberg. Many authors reserve the term incunabulum for the typographic ones only.
The end date for identifying a book as an incunabulum is convenient, but was chosen arbitrarily. It does not reflect any notable developments in the printing process around the year 1500. Incunabula usually refers to the earliest printed books, completed at a time when some books were still being hand-copied.
The gradual spread of printing ensured that there was great variety in the texts chosen for printing and the styles in which they appeared. Many early typefaces were modelled on local forms of writing or derived from the various European forms of Gothic script, but there were also some derived from documentary scripts (such as most of Caxton's types), and, particularly in Italy, types modelled on humanistic hands. These humanistic typefaces are often used today, barely modified, in digital form.
Printers tended to congregate in urban centres where there were scholars, ecclesiastics, lawyers, nobles and professionals who formed their major customer-base. Standard works in Latin inherited from the medieval tradition formed the bulk of the earliest printing, but as books became cheaper, works in the various vernaculars (or translations of standard works) began to appear.
Famous incunabula include the Gutenberg Bible of 1455, the Peregrinatio in terram sanctam of 1485, printed and illustrated by Erhard Reuwich, both from Mainz, and the Nuremberg Chronicle of Hartmann Schedel, printed by Anton Koberger in 1493. Other well-known incunabula printers were Albrecht Pfister of Bamberg, Günther Zainer of Augsburg, Johann Mentelin of Strasbourg and William Caxton of Bruges and London.
The tally of editions and titles issued before 1500 runs into the thousands. Studies of incunabula began in the seventeenth century. M. Maittaire (1667-1747) and G.W. Panzer (1729-1805) arranged printed material chronologically in annals format, and in the first half of the nineteenth century, L. Hain published, Repertorium bibliographicum — a checklist of incunabula arranged alphabetically by author: "Hain numbers" are still a reference point. Hain was expanded in subsequent editions, by W. Copinger and D. Reichling, but it is being superceeded by the authoritative modern listing, a German catalogue, the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, which has been under way since 1925 and is still being compiled at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. The British Library has compiled the Incunabula Short-Title Catalogue which includes the holdings of most libraries world-wide.
Letter of indulgence - With a letter of indulgence the pope pronounced to the believer the remission of sins in the hereafter. From the selling of these letters the church drew a high income. After the invention of the printing press, indulgence letters were printed in large numbers.
Punch, Matrix and Mold - used in Gutenberg's system for casting type. A steel punch is used to cast an impression into a softer brass matrix. After the matrix is slipped into the bottom of the two-part mold, the mold is filled with the molten lead alloy to cast a piece of type. After the alloy cools, the type mold is opened and the type is removed.
Reformation - Martin Luther's presence at the university in Wittenborg influenced the graphics produced. Lucas Cranach, often put considerable energy towards the Reformation of the Church by portraying Reformers and their cause in books and broadsides. Cranach made many portraits as propaganda for the Reformation as well as for the Church.
Woodcut - a type of relief print, is the earliest printmaking technique, and the only one traditionally used in the Far East. It was probably first developed as a means of printing patterns on cloth, and by the 5th century was used in China for printing text and images on paper. Woodcuts of images on paper developed around 1400 in Europe, and slightly later in Japan. These are the two areas where woodcut has been most extensively used purely as a process for making images without text.
The artist draws a sketch either on a plank of wood, or on paper which is transferred to the wood. Traditionally the artist then handed the work to a specialist cutter, who then uses sharp tools to carve away the parts of the block that he/she does not want to receive the ink. The raised parts of the block are inked with a brayer, then a sheet of paper, perhaps slightly damp, is placed over the block. The block is then rubbed with a baren or spoon, or is run through a press. If in color, separate blocks are used for each color.
Block book - before the invention of moveable type, some books were printed in Europe from engraved wooden blocks, with one block for each page. This method was developed by the 9th cent. A.D. in China. The practice has a richer history in the East than in the West since the number of characters used in Chinese writing made printing from movable type exceedingly difficult. The best-known block book is the Biblia pauperum [poor man's Bible].
Broadsheet is when both sides of a broadside are printed on.
A colophon, in publishing, is a brief description usually located at the end of a book, describing production notes relevant to the edition. In most cases it is a description of the text typography, often entitled A note about the type. This will identify the names of the primary typefaces used, provide a brief description of the type's history, and a brief statement about its most identifiable physical characteristics.
Copperplate engraving - an engraving consisting of a smooth plate of copper that has been etched or engraved. Engraving as a printmaking method was developed during the 15th Century when metal plates began to replace the use of carved wooden printing blocks for the reproduction of works of art.
Ex libris - Preceded by handwritten inscriptions, sonnets often with a notice content, ex-libris (leaflets or book labels) were born parallely to the increase of books circulation due to the invention of printing. Their aim was to give to the property of the volume much honour and possibility of distinction in order to make the theft more difficult.
Probably inspired by the so-called “signs of shop” they were born in Germany not only because in that place was originated the printing but especially because, there, the xylography developed extraordinarily. Ex-libris changed under the influence of schools and governments, expressing the tendences, the literary and the artistic taste of different generations.
The most ancient well-known ex-libris belonged to Hans Jgler, chaplain of the Bavarian family Von Shoenstett, whose name is findable in the gothic characters contained in the cartouche, under it there is a sprig with an hedgehog. This specimen, dated 1470-80, already presents the characteristics of modern ex-libris, rectangular framed format, a central figure in a logical and/or semantic relation to the owner, whose name as written in a caurtoche.
In 1500, the ex-libris assumes the characteristics of a coat of arms with the symbols of the different noble families who, in this period, were the greater owner of libraries. Over the centuries, the leaflet enlarges its sizes and makes its figure more complete and refined. The decoration, rich in the Baroque Age, becomes more essential and simple in 1700, at the same time as the diffusion of Neoclassicism, from which it gets its inspiration in the insertion of the owner name in gravestones or monuments inspired by Classic art.
So over the times the nineteenth-century middle class, not owning noble elements that could be represented on its own leaflets, often resorts to the landscape of the romantic art.
Then, ex-libris know a both qualitative and quantitative development at the end of XIX th century, at the coming and diffusion of Art nouveau.
Right from this time also collecting develops on an international scale with the origin of associations, oriented to increase the exchanges and to stimulate the production of ex-libris. So they commissioned more and more as an autonomous work of art, indipendent from its principal use.
Exemplar - A copy of a book or text.
Incunabula - It’s a latin word, and it means “cradle” or “baby linen”. Its connotations of birth and beginnings caused seventeenth-century writers to adopt it as a name for books printed from Gutenberg’s invention of typography until the end of the fithteenth century.An incunabulum is a book, single sheet, or image that was printed — not handwritten— before the year 1051 in Europehese are very rare and valuable items. The origin of the word is the Latin incunabula for "swaddling clothes", used by extension for the infancy or early stages of something. The first recorded use of incunabula as a printing term is in a pamphlet by Bernhard von Mallinckrodt, De ortu et progressu artis typographicae ("Of the rise and progress of the typographic art"), (Cologne , 1639), which includes the phrase prima typographicae incunabula, "the first infancy of printing", a term to which he arbitrarily set an end, 1500, which still obtains. The term came to denote the printed books themselves from the late seventeenth century. The plural is incunabula and the word is sometimes Anglicized to incunable. A former term is fifteener, referring to the fifteenth century.
There are two types of incunabula: the block-book (sometimes called xylographic), made from a single carved or sculpted block for each page and the typographic , made with movable type on a printing press in the style of Johann Gutenberg. Many authors reserve the term incunabulum for the typographic ones only.
The end date for identifying a book as an incunabulum is convenient, but was chosen arbitrarily. It does not reflect any notable developments in the printing process around the year 1500. Incunabula usually refers to the earliest printed books, completed at a time when some books were still being hand-copied.
The gradual spread of printing ensured that there was great variety in the texts chosen for printing and the styles in which they appeared. Many early typefaces were modelled on local forms of writing or derived from the various European forms of Gothic script, but there were also some derived from documentary scripts (such as most of Caxton's types), and, particularly in Italy, types modelled on humanistic hands. These humanistic typefaces are often used today, barely modified, in digital form.
Printers tended to congregate in urban centres where there were scholars, ecclesiastics, lawyers, nobles and professionals who formed their major customer-base. Standard works in Latin inherited from the medieval tradition formed the bulk of the earliest printing, but as books became cheaper, works in the various vernaculars (or translations of standard works) began to appear.
Famous incunabula include the Gutenberg Bible of 1455, the Peregrinatio in terram sanctam of 1485, printed and illustrated by Erhard Reuwich, both from Mainz, and the Nuremberg Chronicle of Hartmann Schedel, printed by Anton Koberger in 1493. Other well-known incunabula printers were Albrecht Pfister of Bamberg, Günther Zainer of Augsburg, Johann Mentelin of Strasbourg and William Caxton of Bruges and London.
The tally of editions and titles issued before 1500 runs into the thousands. Studies of incunabula began in the seventeenth century. M. Maittaire (1667-1747) and G.W. Panzer (1729-1805) arranged printed material chronologically in annals format, and in the first half of the nineteenth century, L. Hain published, Repertorium bibliographicum — a checklist of incunabula arranged alphabetically by author: "Hain numbers" are still a reference point. Hain was expanded in subsequent editions, by W. Copinger and D. Reichling, but it is being superceeded by the authoritative modern listing, a German catalogue, the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, which has been under way since 1925 and is still being compiled at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. The British Library has compiled the Incunabula Short-Title Catalogue which includes the holdings of most libraries world-wide.
Letter of indulgence - With a letter of indulgence the pope pronounced to the believer the remission of sins in the hereafter. From the selling of these letters the church drew a high income. After the invention of the printing press, indulgence letters were printed in large numbers.
Punch, Matrix and Mold - used in Gutenberg's system for casting type. A steel punch is used to cast an impression into a softer brass matrix. After the matrix is slipped into the bottom of the two-part mold, the mold is filled with the molten lead alloy to cast a piece of type. After the alloy cools, the type mold is opened and the type is removed.
Reformation - Martin Luther's presence at the university in Wittenborg influenced the graphics produced. Lucas Cranach, often put considerable energy towards the Reformation of the Church by portraying Reformers and their cause in books and broadsides. Cranach made many portraits as propaganda for the Reformation as well as for the Church.
Woodcut - a type of relief print, is the earliest printmaking technique, and the only one traditionally used in the Far East. It was probably first developed as a means of printing patterns on cloth, and by the 5th century was used in China for printing text and images on paper. Woodcuts of images on paper developed around 1400 in Europe, and slightly later in Japan. These are the two areas where woodcut has been most extensively used purely as a process for making images without text.
The artist draws a sketch either on a plank of wood, or on paper which is transferred to the wood. Traditionally the artist then handed the work to a specialist cutter, who then uses sharp tools to carve away the parts of the block that he/she does not want to receive the ink. The raised parts of the block are inked with a brayer, then a sheet of paper, perhaps slightly damp, is placed over the block. The block is then rubbed with a baren or spoon, or is run through a press. If in color, separate blocks are used for each color.
Key Names
The Printer's Device of William Caxton
William Caxton (1422-1491), was the first English printer ever. As well as the first English retailer of books, his contemporaries were all Dutch, German, or French.
His travels as a merchant introduced him to the new printing industry and he was heavily influenced by German printing.
He wasted no time in setting up a printing press in Bruges, in collaboration with a Fleming, Colard Mansion, on which the first book to be printed in English was produced in 1475: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a translation by Caxton himself.
He set up a press in Westminster, England in 1476.
Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres (Sayings of the Philosophers, first printed on November 18, 1477), written by none other than Earl Rivers, the king's brother-in-law.
Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend, published in 1483, and The Book of the Knight in the Tower, published 1484, contain perhaps the earliest verses of the Bible to be printed in English, rather than copied.
The most important works printed by Caxton were Le Morte d'Arthur and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. He produced two editions of The Canterbury Tales.
Caxton is credited with standardising the English language (that is, homogenising regional dialects) through printing. This was said to have led to expansion of English vocabulary, the development of accidence and syntax, and the ever-widening gap between the spoken and the written word.
Game and Playe of the Chesse
A Verbatim Reprint of the First Edition, 1474
Lucas Cranach the Elder- 1472-1553
Albrecht Dürer (b. May 21, 1471, Imperial Free City of Nürnberg [Germany]--d. April 6, 1528, Nürnberg), German painter, printmaker, draughtsman and art theorist, generally regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist.
Began as an apprentice to his father, a goldstmith, in 1485, but his earliest known work, one of his many self portraits, was made in 1484.
Most likely helped in the illustration and layout of the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493 as a youth.
In 1498 Dürer published Latin and German of The Apocalypse, to which he supplied 15 outstanding woodcuts. This earned 27 year old
Dürer, renown throughout Europe.
Dürer's first book was called Underweisung der Messung mit dem Zirckel und Richtscheyt (A Course in the Art of Measurement with Compass and Ruler. He wrote this when he became frustrated over the fact that German painters were laggin behind the Italians when it came to the theoretical knowledge of painting.
Johann Gutenburg, born in Mainz, Germany, about in the 14th century. He is the most important person in the history of typography because around 1450 he brought together the complex systems and subsystems necessary to print a typography book.
Exiled from his town, he relocated in Strasbourg, where he became a successful and prosperous gem cutter and metalworker.
In early 1438 Gutenberg formed a contractual partnership with Andreas Dritzehen, who received gem-cutting training from Gutenberg and Andrea Hellmann who owned a paper mill. He showed them the secret for making mirrows, postponing of five years his contract with them.
When Dritzehen died, in late 1438, his brother Georg and Claus, sued Gutenberg for either admission on the partnership or a refund. On December 1439,the court ruled in Gutenberg’s favor because his original contract specified that only one hundred florins would be paid to any partner’s heirs.
In the mid-1440s Gutenberg moved back to Mainz, where he resolved the technical, organizational, and production problems that had plagued earlier typography printing efforts .He had labored for ten years before his first printing and twenty years before printing the first typography book, called the forty-two-line Bible.
On January 1465, Archbishop Adolf of Mainz, appointed Gutenberg courtier with the rank of nobleman.
Like many innovators, he was running a heartbeat ahead of his time, drifted into bankruptcy he died the 3rd of February of 1468.
Martin Luther 1483 - 1546, dealt the symbolic blow that began the Reformation when he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church. That document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.
But Luther himself saw the Reformation as something far more important than a revolt against ecclesiastical abuses. He believed it was a fight for the gospel. Luther even stated that he would have happily yielded every point of dispute to the Pope, if only the Pope had affirmed the gospel.
And at the heart of the gospel, in Luther's estimation, was the doctrine of justification by faith--the teaching that Christ's own righteousness is imputed to those who believe, and on that ground alone, they are accepted by God.
William Caxton (1422-1491), was the first English printer ever. As well as the first English retailer of books, his contemporaries were all Dutch, German, or French.
His travels as a merchant introduced him to the new printing industry and he was heavily influenced by German printing.
He wasted no time in setting up a printing press in Bruges, in collaboration with a Fleming, Colard Mansion, on which the first book to be printed in English was produced in 1475: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a translation by Caxton himself.
He set up a press in Westminster, England in 1476.
Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres (Sayings of the Philosophers, first printed on November 18, 1477), written by none other than Earl Rivers, the king's brother-in-law.
Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend, published in 1483, and The Book of the Knight in the Tower, published 1484, contain perhaps the earliest verses of the Bible to be printed in English, rather than copied.
The most important works printed by Caxton were Le Morte d'Arthur and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. He produced two editions of The Canterbury Tales.
Caxton is credited with standardising the English language (that is, homogenising regional dialects) through printing. This was said to have led to expansion of English vocabulary, the development of accidence and syntax, and the ever-widening gap between the spoken and the written word.
Game and Playe of the Chesse
A Verbatim Reprint of the First Edition, 1474
Lucas Cranach the Elder- 1472-1553 -friend of Martin Luther
-Called to Wittenberg by the electors of saxony
-Operated a studio, a printing office, a bookshop, and a paper mill
-served twice as mayor
- Put a great deal of energy into the reformation by portraying it in books & broadsheet
Albrecht Dürer (b. May 21, 1471, Imperial Free City of Nürnberg [Germany]--d. April 6, 1528, Nürnberg), German painter, printmaker, draughtsman and art theorist, generally regarded as the greatest German Renaissance artist.
Began as an apprentice to his father, a goldstmith, in 1485, but his earliest known work, one of his many self portraits, was made in 1484.
Most likely helped in the illustration and layout of the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493 as a youth.
In 1498 Dürer published Latin and German of The Apocalypse, to which he supplied 15 outstanding woodcuts. This earned 27 year old
Dürer, renown throughout Europe.
Johann Gutenburg, born in Mainz, Germany, about in the 14th century. He is the most important person in the history of typography because around 1450 he brought together the complex systems and subsystems necessary to print a typography book.
Exiled from his town, he relocated in Strasbourg, where he became a successful and prosperous gem cutter and metalworker.
In early 1438 Gutenberg formed a contractual partnership with Andreas Dritzehen, who received gem-cutting training from Gutenberg and Andrea Hellmann who owned a paper mill. He showed them the secret for making mirrows, postponing of five years his contract with them.
When Dritzehen died, in late 1438, his brother Georg and Claus, sued Gutenberg for either admission on the partnership or a refund. On December 1439,the court ruled in Gutenberg’s favor because his original contract specified that only one hundred florins would be paid to any partner’s heirs.
In the mid-1440s Gutenberg moved back to Mainz, where he resolved the technical, organizational, and production problems that had plagued earlier typography printing efforts .He had labored for ten years before his first printing and twenty years before printing the first typography book, called the forty-two-line Bible.
On January 1465, Archbishop Adolf of Mainz, appointed Gutenberg courtier with the rank of nobleman.
Like many innovators, he was running a heartbeat ahead of his time, drifted into bankruptcy he died the 3rd of February of 1468.
Martin Luther 1483 - 1546, dealt the symbolic blow that began the Reformation when he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church. That document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.
But Luther himself saw the Reformation as something far more important than a revolt against ecclesiastical abuses. He believed it was a fight for the gospel. Luther even stated that he would have happily yielded every point of dispute to the Pope, if only the Pope had affirmed the gospel.
And at the heart of the gospel, in Luther's estimation, was the doctrine of justification by faith--the teaching that Christ's own righteousness is imputed to those who believe, and on that ground alone, they are accepted by God.
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