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Posted by: Patrick Hastings
During the hand press era, composing the text of a book was among the most technical elements of the printing process. This post describes the labor involved in typesetting and imposition.
Posted in: 14th Century, 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, Book Anatomy, Education Outreach, History of the Book, type
Posted by: Patrick Hastings
Most of us learned in school that Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which is not entirely accurate. He is, however, conventionally credited with inventing the process of mass-producing individual pieces of type. These innovations in moveable type allowed for books to be efficiently produced in large quantities and revolutionized the human ability to share ideas. This post explains the multi-step process of mass-producing metal letters to be used in printing texts.
Posted in: 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, Book Anatomy, Education Outreach, Famous Printers, History of the Book, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), type
Posted by: Patrick Hastings
Before today's thin, brittle paper made from wood pulp became standard, paper was handcrafted by experts using linen rags as the essential material. This post explains the process by which rag paper was made in Europe for centuries.
Posted in: 14th Century, 15th Century, 16th Century, Book Anatomy, Education Outreach, History of the Book, Paper
Posted by: Marianna Stell
At the end of the fifteenth century, simplified versions of medical charts featuring an image of the "Zodiac Man" began to appear in Books of Hours. The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division contains many examples of these printed editions, one of which uses a skeleton in place of the Zodiac Man.
Posted in: 15th Century, 16th Century, Illustrated Book, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Medicine, Seasonal
Posted by: Marianna Stell
Did the earliest printers know what print was? Book historian Anna Dlabacova, former fellow in the W. Kluge Center and senior university lecturer at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society, offers some observations about what a 15th-century book from the Netherlands can teach us about culture and innovation.
Posted in: 15th Century, Low Countries, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Provenance
Posted by: Marianna Stell
In this post Haim Gottschalk, Hebraica-Judaica Cataloging Librarian for the Israel and Judaica Section of the Asian and Middle Eastern Division at the Library of Congress, writes about the provenance of two Hebraic items in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
Posted in: 15th Century, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Provenance
Posted by: Marianna Stell
Likely created in Tours in the 1470s in a workshop influenced by the French painter and manuscript illuminator, Jean Fouquet (c. 1420 - 1480), a Book of Hours in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress reminds us that Halloween is just around the corner.
Posted in: 15th Century, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press), Seasonal
Posted by: Marianna Stell
Memory training was an important part of education in the Middle Ages. Borrowing from classical sources, medieval techniques offered elaborate and creative methods for memorizing lengthy works and speeches. The blockbook Ars memorandi, likely printed in Germany around 1470, offers a surprising lesson for those interested in the history of graphic design or mnemonic theory.
Posted in: 15th Century, 16th Century, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)