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Posted by: Marianna Stell
The Library of Congress has several important works by the printmaker, painter, and art theorist, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), including his famous engraving, Melencolia I (1514), and his Treatise on Measurement (1525).
Posted in: 16th Century, Fine Prints, History of Mathematics, History of Science, Illustrated Book, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)
Posted by: Marianna Stell
Gregor Reisch's (c.1470-1525) encyclopedic textbook, Margarita Philosophica (Philosophical Pearl) contains a woodcut that speaks to the process of education in the sixteenth century.
Posted in: 16th Century, Illustrated Book, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)
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)
Posted by: Marianna Stell
An early proponent of gamification, the Franciscan preacher and satirist, Thomas Murner (1475-1537), used card games as pedagogical tools. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division has a copy of one of his logic card games, Logica memorativa: chartiludium logice, sive totius dialectice memoria (Strasburg, 1509).
Posted in: 16th Century, Education, Manuscript and Letterpress (Hand Press)