1-17-12 Class #2 Daily Reaction

The Day's Notes 1-17-12 (written in short hand)

Important terms: Lascaux, Sumerian, Cuneiform, Scribe, Illuminated manuscripts, Book of Kells.

Illuminated Manuscripts: Literally-included gold and silver leafing. Figuratively-illuminated the mind.

Charlemagne - Crowned Emperor of holy Empire. Tried to learn to read. Was not very successful. German Franco ruler. Appoints Alcuin of York as Head Scribe who develops Caroline Minuscules.

With the spread of reading and writing so too did power.

The playing card changes society: From xylography(wood block printmaking). Both kings and peasants can play. Starts people thinking about memorization, sequencing, strategy, sign systems, and develops a new form of entertainment.

Wood block printing allows peasants to afford personal devotionals. A popular subject of the time was death. The Ars Moriendi was an instruction book for dying. It was early church propaganda designed to con the people into giving the church their money when they died instead of to their family.

Changing factors: Growing middle class, students in expanding universities, increased literacy, the monopoly of literacy is being taken away from the churches, a growing demand for texts. 

Gutenberg, who was just a regular guy, was credited with inventing the moveable type printing press. He was previously a jeweler. Develops metal alloy (lead and tin) to cast letters. Develops ligatures. teaches a small group the secret process of creating mirrors. 5 year contract with group. 

Church creates the Letters of Indulgence. They are a figurative ‘get out of jail free’ card. Gutenberg decides to make some extra money fabricating these letters with his printing press.

In 1450-1455 Mainz, Germany, Gutenberg makes the first printed book-The Bible. He goes into business with Johann Fust. Gets loan for 800 guilders to produce bible. Borrows 800 more to finish it. Fust sues him for the money before he finishes it and court gives Fust the Printing shop and all materials. Gutenberg is shut out. Fust goes into business with Gutenberg’s foreman, Shofieur(sp).

The advent of printing ranks right next to the advent of writing itself. Typographic printing is the major milestone between the advent of writing and modern communication.

Printing on Vellum - Sheep skin is scraped conditioned and dried to create a page for printing. 

Incunabula – Literally, baby carriage. The first 50 years of printing.

1479 – printing of Aesop’s Fables. It lost the frame around the image. Negative space interacts with the image for the first time in print.

Gutenberg used the letter forms of the day’s script writers - Textura aka Gothic aka Black Letter.

William Caxton translates ‘Histories of Troy’, 1475. The first book to be printed in English.

The crusades had a big impact on printing. They lead to paper making and print making being brought back from the East.

Swevyheym and Pannartz – Evolution of Roman letters.

During the Renaissance, they were rediscovering the historicval texts. It was a continual process of refinement. Tippins started to be used. Things that had to be inserted by hand.

Steven Daye(a locksmith) – brings printing to the colonies in 1639. The first book he printed was a book of Psalms.

Rococco was at it’s height in the 1700s(late Baroque). It was ornate and fanciful. It was also a time of inquiry and science.

Louis XIV orders committee to come up with a royal type face. Letters were drawn by scientific principles and grids. Vertical and ridged. Contrast between thick and thin lines in the letter.

Romain du Roi (Royal Typeface) – You could tell it by the spur on the lowercase el.

Pierre Simon Fournier le Jeune, French 1768 – Developed Rococco fleurians(sp).

Copper Plate engraving were etched designs on metal plate with a stylus. Engravers now got involved with letter press production, furthering the evolution of printing.

Personal Thoughts

I found that the evolution of typeface was far more interesting than I had previously thought. It was interesting learning about the creation of vellum. I would like to see the process in more detail though. Maybe a video would have been good.

I also loved the story of Gutenberg and Fust. I think that giving the facts a personal aspect makes them a lot more interesting and I find that I retain that information much easier. Stories about the figures in history are more interesting than purely their accomplishments.

I also enjoyed the video of the man making a type punch. Even though it was very long and drawn out, it got the point across that a single letter was a very time consuming process.

I found it interesting that Charlemagne highly valued literacy although he struggled with it himself.  He seemed wise.

The development of print using copper plating was interesting to learn about. I love how you can get so much detail in those engravings. Beautiful prints. Those prints seemed like they were done more for art sake than functional piece of writing.

Questions

I would like to learn more about the life of Charlemagne.

How old was he when he came into power?

What other interests did he have?

What other lasting influences did he have?

I also would like to know more about Alcuin of York. What other things might have been attributed to him?

I would like to see more examples of the Copper plate prints. Beautiful.

Did they just use sheepskin in the production of vellum or is there other documentation indication other skins were used? If so, from what animals? What materials were applied to the vellum to turn it into an adequate writing surface?

I would like to see how the did book binding.