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Printing Presses, Reforms, Humanism and Revolutions

Helene Cazes department of French

Program of Medieval Studies University of Victoria

History of the Book

•  The emergence of a new technique and its spreading

•  A revolution? or a “supermanuscript”? •  Book and humanism •  Book and Reform •  The implications of a new medium

Typography: Mobile characters for a press

A birth in Northern Europe during the Italian Rinascimento

The spreading of a Revolution: Italy, France, Spain, Belgium...

Conrad Sweynheim and Arnold Pannartz, former assistants of Johann Fust in Mainz First Italian press in 1464, in the Benedictine monastery of Subiaco Ciceron (1465)

Gutenberg, Johann Gensfleish (1397? - 1468)

-  Born in Mainz (Germany) -  Prosperous family, tradition of working

in the mint of the archbishop of Mainz -  Art of precision in iron works

Mainz, Dietrich III v Erbarch,1439-1459

Trials and achievements •  1428, travel to Strasburg, tried to print

with mobile characters, divulged the idea

•  1448, Strasburg, first printed page: 11 lines

•  1450, return to Mainz, meets Joann Fust (a rich man) and Peter Schoffer (a melter)

•  1450, the “forty four lines Bible” (300 sheets a day, a volume of 641 pages, printed in 10 parts). Bankrupcy in 1455.

A Many layered invention, drawing on many other technological discoveries Coin punches: G. he carved letter punches as molds for casting quantities of identical type. Block printing: he joined the type into page-sized galleys to be inked and printed. But unlike wood blocks, the type came apart for reassembling, to spell out any word. Wine press: it would press pages onto the type (far superior to the old method of rubbing). Oil-painting technology yielded ink. Metallurgical developments provided alloys. Paper was becoming more available.

Gutenberg’s Bible: a technological achievement, a symbol... and a myth? The first book, but is it a book? A Bible

Book or manuscript? The virtual exhibition of the Golda Meir Library http://www.uwm.edu/Library/special/exhibits/incunab/incmwh.htm

Honorius Augustodunensis. De Imagine Mundi. Nuremberg: [Anton Koberger, 1472?].

Saint Jerome, d. 419 or 20. Commentaria in Bibliam. Venice: Joannes and Gregorius de Gregoriis, de Forlivio, 1497-1498.

The Invention of the Roman character J. and W. de Spire, 1470, Italy Nicolas Janson (Mint, France, Venice) Geoffroy Tory Claude Garamond

The Gothic or Black Letter

The type of Sweynheym and Pannartz was strongly influenced by the scrittura umanistica and bears gothic traces. Considered to be the first roman typeface. The capitals are roman and the lines are spaced more widely than in gothic.

Nicolas Jenson, a goldsmith turned punch-cutter translated humanistic scripts from a calligraphic expression into cast metal types. 1476

Philippe Granjon, Royal typeface, 1693-1745

Typography is no longer influenced by calligraphy, Caslon Old Face 1734

Aldus Manutius 1450-1514

The first book to be wholly printed with the Italic hand was his edition of the Works of the classical author Virgil, which he printed in 1501, the type face having been designed for him by Francesco Griffo.

This revolutionary development enabled Aldus to sell a series of ‘pocket’ classics

William Caxton a silk merchant learned how to print in Germany. In Belgium he printed the first book in English. Moved back to England. Over 90 books in 20 years time

Geoffrey Chaucer, 1340?-1400. A Leaf from The Canterbury Tales. Westminster, England: William Caxton, [1478].

Plantin, Antwerpen, 1570

Effects on European culture?

1.  Scholarship: Print halted the corruption of texts by copyists, giving everyone identical texts. It spurred on the already existing search for the oldest and the best copies of any work, and the production of critical editions.

2.  Helped the recovery of Greek and other ancient languages, such as Hebrew, among western Europeans. The concept of indexing, which only made sense once there were 1000 identical copies, made the retrieval of information much easier.

3.  Science: Scientific research became a more collaborative effort, with results published quickly.

4. Education: Learning to read was made easier as print was standardized and made clearer. Individuals could now afford to own books, without having to copy them themselves, so university lectures were no longer simply someone reading a book aloud. Books freed one from the need for constant memorization.

Dictionaries Indexes Textbooks “Thesauri” Reference books

5. Art: Engravings and prints reached a much wider audience, so some artists became known throughout Europe. Manuals with illustrations, such as those of plants, animals, and machines, gradually became more lavishly illustrated, and greater care was taken to make all illustrations completely accurate.

The development of etching -woodprinting and engraving -the illustrated books -the “visual” medium Anatomies Geography books Fashion books

6. Languages with extensive literature came to be considered national languages; and those without printed materials, local dialects. Once national languages were printed, people began to call for purifying and codifying them, and for the first time were bothered by such things as spelling irregularities. Printing also slowed down the rate at which languages changed.

The invention of the “book”? -the title-page -the double page -the preface -the author -the publishing house -the price -the book seller -the press service... Both a continuity and a revolution

Book, Humanism, Reform?

Erasmus 1466-1536

Back to Bibles... Henri Estienne and Lefebvre d’Etaples, William Tyndale Martin Luther Sebastien Castellion... King James

Martin Luther, 1483-1546

The original title page of On the Jews and their Lies, written by Martin Luther in 1543."

Luther’s Bible, 1534

The new “cyber-revolution”? Internet, self-publishing and instantaneous diffusion A Mass culture? or a mass-standardization?