Guiding concepts/questions:
- How was Gutenberg affected by the zeitgeist of his time and place?
- How was Gutenberg affected by his family and other personal life circumstances?
- How does Zeitgeist of the Late Medieval/Early Renaissance influence design development?
Additional Resource Links:
Johannes Gutenburg
- Textura
- Parchment
- Vellum
- Watermark
- ars moriendi
- Johannes Gutenberg
- Moveable Type
- metal alloy
- type mold and matrix
- Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer
- 42-line Bible (Gutenberg Bible)
- colophon
- Mainz, Germany
- Copperplate engraving
-
Guilder or Rheingulsen a variant of the Florin
o How much is it worth today?
§ 1 fl in the year 1455 has the purchasing power of 78.53 USD in 2016
§ http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/WhatsItWorth.html
Chapter 6
- Albrecht Dürer
- Anton Koberger
- Incipit
- Ex Libris
- Exemplar
- ligature
- serif
- William Caxton
- Nicolas Jenson
- Erhardt Ratdolt
- Aldine Press
- Aldus Manutius— Institutiones grammaticaes
- Francisco Griffo
- Palatino
- Geoffroy Tory
- cedilla — ç (façade)
- dipthong—Æ (lower case: æ)
- Champ Fleury
- Claude Garamond
- Jacques Kerver
- Stephen Daye
- Whole Book of Psalms or The Bay Psalm Book
Gutenberg Bible of the New York Public Library. Bought by Lenox in 1847, it was the first to come to the USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The impact of Gutenberg on the past five hundred years of civilization compared to Steven Jobs and the present digital revolution in communication—still in it’s infancy.—Gutenberg the Geek
Foundry Type
Glossary
Beater: the person who inks the forme
Bed: The horizontal carriage of the upright printing press, in which the chase or tray containing the letters is securely placed.
Composing Stick: Originally a wooden tray held in the hand and filled letter by letter by the compositor.
Compositor: the person who sets the type
Forme: a completed section of lines, usually a page, either tied or held by pressure in a frame that is placed in the bed of the press for printing.
42-line Bible (Gutenberg Bible)
Hand-Caster: an ingenious hand-held device that clamps the matrix in its base, allowing a typefounder to pour molten metal in an upper hole to cast a letter.
Inkball: A stuffed leather ball set in a wooden handle. Used in pairs to spread the ink onto the letters. Said to have been made of poreless dog’s tongues and cured in urine.
Matrix: the mold, now usually copper, that is made when the punch is driven into it with a mallet. Other metals or even clay or sand may early have served as matrices or molds.
Platen: The flat block or surface that puts pressure on the inked letters, transferring the ink from letters to paper. In wooden presses this hung from the press’s top bar and was dropped by means of a lever.
Pressman: the person who operates the press
Proof: Printed text, images, figures, etc. used to check for errors and other issues prior to production printing. In medieval era letters were coated with lampblack from a candle and checked; hence the term “soot proof.”
Punch: a tempered steel shaft on which each letter of a given font is carved.
Quire: A folded gathering of printed sheets. Five sheets which when folded make 20 pages are called a quinternion
Recto: The right side of a leaf, having an odd-numbered page or folio.
Type case: a large wooden case divided into scores of compartments, one for each sort of letter to be set into lines.
Verso: The left side of a leaf, having an even-numbered page or folio
Related articles
- Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, has died (h-online.com)
- Project Gutenberg (wolfgangcapito.wordpress.com)
- Blog – Lessons From the Gutenberg Bible for Publishers Going Digital (technologyreview.com)