Overview of Era
All hail Gutenberg and his printing press!
The printing revolution in Europe began with the invention of moveable type in a way that caught on culturally due to its ability to be monetized and replicated by other innovators. Moveable type in this sense means the fabrication from metal of letters, punctuation, and other individual components of grammar in a way that allowed the type to be arranged and rearranged into textual compositions. The compositions of metal type were then inked and a moist piece of paper or parchment pressed down on it, allowing multiple copies of a single work to be produced in a time period significantly shorter than that which hand-copying required. Since the Bible or its parts were the most common manuscript, it makes sense Gutenberg's first landmark work using moveable type was a Bible: previously it took a year or more to copy a whole Bible; with Gutenberg's press and moveable type, multiple copies could be printed within weeks.
The period of handpress printing begins with incunables (a term meaning the earliest stage of printing with moveable type) in the mid 1450s and continues on for 500 years.
To fully consider this technology, one must consider the work of the punch-cutter, that is, the engraver of the type. These types were all fashioned by hand, which took an extraordinary amount of dexterity, craft, and skill. See below for videos on punchcutting and handpress printing.
While this technology was pioneered in Germany, it was perfected in Italy, specifically Venice. Aldus Manutius is an important Italian printer who invented italics (hence the derivative of the word being Italy). Ludovico Arrighi was a contemporary of Manutius who started using italics around the same time.
- The Invention and History of the Printing PressOverview of Gutenberg and his press from PsPrint.
If you have an hour to spare...
- A to Z: How Writing Changed the WorldWatch the excellent and inspirational second episode in the PBS documentary series on Nova, A-Z: How Writing Changed the World, which covers parchment and medieval manuscripts, the invention of paper in China, Gutenberg's printing press, and the Islamic link between all three. It will make you go, "Wow!"
SCU Library Resources
The following items are available to consult in the Archives & Special Collections reading room on the 3rd floor of the library. Email SpecialCollections@scu.edu to arrange an appointment.
- Bible. Latin. ca. 1454-55. Mainz. Gutenberg (42 lines). 1961.Call Number: Flat Z241 .B58 v.1 & v.2Gutenberg innovated moveable type in a marketable fashion due to his debt: he needed a way to make a lot of money quickly. He was not the first--that distinction belongs to a Korean farmer--but his method gained popularity unlike previous incarnations of the technology. With Gutenberg and other early printers, the conventions of traditional manuscripts still guided the design of printed pages; room was left for hand-decorated initials and other embellishments. It took time for people to shift their opinion away from incunables being a cheap knock-off, and to realize printed works could be as elegant as manuscripts.
- LEAF FROM NUREMBERG CHRONICLE. LATIN EDITION. 1493. FOLIO XXIX, MISPRINTED AS XIXXThis incunable leaf from the Nuremberg Chronicle contains block printed illustrations that are most probably colored by hand with a paint brush. An incunable denotes a book or leaf printed within the first 50 years after Gutenberg perfected the use of moveable type and spawned a major turning point in printing history.
- The Nuremberg Chronicle designs byCall Number: Folio Z241.S31 W5 1969Publication Date: 1969Book about the process by which the pages of the Nuremberg Chronicle was designed.
- BOOK OF HOURS, USE OF LANGRES LEAF (PRINTED).Publication Date: 1524This specimen is a good example of early printers trying to work out the tools and graphical elements of printing: the border is made from lots of small blocks of decoration but they did not fit together properly and look disjointed; the initials have been colored in by hand.
- Pontani Opera byCall Number: PA8570 .P5 1513Printed by Aldus Manutius; one of the earliest examples of italics
- Amorum libri II byCall Number: PA8570 .P5 1518Printed by Aldus Manutius; one of the earliest examples of italics
- Hypnerotomachia PoliphiliCall Number: Folio PQ4619 .C9 1499aFacsimile of an incunable printed by Aldus Manutius. During this period of humanism in Italy, there was a return to the era of Charlemagne and the serviceable nature of Carolingen scripts. This type closely resembles manuscripts from continental Europe dating from around 1000 AD.
- LEAF FROM BISHOP'S BIBLE. LONDON, 1585This leaf is from a Bible meant to be used by a bishop. Early punch-cutters and type designers based their designs on styles of script. Here we see an example of Blackletter, which is the term used to describe type fashioned after the Gothic Textura family of scripts.
- Christophori Clavii Bamberg. ex Societate Iesv, In sphâeram / Ioannis de Sacro Bosco commentarivs. byCall Number: QB41.S4 C6 1618Publication Date: 1618
- Vaticinia : Siue Prophetiae ábbatis Ioachimi, & Anselmi episcopi marsicani, cum imaginibus aere incisis, correctione, et pulcritudine, plurium manuscriptorum exemplariumque, et uariarum imaginum tabulis, et delineationibus, alii ante hac impressis longe pCall Number: BF1771 .V37 1589Publication Date: 1589
Resources not at SCU
- Digitized Nuremberg Chronicle
From the University of Cambridge, the entire Latin edition of the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle is scanned and described here. Information includes the printer, publisher, etc. - La operina di Ludouico Vicentino, da imparare di scriuere littera cancellarescha
Digitized early printed book available in total from the Library of Congress. Another early example of italics, this time designed by Ludovico Arrighi, the other early Italian innovator of italics in typography.
- Caxton Canterbury Tales
Digitized Caxton Canterbury Tales from the British Library. Information and digital surrogates of the work. William Caxton was both the first to print a book in English, and the first English printer.