Books

Study Questions and Exercises Typography: Visit the World Wide Web sites for the publications listed below. Analyze at least three features of each publication's typography. What do typographical features such as the presence or absence of serifs, thickness of strokes, and weight of letters suggest about the publication's goals, image, and audience? Spelling Reform: Should English speakers reform their spelling system? Defend your answer. Printing Processes: Describe the major printing processes, noting their historical sequence. Descriptive Bibliography: Describe the bibliographic features of a book published before 1850. For example, note the number of signatures, the typefaces used, and the size of the leaves. How do such features affect a reader's reception of the book? Bibliography Crystal, David. "The Writing System." The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 256-283.

People William Caxton Benjamin Franklin Johann Gutenberg Nicolaus Jenson Aldus Manutius Stanley Morris Terms letterpress linotype monotype offset typography codex cuneiform folio font Gothic typeface Roman typeface hieroglyphics illumination incunabula leaf manuscript octavo paper papyrus pictograph quarto rubrication rune sans serif scriptorium signature syllabary typeface vellum web woodblock Chronology 5000-4000 B.C.: cuneiforms emerge as world's first writing c.3100 B.C.: Egyptians begin using hieroglyphics c.500 B.C.: library built in Alexandria, Egypt c.300 B.C.: Northern Europeans use runes for curses and spells c. A.D. 105: Chinese invent paper c.300: codex begins to replace papyrus roll| c.300: parchment replaces papyrus as the most popular writing material in Europe 868: Diamond Sutra published in China through use of woodblocks c.1049: Pi Sheng invents movable type in China c.1150: Arabs introduce paper as a writing material in Spain. 1150-1250: Secular scribes replace monks as the primary producers of books c.1270: paper mill, perhaps the first in Christian Europe, is constructed in Fabriano, Italy c.1300: invention of eyeglasses helps scribes to create more intricate manuscripts and helps enable readers to appreciate them c.1430-1450: Johann Gutenberg designs a printing press and movable type 1444: Cosimo de' Medici establishes first public library, the Bibliotheca Medicea Laurenziana, in Florence, Italy c.1452-c.1455: Gutenberg prints about 200 copies of a two-volume Bible, now known as the Gutenberg Bible 1475: Vatican Library opens. 1476: William Caxton William Caxton introduces printing press in England c.1500: Roman typefaces replace dense Gothic typefaces as type of choice among European printers 1539: Breve y mas compendiosa doctrina christiana en lengua mexicana y castellana, published in Mexico City, becomes first book printed in the Americas 1638-1640: The first printing press arrives in the American colonies and is set up at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Stephen Daye and son Matthew print an almanac and The Bay Psalm Book. 1653: The American colonies' first public library is established in Boston. 1690: first paper mill in the American colonies established in Germantown, Pennsylvania 1704: Boston News-Letter becomes the colonies' first regularly published newspaper 1791: U.S. Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, ratified 1800: Library of Congress established in Washington, D.C. 1822: first steam-powered printing press built in America

Processes

• Letterpress: In this form of printing, the most common form from the beginnings of large scale printing in the mid-15th century until the middle of the 19th century, printers take individual letters, each cast in a raised position on a small block, and arrange them backwards in a frame, or chase. When they have finished the chase, which usually contains between two and 16 pages, they place it on the bed of the printing press, apply ink to the raised letters, and lay a sheet of paper over the frame. By applying pressure to the paper with a large plate, they force the ink on the letters to make an impression on the paper.
• Monotype: Using a monotype machine, invented in the 19th century, printers can cast an individual piece of type simply by pressing a key, as though typing.
• Linotype: Like the monotype machine, the linotype machine allows operators to cast type by pressing keys, in this case casting an entire line of type instead of individual letters. This form of typesetting, which was invented in 1886 in New York, was the most common in American until the 1950s.
• Offset: This form of printing, in which letters are photographed instead of cast in type, became the most popular in the 1950s and continues to be used today. After photographing pages, printers shine light through the negatives onto photosensitive plates, causing letters and pictures to appear on the plates, where they will accept ink. These thin plates then are wrapped around rollers, inked, and pressed against rubber rollers, which then are pressed against rolls of paper, creating pages.

Written by Mark Canada, Professor of English, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

© Mark Canada, 1999

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Updated October 21, 1999 | University of North Carolina at Pembroke
© Mark Canada, 1999 | canada@sassette.uncp.edu