William Caxton: The First Printer of English Literature
Caxton became the first person to print books in English for popular consumption, and in so doing, he shaped the nature of English popular literature for years to come.
‘Forgotten archive’ of medieval books and manuscripts discovered in Romanian church
A team of researchers in Romania has discovered over 200 books and manuscripts in a church in Mediaș. It includes dozens of early printed works and manuscript fragments dating back to as early as the 9th century.
How newspapers existed in China 900 years ago
It is commonly believed that newspapers first emerged in Europe in the early 1600s. However, there is much evidence to show that publications that could rightfully be called newspapers were thriving centuries earlier in medieval China.
Augustine in print: leaving the Middle Ages behind?
Does the reception of Augustine fundamentally change when it is no longer the scribe, but the printer who holds the reins?
New medieval exhibition at the Getty
The J. Paul Getty Museum has opened its latest exhibition, which looks at invention of printing technology in the 15th century gave rise to a rich cross-fertilization between mechanical innovation and painterly tradition.
The Nuremberg Chronicle as Entry Point to Explore the Rise of the Print
I’ll be using the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle as the starting point to explore the rise of print throughout Europe.
An Interactive Look at a Printed Masterpiece
Thanks to the British Museum, you can get an up close and personal look at one of the most elaborate prints ever produced.
Fabriano: City of Medieval & Renaissance Papermaking
Sylvia Rodgers Albro detailed technical advancements introduced in the Italian city of Fabriano, including machinery and equipment, use of watermarks and improvements in the physical processes of papermaking.
Beautiful Images from the Nuremberg Chronicle
Created in 1493, the Nuremberg Chronicle is a history of the World going back to Biblical times. Written by Hartmann Schedel, it was printed in Latin and German editions with hundreds of copies being sold. The 1801 woodcut illustrations were done by Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. Here are some of favourite images!
Love and Marriage on the Medieval English Stage: Using the English Cycle Plays as Sources for Social History
Much scholarship concerning the concept of “companionate” marriage traces its origins to the early modern period as clergymen, especially Protestant ones, began to publish “guides” to the relationships and respective duties of husbands and wives in the 1500s and 1600s.
Aberdeen Breviary goes online
A copy of the Aberdeen Breviary, one of the first printed books in Scotland, has been purchased by the National Library of Scotland and is now available to read online.
(Re)casting the Past: The Cloisters and Medievalism
In this essay, I focus on a variety of texts printed using Anglo-Saxon type between 1566 and 1623 in an effort to explore the use of Anglo-Saxon typeface in the early modern period as the use of the Old English language progressed from polemical truncheon to historiographical instrument.
Printing with gold in the fifteenth century
Gold printing in the fifteenth century is very rare. There are only two printers who are known to have applied this technique. One of them was Erhard Ratdolt who first used gold for printing a gloriously spectacular full page of dedication in a number of copies of his editio princeps of Euclid.
‘Selling stories and many other things in and through the city’: Peddling Print in Renaissance Florence and Venice
‘Selling stories and many other things in and through the city’: Peddling Print in Renaissance Florence and Venice Rosa M. Salzberg (University of…
Wormholes from centuries-old art prints reveal history
Wormholes reproduced in wood-printed illustrations dating back to the Middle Ages are offering researchers to track both the ecology of beetles and the spread of printing in Europe.
Authors, Scribes, Patrons and Books
This essay gives an account of the social role of manuscripts and early printed books and the processes by which they were made, processes that changed greatly during the period
Medieval and Renaissance Book Production
We are accustomed to think of the periods of manuscripts and printed books as distinct. Traditionally a scholar working in one of these fields has known little of the other field.
The Printing Press: As An Agent of Social Change
Europe was ready to receive the printing press as the 12th and 13th centuries had been a period of radical change in the way new inventions and innovations changed the traditional ways of managing of production, and economic growth.
The Publisher Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, Female Readers, and the Debate about Women in Sixteenth-Century Italy
Drawing on recent work on the social history of the book and the politics of reading, this essay considers the texts under question as social products, whose meaning is not just determined by the author’s initial intentions, but is further shaped in the process of production, dissemination, and reception as a result of negotiation among several parties in a given historical moment.
Charting the “Rise of the West”: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries
These arguments suggest that the number of manuscripts and printed books produced in a given society are complex measures of economic performance and societal capabilities, and are therefore a valuable guide to the study of long-term economic change.