View
212
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
INTRODUCTION TO RARE BOOKS
Anna James – Pusey House Library
BOOK 2.0
Click icon to add picture
BEFORE PRINTING
???-1455+
THIS IS A BOOK
http://library.osu.edu/blogs/rarebooks/2009/12/08/things-happen-in-threes-or-at-least-medieval-manuscripts-do/
"Sumerian 26th c Adab" by Unknown - http://www.schoyencollection.com/religions_files/ms3029.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sumerian_26th_c_Adab.jpg#/media/File:Sumerian_26th_c_Adab.jpg
"2049 - Byzantine Museum, Athens - Parchement scroll, 13th century - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 12" by G.dallorto - Own work. Licensed under Attribution via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2049_-_Byzantine_Museum,_Athens_-_Parchement_scroll,_13th_century_-_Photo_by_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto,_Nov_12.jpg#/media/File:2049_-_Byzantine_Museum,_Athens_-_Parchement_scroll,_13th_century_-_Photo_by_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto,_Nov_12.jpg
GUTENBERG BIBLE
1454 or 1455
"Gutenberg bible Old Testament Epistle of St Jerome" by Johannes Gutenberg - From a scan at the Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/gutenberg/. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gutenberg_bible_Old_Testament_Epistle_of_St_Jerome.jpg#/media/File:Gutenberg_bible_Old_Testament_Epistle_of_St_Jerome.jpg
Click icon to add picture
HANDPRESS ERA
1454/5-ca. 1820
PRINTING IN ASIA
Click icon to add picture
Xylographic printing –8th century
Movable type – 11th century
http://csmh.pbworks.com/w/page/7309486/1050%20-%20Chinese%20invent%20movable%20type%20print
Handpress (Bodleian Print Room)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SZ5iZZ0e3k
PARCHMENT AND PAPER
PARCHMENT AND PAPER
PRINTING PRESSES
15th century: Most of Europe England (1476), Scotland (1507), Ireland (1551)
16th century: South America, North Africa, Southern India, Japan
17th century: North America
18th century re-introduced to Asia
19th century: China
INCUNABLES / INCUNABULA1454-1500
Incunabulum =
Baby not old enough to sleep in its own bed.
Caxton's Chaucer: Prologue page of the Canterbury Tales with an illustration of a knight on horseback, c.1485? ©BL
INCUNABLES / INCUNABULA1454-1500
Singular
Incunable / Incunabulum
Plural
Incunables / Incunabula
Caxton's Chaucer: Prologue page of the Canterbury Tales with an illustration of a knight on horseback, c.1485? ©BL
CUSTOMISATION
"Gutenberg bible Old Testament Epistle of St Jerome" by Johannes Gutenberg - From a scan at the Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/gutenberg/. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gutenberg_bible_Old_Testament_Epistle_of_St_Jerome.jpg#/media/File:Gutenberg_bible_Old_Testament_Epistle_of_St_Jerome.jpg
Click icon to add picture
Click icon to add picture
CUSTOMISATION
Caxton's Chaucer: Prologue page of the Canterbury Tales with an illustration of a knight on horseback, c.1485? ©BL
Click icon to add picture
CUSTOMISATION
Nuremberg Chronicle1493
http://theangus.rpc.ox.ac.uk/media-bank/?textsearch=nuremberg&file_type=&media_type=&theme=&sortby=date-desc
BINDING
Click icon to add picture
Qu’ran, British Museum https://bridgesandtangents.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/the-beauty-of-an-unbound-book/
ILLUSTRATIONS
Click icon to add picture
WOODCUTS
Very early books
Very cheap books
Heavy lines
ILLUSTRATIONS
ENGRAVING&ETCHINGSlightly more subtle?
INTAGLIO
Click icon to add picture
Printed separately from text
Often separate plate
Squished paper
TITLE PAGES & COLOPHONS
Title pages didn’t catch on so quickly
Books usually sold without covers until c.19th
See blank outer pages in shop, protecting the text
FIRST TITLE PAGEBulla Cruciata contra Turcos -1463
http://diglib.hab.de/inkunabeln/li-4f-413-1-1/start.htm
Click icon to add picture
COLOPHON
Click icon to add picture
John Fortescue, A Learned Commendation of the Politique Lawes of Englande (1st English ed, 1567)
20140816" by Smuconlaw. - Own work.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Fortescue,_A_Learned_Commendation_of_the_Politique_Lawes_of_Englande_(1st_English_ed,_1567,_colophon)_-_20140816.jpg#/media/File:John_Fortescue,_A_Learned_Commendation_of_the_Politique_Lawes_of_Englande_(1st_English_ed,_1567,_colophon)_-_20140816.jpg
TITLE PAGES & COLOPHONS
Books usually sold without covers until c.19th
See blank outer pages in shop, protecting the text
Title page invented 1463
Started to put publication details on title page
Title page now important
See blank outer pages in shop, protecting the text…
MACHINE-MADE BOOKS
VIVAT VICTORIANA
Integral covers
Cheaper paper
Overlooked in past
WHAT COUNTS AS RARE?
WHAT IS WORTH TREATING AS RARE IN YOUR LIBRARY?What is it?
Who else has it?
Why do you have it?
IF IT’S SPECIAL TO YOU
That’s the most important thing
Recommended