Typography Fail
From the endlessly amusing Fail Blog:
Occam’s Razor Tattoo
One of the fascinating sub-topics of book history is writing and the body. Both writing and reading are very physical, intimate acts. Medieval monks considered copying books to be a form of manual labor that involved the entire body and resulted in aching backs, cramped hands, and tired eyes. Even typing on the computer can be quite physical as we direct our concentration intensely to the screen and keyboard. Bringing the connection full-circle, I’m also intrigued by the act of writing permanently on the body, especially when it goes beyond a pictorial tattoo and into the realm of text. Carl Zimmer maintains a very cool collection of science tattoo photos, and posted this one earlier today. It’s quite striking (and very appropriate to the idea of writing with the body, as William of Occam was a 14th century Francescian friar and scholar), and I’d love to find out more about the origin of this version, which looks an 18th century(?) script.
Filed under Carl Zimmer, Occam's Razor, William of Occam, middle ages, philosophy, science, scripts, tattoos, text, writing and the body, writing on the body | Comment (0)The Elephant’s Trunk is Up – That’s Good Luck
I’m very happy because this came in the mail today. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears to be the only volume available that specifically tackles science books from a book history perspective. (I’m not counting Eisenstein, who was mostly using science books to demonstrate her theories about printing.) It was quite exciting to read the introduction, in which Frasca-Spada and Jardine explain all the things I’ve been thinking for so long (alone! in the dark!) about the intersections of science and books. But now I need to go to bed, because I’ve been up way too late reading it.
Oh, and, the picture on the cover is ‘The Elephant and the Bookseller’, from John Gay, Fables, 6th edition (London, 1746).
Look what I did; I made an E!
Thanks to a discussion on the SHARP mailing list I’ve finally been able to see the lovely Stephen Fry Gutenberg documentary, which was uploaded to YouTube recently. Though I did quibble with some oversimplified pronouncements (historians: it’s just what we do), I really enjoyed it, especially Fry’s infectious joy while cutting a type punch or handcrafting paper. The show is available in 6 ten-minute segments and looks pretty good in full-screen. Here’s the first bit, which takes place in the British Library!
Filed under Germany, bbc, book history, british library, gutenberg, gutenberg bible, history, paper, printing, printing press, stephen fry, type, video | Comments (2):-(
In addition to all the bad news in publishing and the magazine market, NPR has announced that it’s cutting staff and canceling two daily programs, including one that I listen to on a near-daily basis, Day to Day.
Filed under economy, media, npr, publishing, radio, recession | Comment (0)Binding Websites
At the beginning of the semester we had a really good class on the history of bookbinding, and since then I’ve been looking around for related websites to share here. Binding, like typecasting, is an aspect of book history that’s difficult to grasp based solely on written descriptions and photos. And unfortunately, a lot of websites provide nice images but assume previous knowledge on the part of the reader. The Princeton University Firestone Library, however, has an excellent online exhibit, Hand Bookbindings: Plain and Simple to Grand and Glorious. After an introductory set of images it begins with The Early Codex and Coptic Sewing and continues with detailed discussions of changes in binding practice over time, the importance of specific book structures, and international binding trends. The site features lots of wonderful pictures of antique books and has a great user interface that allows easy magnification of any part of the image.
More binding sites:
- The International Dunhuang Project has a fascinating, in-depth page on the history of Chinese bookbinding with lots of good pictures and instructive diagrams.
- The University of Iowa has an extensive gallery of educational binding models.
- From the University of Alabama, a very colorful exhibit called The Art of Books: Publisher’s Bindings Online, 1815-1930. Be sure to check out the galleries.
- The British Library has a searchable database of bindings, along with a fun gallery that displays 25 random images.
- Featured in one of my previous posts, a 1961 film on the profession of bookbinding.
Please feel free to share if you know of any other good binding sites!
- Endymion: A poetic romance, by John Keats. London: Taylor and Hessey, 1818. Princeton University, Firestone Library.
Reading the Funnies
As a book historian you spend a lot of time thinking about the relationships between orality, literacy, and imagery. For instance, the practice of reading aloud in communal settings. Sunday’s All Things Considered has a slam-dunk on that front, with a story about New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia reading the Sunday comics during his weekly radio broadcasts after a newsboy strike had halted circulation.
- Image from the Library of Congress.