The Art and Craft of Printing William Morris (original) (raw)
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Traditional Papermaking Techniques revealed by Fibre Orientation in Historical Papers
Studies in Conservation, 2006
This work aims to select adequate repair papers, based on fibre orientation information derived from paper objects during restoration, using non-destructive image analysis applied to micrographs of paper surfaces. Contemporary Japanese handmade papers exhibited high values of fibre orientation intensity, while contemporary Korean handmade papers exhibited low intensity values. This difference was assumed to be due to different sheet-forming actions. Model papers prepared in the laboratory by the still sheet-forming and flow sheet-forming methods had low and high values of fibre orientation intensity, respectively. Additionally, the screen side for the flow sheet-forming method had a value of fibre orientation intensity higher than the top side. This fact was logically explained in terms of fibre flow and dehydration rate, and consequently suggests its applicability to distinguishing the sides of ancient document papers. The application of this technique to the Shimadzu Family documents from 1606 to 1859 indicated high values of fibre orientation, suggesting that the flow sheet-forming method had already been established by the early seventeenth century in Japan. The papers of Korean Buddhist sacred books manufactured between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries exhibited low orientation intensity values, and the differences between the two sides were small. This indicates that the papers were manufactured by the still sheet-forming method concurrently with a sideways swing.
The kingdom of error in early modern Europe was as vividly real as the Kingdom of Satan. It was located not in the bowels of the earth but on its surface, in the shops of printers. The most learned and painstaking writers, printers, and correctors found themselves constantly embroiled, like modern Laocoons, in struggles with error-ridden copy, type, proofs, and finished books. 'I am learning' , Balthasar Moretus wrote in 1602 to his favourite author, Justus Lipsius, 'that if error is the normal condition in any area, it is certainly so in correcting printed books'' Even extraordinary efforts could not prevent mistakes from taking place. In the 1730S, the engraver John Pine set out to produce an edition of Horace that would be not only handsome, but impeccable. Following precedents that had been adopted in Asia for quite different reasons, he took the text of a 1701 edition by James Talbot, one of Richard Bentley's many enemies at Trinity College, Cambridge, and engraved each page, to prevent the errors caused by the use of moveable type.^ As Pine explained in his short preface. The form of printing carried out with fixed letters cut into brass plates is more handsome than that produced by moveable metal type. It also has another advantage: so long as the plates are engraved without errors, whatever they depict on the paper must be immaculately corrected. The course of events in the printing house is different. There, while the press is being worked, letters are commonly pushed down or fall out.' * Balthasar Moretus to Justus Lipsius, 12 February 1602, Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 12, fols 198,14: 'et si usquam in re alia, in typographica hac correctione labi hominis proprium esse disco.' Pine followed the text in Quinti Horatii Flocci Opera ad optimorum exemplarium fidem recognita,
Traditionally, the history of printmaking has fallen in the space between art history and the history of the book. Often ‘reproductive’ and multiple in nature, prints have long been marginalized in art historical scholarship in favour of the traditional ‘high’ arts. The inherent complexities in the manufacture and sale of print, often involving multi-faceted networks of specialist craftsmen, artists, publishers and sellers, has also led to much confusion. Not knowing how prints are made has affected our ability to understand the medium and its aesthetic qualities. However, recent scholarship has opened up new avenues for placing prints in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe. From the techniques applied in the making of prints to the individuals involved in their production, distribution and use, current research is continuing to shape our understanding of this complex field. This two-day conference, in collaboration with Print Quarterly, aims to showcase new developments in the study of prints, challenging and developing traditional approaches. It is organized around a series of panels dedicated to different themes and is accompanied by a pop-up display in the Courtauld's Prints and Drawings Study Room: 'Courtauld Prints: The Making of a Collection'.
Colin CLAIR, A History of European Printing, New York, Academic Press, 1976, ISBN: 0121748502
1976
Finally 44 years after publication, the file reproduction of Colin Clair's fundamental work reappears here. This lavishly illustrated book is a detailed account of the story of printing from moveable type from the 15th century, the time of Gutenberg, to the present day. The author describes the development of the craft in a variety of European countries, and all the major innovations and printers are considered chronologically and in detail. Particular emphasis is given to the 15th and 16th centuries, the period when early difficulties were being overcome and technical knowledge was rapidly increasing.
Microchemical Journal, 2018
We present a systematic non-invasive investigation of a large corpus of early printed books, exploiting multiple techniques. This work is part of a broader project-Argeia-aiming to study early printing technologies, their evolution and, potentially, the identification of physical/chemical fingerprints of di↵erent manufactures and/or printing dates. We analyzed sixty volumes, part of the important collection of the Ateneo Veneto in Venice (Italy), printed between the 15 th and the 17 th centuries in the main European manufacturing centers. We present here the results of the imaging analysis of the entire corpus and the X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) investigation performed, focusing on the XRF data and their statistical treatment using a combination of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Logistic Regression. Thanks to the broad XRF investigation-more than 200 data points-and to the multidisciplinary approach, we were able to discriminate the provenances of the paper-in particular for the German and Venetian volumes-and we potentially identified a chemical fingerprint of Venetian papers.