Earlier this year the Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that “printer”, "screen printer", as well as “printer support” are no longer official jobs. The printing industries have become too small to justify being counted as a separate category in the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly report on U.S payrolls.
Last week an exhibition of incunables opened at the Russian State Library in Moscow. There are many notable objects shown there, but arguably the jewel of the show is one of the few remaining Gutenberg Bibles printed on vellum.
Somehow, this character from the pages of the Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant reminds me of Harry Potter. I guess that's because of the glasses, books, and this... hm... broom in his hands.
We just digitized the second volume of Het drukkers jaarboek (The Printer's Yearbook). This series was published in Amsterdam in the early 20th century. Between 1906 and 1911 four yearbooks about were made.
This work explores the first decades of printing in the 15th century and is dedicated to the 500th birthday of Johannes Gutenberg. While the book is in German language, on 116 pages you will find 115 illustrations, including two spreads.
Wow! What a mustached bookbinder! I just posted some images of decorated initials from Het drukkers jaarboek 1906 recently, but there is much more interesting in this series of books. And amazing book industry ads is one of these things.
Most of you probably used Excel or a similar spreadsheet software. If columns are set to be labeled by letters after Z goes AA. And then AB,... AZ, BA,... etc. But when it comes to old books, there were other ways to use letters for sorting.
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art born in the 17th century. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings. The tradition almost faded away in the 19th century. However, these days it is revived and the characters for the prints come from video games.
