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.
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.
Between 1906 and 1911 four yearbooks about printing were published in Amsterdam. They were intended to stimulate a broader and more logical interpretation of the art of printing.
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.
With every new digitized book I want to say: this week I found something even more beautiful than before! For how long could that possibly continue? Printers' Marks by W. Roberts is a beautiful reference book with lots of illustrations published in 1893.
Ben Joosten (1931) was once a brazier an artisan who cast bronze. However, in collaboration with his wife Emmy Eerdmans, he turned in time to other forms of art as well. Including the art of printing and typography.
This is a post about the flea markets of Copenhagen, printing tools, and airport security. Initially, I just wanted to share some things I bought while visiting the capital of Denmark this weekend, but it grew to be so much more.
I first saw this engraving in a book published to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Netherlands Association of Antiquarian Booksellers. However, its story seems to be not as simple as the text below the picture states.
It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that moving to the Netherlands has changed my life. I've been teaching bookbinding and making books for years, but this year was the first (and the second) time I participated in a proper bookbinding fair.
“Dürer, born on May 21st, 1471, produced one of the largest prints ever – the Triumphal Arch for the Holy Roman Emperor. Altogether it’s nearly 3 metres tall, and consists of 36 sheets of paper. This colossal image was printed using 195 different woodblocks and was made between 1515 and 1517.
In this behind-the-scenes video, follow the complex conservation involved in caring for this 500-year-old artwork.”
My wife and I had a weekend getaway in Armenia recently. That was a spontaneous decision, made partially because we don’t need a visa to get to the country (by the way, EU and US nationals do not need a visa to visit Armenia, this applies both for tourism and business trips). However, I couldn’t miss a chance to search for some bookish landmarks.
