"Firstly, a ready supply of suitable material was required. Manuscript books were written on vellum and this material was used for some early printed books, but vellum was expensive and not available in sufficient quantity for the mass production of books. The introduction of the technique of making paper and the subsequent development of a European papermaking industry was a necessary condition for the widespread adoption of print technology.
Although a number of people had previously attempted to make metal type or had experimented with individual woodcut letters, it was not until a technique was devised for producing metal type in large quantities that printing with moveable type became economically feasible. Gutenberg, who had initially trained as a goldsmith, was to devise a means of producing metal type in sufficient quantities at a reasonable cost. This involved the design of a type-face and the production of molds used for making the individual pieces of type, as well as the development of an alloy that was soft enough to cast yet hard enough to use for printing. It was also necessary to develop suitable inks for printing with the new type. The water-based inks used for hand lettering and for block printing will not stick to metal type, therefore a viscous oil based ink was required.
Finally, a press was needed for transferring the image from type to paper. Precedents existed in the presses used for making wine, cheese and paper and one of Johann Gutenberg's innovations was to adapt these presses for the printing process."
http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/gutenberg/print.html
Briefly Describe the process of producing a book printed with moveable type:
There was a lot involved in this process...... so bare with me while I try to be brief :)
First they compose the page - deciding on how many pages there will be, type of fonts, size, lines per page etc.... A line of type is assembled on a composing stick, then transferred to a tray and the page would be built up.
The paper is arranged in appropriate order, the pages are held within a frame to secure them, wooden blocks to fill in gaps were used (the end result called a forme). Illustration and decoration are usually made with woodcut blocks which could be locked into the forme with the type, and printed in the same process. A proof is made and someone corrects the mistakes and ensures the page is how it should be re text and imagery.
Then the presswork happens. They make a register, which is lying the first forme down on the press bed in relation to press points (which hold the paper), a tympan sheet is fixed, guiding theposition of the paper.
A frisket was prepared by covering it, pulling an impression of the forme, then cutting out the printed areas. Finally the forme is checked for any odd pieces of loose type etc...
The paper is prepared the day before. It is wetted and stood overnight. The damp paper would take ink better.
Two men were needed to work the printing press. One applied the ink and the other pulled the bar that operated the paper. The ink was applied to the forme by ink balls secured within leather pads, they were inked and spread evenly over the forme to get the best result. It was only possible to pull half a forme in one teurn. So it was a two step process to print one forme. The back of the page needed to also printed before it dried so as not to cause shrinkage. The final sheets are hung in a drying room then piled in heaps once dry. They're arranged according to signatures and page markings. They were folded once, pressed, and baled up for delivery or storage.
The final stage of the book making process is the binding. Which usually took place AFTER it had been purchased. The owner spending what they liked on the job, to ensure the quality, illustrations, decorations etc... which waslikewise added after being purchased. The book might be soft or hardbound
Medieval and Renaissance book production
The advantages and disadvantages of this way of making books:
"The advantages were that the metal letters could be easily arranged in any order, and mistakes could quickly be corrected. After organizing the metal letters to print the book at hand, the letters could then be reused for the next publication. Printing was the first major application of mass production and the use of interchangeable parts and one of the few applications of these techniques until the Industrial Revolution three centuries later.
Johannes Gutenberg, born in Mainz in 1398, succeeded in developing all the basic essentials of printing through his experiments in the 1440s and 1450s, and in 1455 or 1456, printed the famous Bible that now bears his name. Many of his innovations were still employed as late as the early twentieth century.
The disadvantages of moveabe type were that the casting of the type had to be exact so that the surface of the page came out perfectly regular. Another impediment was the poor quality of the ink available in the fifteenth century. Early printers needed an ink that would readily and easily transfer from metal to paper. Finally, these printers needed a suitable press. The general solution to that problem came from adaptations of the wine press. "
No comments:
Post a Comment