#gutenberg museum

[garadinervi]

Adrian Frutiger, [Scherenschnitt], (documentary photography), Gutenberg Museum, Freiburg, 1996 [Museum für Gestaltung Zürich]

[historymeetsliterature]

This tiny book, measuring only 5mm by 5mm, is a prayer book called "The Lord's Prayer" and contains the prayer in seven languages. The print is so fine that it cannot be read with the naked eye. It was made in 1952, as one of a few hunderd copies, by the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, to finance restoration works. Together with the small book, it was sold with its metal printing plates, which are bigger than the prayer book itself. This weekend, it was sold in Brussels for 3,500 euros (x, x)

[dijetemjeseca]

[stitpics]

Das Rhine 2016. The Gutenberg Museum in Mainz. Such a handsome building.

I’ve had the good fortune to eyeball three Gutenburg Bibles in my life (so far). One here and two in the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale University in New Haven, USA

[ck-concrete]

http://www.allgemeine-zeitung.de/lokales/mainz/nachrichten-mainz/der-neue-look-des-gutenberg-museums-in-mainz-jury-kuert-siegerentwuerfe-des-architektenwettbewerbs_16660042.htm

[operadox-blog]

Mediocre Medea

Cherubini's music is fabulous, with orchestral writing like early Beethoven. What a pity that the director of this "Medea", Elisabeth Stoppler, didn't apparently listen to it! Jason makes his first appearance, I kid you not, with a dead rhinoceros - he then proceeds to chainsaw the major horn off it (I take it that this is the Golden Fleece mentioned in the text) and passes it round, causing the chorus to experience varieties of religio-sexual ecstasy. Dirce has spent the first act trying to get the bandages off her wrists, which she slashed during the overture; she is clearly barking mad (as is Ms Stoppler I suspect). The singing is spectacular - the final duet of the act especially - Jason (Philippe Do) & Medee (Nadja Stefanoff) among the best of the season.

In the one directorial reference to Euripides, when Medea was discovered 'up above' with the bodies of her dead children, the flaming rhinoceros was up there too. In the last two minutes Kreon shot Medea and Jason shot himself. Utterly, utterly banal. Long evening - the interval was an hour, due to a technical problem with the ludicrous set - but worth it to hear Philippe Do & Nadja Stefanoff

Medea epilogue - I forgot to mention: Dirce recovered from the poisoned cloak, in order to make an appearance in act 3 when she slit her own throat. Why is it that these people get to direct opera and I only get to comment on their abominations? This afternoon, a twentieth century double bill (Poulenc & Bartok) with David & Tomas Steiner.

- Operadox

[elonabroad-blog]

Elaborate Books and Where to Find Them

As I was meandering through the Gutenberg Museum, I began to notice how intricate and elaborate books were back when it was extremely hard to print books. I found this to be odd. Why are books so much more beautiful from a time when is was painstakingly hard to print books? Nowadays, books are relatively plain despite the ease with which they are printed. Why are books from the 1400s more beautiful and elaborate than my favorite series today?

I chalk it up to the sheer ease of mass production. Back when books had to be bound by hand, they had intricate pages and breathtaking covers. The tiles for the text had to be laid out one by one (for Gutenberg) or handwritten in beautiful script. I find that to be so incredible. When the press was developed, tiles of letters were created in a plethora of shapes and sizes to accommodate the size of the page. Small tiles, large tiles, miniature tiles, these were all carved individually to then be laid out by hand to then be covered in ink and manually printed. Nowadays we click a button and change the amount of copies we want and it’s printed. Just like that. Yet the pages are plain and devoid of any artwork that could have been easily cut and pasted on a page to beautify it.

I also found the development of images drastically changed the way books were printed and viewed. As I was walking around, I saw these beautifully hand drawn and colored maps. They were so intricate and unique depending on who was the artist. Then, I found my way into a section about newspapers and as I was looking at the papers I had no idea what they were about until I saw the images (again, I cannot read German, sadly). I saw an old black and white newspaper with Hitler on the front page. It surprised me how much an image could change my understanding. While I love how images help in cross-cultural understanding, I also wish we still had the freedoms of free-handing illustrations to make unique pieces. I am one of those people who loves the past. 

Advancements are great once I'm used to them, but I have to adjust. While I embrace the ease of technology and mass production, I still wish we had unique books and creative covers and hand drawn illustrations. The easier it is to produce something, the less meaning it has to the future and the past. 

See you soon, 

Kim

[add-end]

Gutenberg Museum accepts Addendum Ed 5 & 6!

Delighted to receive this email from Dr. Schutt-Kehm in Mainz, Germany where Johannes Gutenberg printed his bibles in the 1450s!

Dear Ms. Wightman,

Dr. Annette Ludwig, director of the Gutenberg-Museum, was very delighted with the beautiful gift you gave to our Museum, and she was enthralled by the creative idea behind your work. So it is with great pleasure that we would like to let you know that the Gutenberg-Museum will gladly accept the two copies of your letterpressed broadside. With kind regards and best wishes,

Dr. Elke Schutt-Kehm Deputy Director of the Gutenberg-Museum

from AudibleWink