#incunables

[cuties-in-codices]

torments for the seven deadly sins (1. sloth, 2. lust, 3. gluttony, 4. envy, 5. greed, 6. wrath, and 7. pride)

hand-illuminated engravings from a printed work on parchment, an edition of the compost et kalendrier des bergiers printed by guy marchant, paris, 1493

source: Angers, Bibliothèque municipale, Rés. SA 3390, ff. 33v-36v

[houghtonlib]

Houghton cataloger Graham Skinner is taking a course on digital photography and shared these extreme closeups they took that turn the spines of some of our incunables (books printed 1450-1500) into compelling and unfamiliar landscapes.

[u-mspcoll]

Next week | Incunables in Special Collections: Five Decades of Printing History

Detail of the opening of Quintus Horatius Flaccus. Opera. Ed. and comm: Christophorus Landinus. Florence: Antonio di Bartolommeo Miscomini, 5 Aug. 1482.

Join us next Thursday, 18 January between 4-6p for our next Third Thursdays at the Library event!

Drop in any time during this open house to view a selection of incunables held in the U-M Library’s Special Collections. These books are extraordinary witnesses of an exciting period of technical and artistic innovation in book history. Join us if you can!

[librarycompany]

Happy #LibraryShelfieDay, bibliofriends! Here are some incunables (books printed before 1501) to help us celebrate in style! 

[elenashugaley]

Instrument with volvelles from Regiomontanus: Kalendarium by University of Glasgow Library Via Flickr: Regiomontanus, Joannes: Kalendarium. Venice: Erhardus Ratdolt, 1482. An instrument with volvelles, or paper wheels, which can be manipulated to show the motion of the moon ([29v]). Sp Coll BD7-f.13 (item 1 of 4 bound together).

[riesenfeldcenter]

We tell visitors that our oldest printed book is from 1490, a beautiful copy of Statham's Abridgement of English cases. This is true, but our earliest printed fragment of a leaf (as binding waste) is somewhat earlier. We have a leaf printed on vellum of a key work of medieval canon law, the Sextus Decretalium of Pope Boniface VIII.  

The work was printed by Fust and Schoeffer, probably in 1465 as the first printed edition, or possibly a little later, in 1470 or 1473. Fust lent Johannes Gutenberg the money to set up his press and later sued him for it, which effectively ruined the modern inventor of printing. Fust continued to print with Peter Schoeffer, and their press was successful. Fust has been linked by some to the Faust legend, perhaps in part for his dealings and the association of the press with magic, but an obscure "magician" named Johann Faust is more likely. At least, early books from Gutenberg's press and that of Fust and Schoeffer stimulated wonder (and some displeasure among the traditional book trade).     

[muspeccoll]

Although the woodcut illustrations of early printed books were occasionally printed in color -- Erhard Ratdolt was an early pioneer, issuing woodcuts in up to five colors -- it was much more usual for illustrations to be printed in black alone. But color could easily be added after the fact, as these three examples show. All three are from books printed by the German goldsmith-turned-printer Anton Koberger:

1) Neunte Deutsche Bibel, Nuremberg, 1483

2) Schatzbehalter, Nuremberg, 1491

3) Weltchronik, Nuremberg, 1493 [The Nuremberg Chronicle]

Koberger was one of the most successful German printers of the incunable period -- the period from the development of printing with movable type in the middle of the 15th century to the end of the year 1500.

- Tim

Wilhelm Ludwig Schreiber. Der Buchholzschnitt im 15. Jahrhundert in Original-Beispielen. Munich: Weiss, 1929. Special Collections Rare Vault Folio NE905 .S2

[upennmanuscripts]

Will Noel, Director of @sims_mss and @kislakcenter @upennlib presents his #Needhamcalculator for calculating 15th century paper sizes. #schoenberginstitute #bibliophilly #incunables #papersizes (at Van Pelt Library)