Page 51 - Virtual Research Lab flip book

To lessen the graphic difference between this new aesthetic and the tra- ditional appearance of illuminated manuscripts to which their customers were accustomed, some printers left space in their typographic designs for illuminated letters or other kinds of manuscript decoration, such as rubri- cation, to be added to books after printing. This process of first printing the text and then having it decorated followed the centuries-old pattern of manuscript production in which the scribe first wrote out the text, leaving space for illuminations, and then turned the pages over the artist who would do the illumination. The difference was that instead of requiring minia- ture paintings to be painted in by hand as in manuscripts, early printed books, when illustrated, incorporated printed images, either woodcuts or engravings, which could, at additional cost, be hand-colored or even illu- minated to more closely resemble medieval manuscripts. Sometimes printed editions also incorporated printed woodcut initials which contained or- naments, or initials that were historiated with images, also in the style of traditional manuscript illumination, but printed on the pages along with the text. The printer, who was responsible for both the overall graphic design of the text and the images, often also acted as a bookseller, and sometimes employed artisans who also worked in manuscript production to produce printed book illustrations, reflecting an overlap of manuscript and printing production workers, techniques, and marketing. When copies were printed on parchment or vellum and illuminated, they resembled traditional illu- minated manuscripts even more closely. A model book for manuscript and printed illumination circa 1450, reflecting the common source of both, is the Göttingen Model Book. The Mainz Psalter previously discussed was one of the very few early printed books which incorporated illuminated initials and other decorations printed in color, obviating any need for manuscript embellishment after printing.
Not unlike the earliest printers, designers of eBook readers emulate the most successful and familiar aspects of printed books, simulating the ap- pearance of print on their high-resolution electronic screens, providing fa- miliar typefaces, page formats, and even simulating the process of turning
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