Books Before Typography
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The Invention of Typography: A Brief Sketch of the Invention of Printing and How it Came About Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsType and Presses in America: A Brief Historical Sketch of the Development of Type Casting and Press Building in the United States Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPunctuation: A Primer of Information about the Marks of Punctuation and their Use Both Grammatically and Typographically Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Brief History of Printing in England: A Short History of Printing in England from Caxton to the Present Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWord Study and English Grammar: A Primer of Information about Words, Their Relations and Their Uses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Invention Of Typography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivision of Words: Rules for the Division of Words at the Ends of Lines, with Remarks on Spelling, Syllabication and Pronunciation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCompound Words: Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices #36 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbbreviations and Signs: A Primer of Information about Abbreviations and Signs, with Classified Lists of Those in Most Common Use Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Books Before Typography - Hamilton Frederick W.
Frederick W. Hamilton
Books Before Typography
EAN 8596547240679
DigiCat, 2022
Contact: DigiCat@okpublishing.info
Table of Contents
PREFACE
BOOKS BEFORE TYPOGRAPHY
CHAPTER I
The Origin of the Alphabet
GENEALOGY OF THE ALPHABET
CHAPTER II
Writing Materials
CHAPTER III
The Evolution of the Book
CHAPTER IV
Making the Manuscripts
CHAPTER V
Ancient and Mediæval Libraries
CHAPTER VI
The Dawn of a New Era
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
REVIEW QUESTIONS
TYPOGRAPHIC TECHNICAL SERIES FOR APPRENTICES
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
CONTRIBUTORS
PREFACE
Table of Contents
An attempt has been made in this book to trace briefly the story of the book from the earliest attempts made by mankind to convey a message by marks on some substance down to the invention of movable types. The development of writing is rapidly traced from the earliest known pictures and sign marks to the present day. The discussion covers the subjects of writing materials and how they were made; the evolution of the book; the conditions of manufacture, distribution, and preservation of books before printing, and the conditions out of which sprang the invention of typographic printing.
It is believed that a comprehensive knowledge of the main facts in this long story will be of great value to the young printer, and it is hoped that he may be interested to continue the study in some of the many very excellent books which are available. A short list of a few of the best and most accessible authorities in English will be found on page 44. It has not been thought worth while to refer to books in other languages.
The story of the efforts of men to convey their thoughts to the absent is one of absorbing interest and leads into many pleasant byways of knowledge. While we are studying the processes and materials of a trade by which we hope to gain a livelihood it is well to know something about the men of the past whose accomplishments we inherit. To know something about the men of another time who made this time possible, what they did, what manner of men they were, how they lived, and what they created for us, is the task of this and the following volumes in Part VIII of this series.
BOOKS BEFORE TYPOGRAPHY
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I
Table of Contents
The Origin of the Alphabet
Table of Contents
The story of printing really begins with the earliest dawn of civilization. As soon as men developed a language, even of the simplest sort, they felt the necessity of a means of communication with those who were not present. This would be needed for the identification of property, the making of records, the sending of orders or information, the making of appointments, and many other purposes which would be developed by the needs of even the most rudimentary civilization. We accordingly find evidences of devices to accomplish these ends associated with the earliest human remains. While the cave man was disputing food and shelter with the cave bear, the sabre-tooth tiger, and the mammoth in those places which are now the seats of the most advanced civilizations, he scratched or painted outline sketches of the animals he fought, and perhaps worshipped, on the wall of a cave or on the flat surface of a spreading antler or a piece of bone.
The oldest known attempt to carve a picture. It dates from the cave period and was found at Dordogne, France.
One of the greatest single steps in civilization was the advance from the use of rough stone implements and weapons to the use of chipped and finished stones for the same purpose, commonly referred to as the transition from the paleolithic to the neolithic age. Just how long ago that was no one knows and only geologists can guess. Among remains dating from this period of transition found in the little village of Mas d’Azil in France, there have been discovered a number of painted pebbles. Whether these were game counters, ownership tags, records, or what not, no one can guess. Whether the marks on them were purely mnemonic signs, numerals, or verbal signs of some sort, no one knows. That they were in some way, however, the ancestors of modern printed matter is unquestionable.
Pebbles from Mas d’Azil.
Among the earliest methods of communicating ideas to the absent, pictures hold the largest place. Other methods were knots, ordinarily known by the name quipus which they bear among the ancient Peruvians. The number and arrangements of the knots and the color of the cords made possible a considerable range of expression. Closely associated with these were tallies, or notched sticks, and wampum, or strings of colored shells or beads arranged in various designs. Here perhaps may also be classed the so-called Ogham inscriptions, made by arrangements of short lines in groups about a long central line. The short lines may be either perpendicular to the central line or at an angle to it. They may be above it, below it, or across it, thus providing a wide range of combinations with