in the year 332 B.C. founded Alexandria. When at his death Alexander’s
empire was divided among his generals, Egypt fell to the lot of Ptolemy,
surnamed Soter. Thus began a dynasty of Egyptian kings known as
Ptolemies, ending in 30 B.C. with the death of Cleopatra, the last of
the line. The second Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, founded the great
Alexandrian library, which accumulated over five hundred thousand rolls
of manuscript, mostly brought from Greece. The length of the rolls
varied from small ones of two hundred lines to massive scrolls of one
hundred and fifty feet when unwound.
There is a legend that Ptolemy Philadelphus was so impressed with the
appearance of a roll of parchment containing in gold letters the sacred
scriptures of the Hebrews, that, about 270 B.C., he caused their
translation to be made into Greek. This, it is said, was done in
Alexandria in seventy-two days by seventy-two learned Jews from
Jerusalem. Hence the name “Septuagint,” which has always been applied to
that Greek version of the Old Testament.
[Illustration:
ANCIENT ROMAN READING A MANUSCRIPT ROLL
From a painting found at Pompeii
]
Julius Cæsar, the Roman conqueror, whom Shakespeare designated “the
foremost man of all this world,” about the year 30 B.C. visited the city
of Alexandria and became interested in Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen.
This led to a war with King Ptolemy, and during a fierce battle Cæsar
set fire to the Egyptian fleet. Unfortunately the flames extended to the
Alexandrian library and destroyed the greater part of its magnificent
collection of manuscripts.
Gradually after that, Rome superseded Alexandria as an intellectual
center, as Alexandria had previously superseded Athens. The conquest of
Greece, over a hundred years before, had been the cause of many Greek
scholars and philosophers taking up their abode in Rome. This, with the
fact that a great number of scribes and copyists had involuntarily come
to the Eternal City because of the fortunes of war, helped to develop in
the Romans an interest in literature.
During the period of Roman history identified with Julius Cæsar there
were customs in manuscript making that are interesting in their
suggestion of modern newspaper methods. In fact, Cæsar is credited with
having been the founder of the newspaper.
He introduced the daily publication of the news of the Roman Senate and
People, a radical change from the previous custom of issuing yearly
news-letters known as the Annals. The acts of the senate were reported
by trained writers known as tabularii, or inscribers of tablets, and
were revised and edited before publication by a senator appointed to
that duty. Abbreviated forms of writing were used in “reporting,” a sort
of short-hand which enabled the scribe to write as rapidly as a man
could speak. Cæsar himself wrote his letters in characters which
prevented them being read by his enemies.
[Illustration:
ROMAN WAXED TABLET
The present method of binding flat books might have originated with
these old tablets
]
The “Acts of the Senate” grew into a diary of general news, known as the
“Acts of the City,” and it is likely that the educated slaves in the
families of public men were called into service to duplicate copies for
circulation.
Altho the Emperor Augustus, who reigned in Rome at the beginning of the
Christian era, discontinued publishing the Acts of the Senate, he
encouraged the writing and copying of books to such extent that the
period is a memorable one in literature. The classic authors, Virgil and
Horace, wrote at that time, and many other important manuscripts were
produced.
Slave labor was utilized for copying, and large editions of manuscript
rolls were produced with an ease that rivaled the later method of the
printing press. In such instances it was the custom for a reader to read
aloud, to, say, one hundred trained writers. The possibilities of this
process may be imagined. Horace allowed his slaves rations which were so
meager that the entire cost of production, including papyrus and
binding, of a small book was equivalent to about twelve cents in United
States coin.
Thus it will be seen that in the days of the Roman Empire books were
plentiful and cheap because of slave labor, just as they are cheap in
modern times because of machinery.
For most of their books the Romans, as had the Egyptians and Greeks
before them, used rolls of papyrus wound about rods.
Ordinarily these rods were made of wood, but for highly-prized
manuscripts, rods made of ivory with gold balls at the ends were used,
and the writing in such cases was on purple-colored parchment,
elaborately decorated with gold or red ink.
The present style of flat sheet books might have originated with the use
by the Romans of tablets of wood or metal, wax-coated, on which
memoranda were scratched with the stylus. Several tablets were hinged
together and the wax surface was protected by raised edges in the manner
of the modern school slates (see illustration). This led to the use of
several leaves of vellum fastened together and enclosed by richly carved
ivory covers, a form that came into use about 300 A.D., shortly before
Constantine removed the Roman capital to Constantinople. Constantinople
naturally became the center of civilization, and the work of
transcribing manuscripts was taken up in that city. In the eighth
century the reigning emperor, in order to punish the transcribers for
insubordination, caused the library at Constantinople to be “surrounded
by vast piles of fagots, which being fired at a given signal, the whole
building was totally destroyed, along with its twelve scribes and chief
librarian and more than thirty thousand volumes of precious
manuscripts.” It seems to have been a favorite method of punishment
during the Middle Ages for those in authority to destroy valuable
manuscripts.
* * * * *
While, as we have seen, with the fall of the Western Empire of Rome, the
drift of literature was toward the East, there remained in the West a
dim light that was kept burning thru the six hundred years so fittingly
called the Dark Ages. This light came from the monasteries of Europe, in
which little bands of devoted men were transcribing and decorating the
holy writings used by the Christian church.
[Illustration:
THE FAMOUS “BOOK OF THE DEAD”
Part of the seventeenth chapter of the “Book of the Dead,” showing
hieroglyphics and illustrations. This book was written upon papyrus,
and copies were placed by ancient Egyptians in tombs with their dead
]
The Christian church as an organization became powerful after the Roman
Empire declined, and the monopoly of learning which the church possessed
during the Dark Ages gave it such a superior knowledge and power that
the Church of Rome granted authority to kings, and took it away, at its
pleasure. A memorable instance of this power took place in the eleventh
century, when Hildebrand, who as head of the church was known as Pope
Gregory VII., forced Henry IV. of Germany, who had offended him, to seek
pardon in a most humiliating manner. Henry stood barefoot in the snow
for three days, before Hildebrand would pardon him.
On one occasion previous to the event mentioned above, Charlemagne
(Charles the Great), king of the Franks, who was crowned by Pope Leo
III. and saluted as Emperor of the West, was so mistakenly zealous in
extending along with his own kingdom that of the Lowly Nazarene, that he
ordered the hanging of more than four thousand prisoners before the
Saxons would consent to be baptized and conquered.
[Illustration:
EVOLUTION OF THE ALPHABET
This table shows how the present-day Roman alphabet came to us from
the ancient Phœnicians
]
Latin as a language is dead, so far as the secular world is concerned,
but since the seventh century it has been the official language of the
Church of Rome. All manuscripts produced by monks after that time,
whether written in Britain, Germany or Italy, are in Latin, and the
services of the Roman Catholic Church are conducted in that language
even today. In the year 1080, the King of Bohemia asked Hildebrand, the
Papal head of the church, for permission to have the services performed
in the language of the people. This request Hildebrand refused, saying:
“It is the will of God that his word should be hidden, lest it should be
despised if read by every one.”
In 1229 a council of the church published a decree which not only
strictly forbade the translation of the Bible into a “vulgar tongue,”
but also forbade all but the clergy to have copies in their possession.
In spite of these mandates, translations of various portions of the
Bible were made into common tongues, but at great risk. William Tyndale
set about to translate the Bible into English, vowing that ere many
years he would cause the plough-boy to know more of the Scriptures than
did the priests. By 1526 he had completed the New Testament, but his
books were burned in the public squares as soon as completed. Ten years
later Tyndale was burned, as had been his books.
In 1534 Martin Luther completed his wonderful translation into German of
the entire Bible, and gave to the people what had previously been denied
them.
* * * * *
We will now consider the making of manuscript books in the Middle Ages.
In the early days of the Christian church, persecution was so severe
that Christians lived in hiding, or secluded themselves from the outer
world to worship. This condition led to the existence of a class of men
known as monks (from a Greek word _monos_, meaning “alone”). At the
beginning of the sixth century, an earnest, conscientious Christian, now
called Saint Benedict, set out to reform the evils then prevalent in
monastic life. One of his theories was that the monks should spend their
time, not in idleness, but in manual labor, in teaching the youth, and
in copying manuscripts. The Benedictine monks, as the followers of
Benedict are known, were the main agents in spreading Christianity and
keeping learning alive during the Dark Ages. Their mode of living became
so popular that, it is said, there were at one time thirty-seven
thousand monasteries or cloisters in existence.
[Illustration:
CAPITAL LETTERS OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS
From inscriptions carved in stone
]
One of the occupations of the Benedictine monks was that of copying
manuscripts, and in some monasteries a room known as the scriptorium was
set apart for such work. The office of scribe or copyist was one of
great importance, and stringent rules governed the work. No writing was
done by artificial light, talking was prohibited, and none but the
scribes was allowed in the room. The tools were quill pens, knives to
cut the quills, pumice stone to smooth the surface of the parchment,
awls and rulers with which to make guide-lines, and weights to keep down
the pages. Parchment and vellum, the former made of the skins of calves,
goats or sheep, the latter of the skins of unborn lambs and kids, were
the materials written upon. Black ink was commonly used for the text of
books; and vermilion, an orange-red ink made of red clay, was used for
titles and important parts of the text. The portions in red were known
as rubrics, from _rubrica_ (red earth.)
Illuminating was done to some extent in the monasteries, but
illuminators other than monks were often called upon to assist in this
work. This practice led to queer combinations, as sacred writings were
frequently decorated with monkeys and other animals and birds, which
might have afforded appropriate decoration for an account of the Flood.
[Illustration:
UNCIAL LETTERS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY
These letters show the Roman capitals assuming the shape of the later
Gothic, or text, letters
]
After the parchment was prepared and before beginning to write the
scribe would scratch his guide-lines upon it with an awl. The position
of the page and the lines of lettering were thus indicated, the page
guide-lines extending to the edge of the parchment. The scribe’s work
was principally that of copying (setting reprint, printers would say)
from a book on the reading desk at his side. He was supposed strictly to
“follow copy,” and his work was compared occasionally by a person known
as a corrector. The black writing finished, the skins were passed to the
rubricator or illuminator, if the manuscript was to be elaborately
treated.
The colored plate shown as a frontispiece is from an old print and
pictures a scribe at work. He is writing the text on a sheet of
parchment held in place by a weight. The book from which he is copying
is in front of him, above his writing desk, and his copy is indicated by
a guide such as printers still use. Ink pots and pens are in place and
an elaborate library is evidently at his disposal. The picture is
defective in perspective but is withal rather interesting.
[Illustration:
HALF-UNCIAL LETTERS
Demonstrating the transition of Roman capitals into small, or
lower-case, letters
]
The most beautiful and elaborate specimen of the illuminator’s art now
in existence is the famous “Book of Kells,” a copy of the Gospels
written about the seventh century. It is notable because of the
excellence of its decoration, the endless variety of initial letters it
contains, and the careful lettering. The scribes and illuminators of
Ireland have a lasting monument in this book, as it is supposed to have
been produced in the monastery of Kells, founded by St. Colombo.
Gold, red and blue were favorites with the illuminators, the burnished
gold leaf adding richness to the brilliancy of the effect.
Manuscript books were ordinarily bound in thick wooden boards, covered
with leather, but there are books yet preserved the boards of which are
of carved ivory, and others that are inlaid with precious stones.
The books associated with the Middle Ages most familiar to us are the
Missal (mass-book), containing the services of the celebration of the
mass; the Psalter (book of psalms), containing the psalms used in church
services; the Book of Hours, containing prayers and offices for the
several hours of the day, and the Donatus, a short Latin grammar, the
work of Ælius Donatus, a Roman grammarian of the fourth century.
* * * * *
[Illustration:
GOTHIC LETTERS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY
Also showing the decorative uncial-like initials used on manuscript
Missals
]
When printing was invented the first types used were imitations of the
current Gothic lettering, known to us as Black Letter, Old English, etc.
A few years later, when typography was introduced into Italy, the types
were cut in imitation of the lettering selected for use by the scribes
of the Italian Renaissance, which lettering is familiarly known in our
time as Roman. The capitals of this Roman lettering are fashioned after
those used in ancient Rome, and the small or lower-case letters are
after the Roman writing known as minuscule, of the twelfth century.
The ancient Roman writing was all capitals, and as found on stamps and
coins was of the character of the modern so-called “gothic” (plain
strokes, without the small cross strokes known as serifs). The more
carefully made Roman capitals, as carved on monuments and buildings, are
not unlike the present type-faces known as Caslon and French old style.
The evolution of Roman capitals into the small or lower-case letters of
the present day is traced in the writing called _uncial_, in which the
letters A, D, E, H, M, Q are rounded and altered in appearance. More
changes developed the writing known as _half-uncial_, in which only the
N and F retain the appearance of Roman capitals. The small (lower-case)
letters became known as _minuscule_, as contrasted with _majuscule_, or
capital letters. (See reproductions on preceding pages.)
From this point book writing developed in two directions: one toward the
heavy pointed stroke of the churchly Gothic style, and the other, guided
by Charlemagne in the eighth century, to the style of Roman letter used
by Jenson and other printers of Venice, Italy, in their classic printing
of the fifteenth century. Our old-style Roman types are from this
source.
Another style, called _cursive_, was the carelessly executed handwriting
used for ordinary purposes, and in that respect may be likened to our
own business script.
Thus as the fifteenth century dawned upon Europe we find literature and
learning locked in the cells of the monks, while outside, the hosts of
people who for ten centuries wandered in semi-darkness had reached an
elevation which showed them a new existence coming with the intellectual
awakening that was then already upon them.
[Illustration:
LETTERED PAGE FROM THE “BOOK OF KELLS”
Showing the beautiful writing of the Irish scribes of the seventh
century
]
[Illustration:
Portion of a page (full size) from Fust and Schœffer’s Psalter of 1457
The first book with a printed date: showing initials and decoration
cut in wood
]
[Illustration]
THE ORIGIN OF TYPOGRAPHY
The invention of typography in the fifteenth century marked the
beginning of a new civilization and the end of the medieval thousand
years. The Middle Ages may be said to have begun with the capture of
Rome by the Vandals in 455 A.D., and to have ended with the production
of what is considered the first printed book in 1455.
[Illustration:
FRENCH PLAYING CARD
A block print of the fifteenth century
]
As has been shown, during most of the thousand years preceding the
invention of typography, ignorance and superstition reigned thruout
Europe, despite the efforts of Charlemagne and others to revive learning
and encourage interest in books. The popular mind had become so
perverted that ability to read and write and love for art were
considered proofs of effeminacy.
As the medieval period neared its close, the brain of man became more
active; he began to reason and to understand much that before had been
mystery. Interest was manifested in the problems of science and
religion, and notable things were accomplished by artists and craftsmen.
It seemed as if the intellect of mankind was awakening from a long
sleep, and civilization was being born again.
As the light of the new intelligence shone upon the earth and Europe
rubbed its dazzled eyes, TYPOGRAPHY, the star that was to light the way
to modern knowledge and achievement, appeared.
Printing with separate metal types, while involving a new principle, was
to some extent a development of other methods. The evolution from
manuscript books to block books, and from block books to books printed
from types occurred quietly in the natural course of events; so quietly,
indeed, that there is mystery surrounding each change of method.
In the early part of the fifteenth century, when writing was the only
agency used for making books, the demand for playing cards and sacred
pictures necessitated a method of reproduction more rapid than the old;
and thus engraved wood blocks were introduced.
[Illustration:
IMAGE PRINT OF 1423
The first block print with a date
]
As the desire for knowledge outgrew the productive resources of the
russet-gowned scribes, men with a mechanical turn of mind began to
engrave pages of books on wooden blocks, a process which, tho extremely
tedious, afforded a means of partly satisfying the need, and which
became the stepping stone to the invention of printing with separate
types. The block books, as they were called, sometimes contained whole
pages of reading matter, each letter cut in relief on the face of the
wood, and frequently the page included a large illustration carelessly
drawn and crudely engraved. The early method of printing block books was
by placing the paper on the inked surface and rubbing the back. Only one
side was printed and a brown distemper ink (a kind of watercolor) was
used. Simply constructed presses, prototypes of the modern hand press,
were employed by block-book makers in later years. Playing cards and
image prints were popular products of the block-book period, and after
being printed were colored by means of stencils. A French playing card
of the fifteenth century is reproduced on the preceding page, as well as
a print illustrating the old legend of St. Christopher carrying the
infant Jesus across a river. This last-mentioned print is dated 1423, is
8⅛ × 11¼ inches in size, and is the oldest dated specimen of printing.
The invention of _printing_ really dates from the time books were
printed from wooden blocks, altho the more important invention, that of
_typography_ (printing with separate types), is also known by the
general word “printing.” The first block books, probably Donatuses, may
have been printed in Holland. The “Donatus” is a Latin grammar, and
received its name from its author, Ælius Donatus, a Roman grammarian of
the fourth century. It is a small book of not more than thirty-four
pages printed on parchment, and had a large sale.
[Illustration:
BIBLE OF THE POOR
Famous block book of the fifteenth century
]
There is a morbid side to human nature, and it has been with us since
the beginning. Today it finds delight in perusing in the sensational
newspapers detailed descriptions of murders, train wrecks, and other
happenings in which blood is spilled. During the Middle Ages it
prevailed, and is reflected in the pictures that have come down to us in
the block books. A doleful atmosphere is present in the block book, “Ars
Moriendi” (Art of Dying), whose illustrations show weeping angels and
leering demons, weird settings that are magnified by the crudeness of
the engravings.
[Illustration:
TEXT PAGE FROM A BLOCK BOOK
“Ars Moriendi,” printed in the fifteenth century
]
The “Biblia Pauperum” ( Bible of the Poor) is another block book very
popular in the days preceding the invention of typography. It is a book
of about forty pages, consisting principally of illustrations of the
important happenings as told in the Scriptures. The book was for the use
of illiterate monks and those that did not have access to the elaborate
manuscript Bibles.
A book of similar purpose, but more complete than the Bible of the Poor,
is called “Speculum Humanæ Salvationis” (Mirror of Human Salvation).
This book literally presents the transition from block books to
type-printed books, for of the sixty-three pages in one edition twenty
are printed from wood blocks and forty-three from separate types (see
reproductions herewith). The printed page of the “Mirror” is a trifle
larger than the page that is now being read. Almost every monastery in
Europe contained copies of the “Speculum.”
* * * * *
When, where and by whom was typography invented? It is surprising that
there should be any real uncertainty about the facts connected with the
invention of typography, but some uncertainty does exist, and various
opinions and conclusions are set forth in books on the subject. The new
method of printing was invented in the midst of indifference and
ignorance, and for many years but few cared that it had come among them.
The inventor of typography, whether Coster or Gutenberg, was too modest
to claim the credit in a substantial way, as he failed to print his name
on the first books done by the new method.
This modesty, or whatever else it may have been, opened the way for
almost every European country to claim the honor of having been the home
of the invention. However, all claims have been disproved excepting
those of Germany and Holland, and as the argument now stands the weight
of the evidence is with Germany.
C. H. Timperley, in his “Dictionary of Printing” (1839) says that of
those who had written on the subject up to his time, one hundred and
nine favored Mainz and twenty-four favored Haarlem as the birthplace of
typography.
There is indisputable evidence to prove that typography was practiced by
Gutenberg at Mainz, Germany, from 1450 to 1455, and that the art spread
from that city to all parts of Europe. There is no doubt about that. The
only thing which can lose to Gutenberg and Germany the credit of the
invention is proof that another man printed from separate types in
another country previous to 1450. Certain investigators have attempted
to supply this proof, as we shall see.
[Illustration:
PAGE PRINTED FROM AN ENGRAVED WOOD BLOCK
From the “Mirror of Human Salvation”
By an unknown Dutch printer
]
[Illustration:
PAGE PRINTED FROM SEPARATE METAL TYPES
From the “Mirror of Human Salvation”
By an unknown Dutch printer
]
The pretensions of Holland are that one Laurens Janszoon Coster
(Lawrence, son of John, the sexton or sheriff) printed with separate
types about the year 1430 at Haarlem.