Printing and type
...g as wood was too fragile. The first typographic book was the 42 line bible. I’d like to believe that there were higher motives for the printing of the 42 line bible but the truth of it was that it was created solely for profit. Unfortunately Gutenberg borrowed money from some guy named Fust who when the book neared completion sued him for the money and seized all of his belongings and became rich himself. That was very underhanded. After a while a bloody war broke out in Germany where they were set up as printers and most of the printers in Germany bolted like frightened rabbits, thus spreading printing to the rest of Europe. As developments in printing and the typographic book increased scribes and artists were employed as layout designers for broadsides and illustrated books. .I believe these people to be the ancestors of modern graphic designers and broadsheets the ancestors of posters, newspapers, and advertisements and the illustrated book the ancestor of comic books and magazines. This development widely spread ideas, design and information quickly and cheaply. By this time though, the renaissance was spreading from Italy and with it the Roman alphabet. In Germany the Roman alphabet was blended and combined with Caroline miniscules and redesigned to form the prototype for today’s alphabet. Serifs were also developed to increase the legibility of the Characters and to allow more type to be printed per page. It was Germany who spread typography and illustrated books all over the world, but at the same time major things were happening with design in Italy such as the design of amazing Greek and Gothic fonts, elaborate printed borders and eventually a totally printed book. By the end of the 1400’s there were hundreds of printing firms printing illustrated books. Type printing greatly sped up book production and lowered the cost, in effect spreading the possession of books greatly and also increasing literacy. They also had the effect of unifying languages from regional dialects into a unified language. Also different ideas were being spread which caused the shattering of the Christian church into many sects. During the renaissance, there were many advancements, in printing in Venice. Jenson designed excellent fonts Ratdolt created woodcut borders and initials, Griffo created the first “pocket book” and that is when Rome fell and innovation virtually ceased. France, however, took over where Italy left off. This was the time of Garamond. He design...