Printing press, movable types, ink and paper in the emergence of press. Paper, printing and movable types manufacturing process. Gutenberg’s printing press. Incunabula: characteristics. The spreading of the printing press and great printers of the XVth and XVIth centuries.
Very brief story of substrates and bookbinding
First public records: dolmens, menhirs, rock paintings. Quipu, Wampun and winter counts: mnemonics. Types of substrates: archaeological and paleographic. Clay, wood, papyrus and parchment: formats, writing techniques and tools. Scroll and codex: characteristics and parts. Codex production. Types of codex binding. Renaissance manuscripts. Paper: xylographic and typographic printings. Typographic and incunabula books: characteristics, print run, subject matters. Incunabula typefaces: Gothic and Romans. Italics and small format editions.
Very brief story of substrates and bookbinding
First public records: dolmens, menhirs, rock paintings. Quipu, Wampun and winter counts: mnemonics. Types of substrates: archaeological and paleographic. Clay, wood, papyrus and parchment: formats, writing techniques and tools. Scroll and codex: characteristics and parts. Codex production. Types of codex binding. Renaissance manuscripts. Paper: xylographic and typographic printings. Typographic and incunabula books: characteristics, print run, subject matters. Incunabula typefaces: Gothic and Romans. Italics and small format editions.
Medieval manuscripts
Religious and secular books. Illuminated manuscripts. Going from the scroll to the codex. Book process: substrate and page preparation, writing of the manuscript, decoration (miniatures, initials, illustrations, borders and footnotes, illumination), bookbinding. Scribes and artists, religious and laymen. Celtic books and others.
Historic writings
Writings for books: uncials, semi-uncials, Carolingian, gothic and chancery. Structural features, stroke, block color.
Latin alphabet
Relationship with the Greek alphabet: similarities and differences. Types of writing: tombstone and calligraphic. Styles: characteristics and uses. Handwriting.
Phonetization of writing
The process of acrophony in the Phoenician alphabet: Writing of consonants The Greek alphabet: writing of consonant and vowels. Relationship with sound. Letter repertoire. Letter form. Writing direction.
Contributions made by other cultures to the Latin alphabet
From Canaanite to ancient Phoenician, from Phoenician to Greek, from Greek to Etruscan, from Etruscan to Roman. Essential characteristics. Who writes and how they learn to do so.
The beginnings of writing
First graphic manifestations. Proto-writings and the first writings (Mesopotamia, Egypt, China). Syllabic writings. The appearance of numbers.