The Influence of Print on Western Society (an academic paper)

While doing my annotated bibliography assignment (which can be seen here), I found one particular book that struck my interest more than any of the others. It was Printing and the Mind of Man: a Descriptive Catalogue Illustrating the Impact of Print on the Evolution of Western Civilization during Five Centuries. It was essentially an annotated bibliography of important printed works over the past five centuries. I thought it was interesting to see how much print impacted Western society so I decided to write my paper about it...

Annotated Bibliography: Visual Arts and Print

At first, I found this assignment very frustrating. I must have spent 2 hours straight searching on the internet for any possible source on medicine and the printing press. There was literally nothing to be found.

Then I figured out that I need to broaden my search. I searched for sources on the printing press as a whole and I was surprised to find sources that related to my subject more frequently. That is when I located Eisenstein’s book (I promise I didn’t just copy paste from Pro. Gideon’s post, the version I found was older). What was interesting is that while I was looking for connections to medicine, I discovered a subject more fascinating to research: visual arts and print. So I switched gears and went to research a new subject than what I anticipated. It’s amazing how researching one thing can lead you on a path to something else entirely.

It turned out that the advent of medicine in the Renaissance was actually closely related to the visual arts. Discoveries concerning anatomy and depictions of the human body could be more easily published when print technology improved so much that art could be replicated as well.

The actual locating of the sources was also an enriching process. There’s something in a physical hunt for knowledge that increases the quality of one’s research. I literally started on the 5^th floor and eventually ended up on the second floor. I had to keep moving. Then once you actually locate the right source, you find a more personal and meaningful connection. I knew I could trust these sources. If they are hard to find, they must be worth reading.

Bibliography

Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe . Cambridge University Press, 2005. Eisenstein provides a very comprehensive study on the effects of print culture in Early Europe. The section entitled “The Book of Nature Transformed” provided key insights pertaining to how visual arts affected growth of scientific knowledge. (HBLL Search Catalog)

McMurrich, J. Playfair. Leonardo Da Vinci The Anatomist. Carnegie Institution of Washington. 1930. This is a study of Leonardo Da Vinci’s contribution to the science of anatomy. His illustrations were printed and were revolutionary in changing the way people looked at the human body. (HBLL Search Catalog)

Ivins, William M. “What about the ‘Fabrica’ of Vesalius?”. Three Vesalian Essays. New York: The Macmillan Company. 1952. The essay covers the significance of Andreas Vesalius’ illustrations and how they contributed to science during the Renaissance. (This essay was cited the footnotes of Eisenstein’s book so I found the essay in the library)

Hsieh, Chia-Chuan. “Publishing the Raphael Cartoons and the Rise of Art-Historical Consciousness in England, 1707-1764.” The Historical Journal. Vol. 52 Iss. 4. Cambridge University Press, 2009. This article covers the effects of the ability to recreate famous art paintings through print beginning with the Raphael Cartoons. This new printing ability sparked a new wave of interest in the field of Art History. (HBLL Search Log, Periodical Section)

Robinson, Francis. “Technology and Religious Change: Islam and the Impact of Print.” Modern Asian Studies. Vol. 27 Iss. 1. Cambridge University Press, 1993. The article addresses that one of the reasons Muslims avoided using print so long was because they valued calligraphy more so. Interesting how a love for visual art can keep one from accepting technology. (The catalog said they had it, but I was misled and ended up using a scanned version online instead)

Annotated Bibliography: The History of Print up until the 1700s.

First off, I would like to say that my Annotated Bibliography was quite the library adventure. Consisting of two trips, each hours long, aggravated allergies and runny noses, and getting way too familiar with the fifth floor, the topic of my bibliography is "The History of Print up to the 1700s". The first time I went to the library, I was there for two hours and only found one source. However, after meeting with Dr. Burton and getting some good advice, I was able to find an abundance of material the second time around. Out of all my sources, I spent the most time perusing the Fleuron Anthology. To anyone who is interested in the history of fonts and letter decorations, this is the book to take a gander at. I never realized how interesting printed "arabesques" could be until I looked over this book. All-in-all, I enjoyed my experience learning about the history of print (fonts, ink, paper, Gutenberg, and typography).


S. H. Steinberg. Five Hundred Years of Printing. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Harmondsworth, Middlesex : Penguin Books, 1966. Print.

Five Hundred Years of Printing covers all the different phases of printing through the centuries. It covers early typography (Roman Type, Gothic Type), Gutenberg, the spread of printing throughout Europe, publishing, book illustration, patrons, official and private presses, periodical presses, libraries, censorship, the Incunabula Period, and printing in the vernacular.


Sir, Francis Meynell. Fleuron Anthology. Ed. Herbert Simon. Boston: Boston : David R. Godine, 1979. Print.

I absolutely fell in love with this book. The Fleuron Anthology covers the history of typography. Its pages are filled with beautiful pictures of some of the earliest prints of different kinds of font, printers' flowers and arabesques, initial letters, and title pages. It also included several chapters on notable printers of the time.

McKenzie (Donald Francis), D. F. A Chronology and Calendar of Documents Relating to the London Book Trade, 1641-1700. Ed. Maureen Bell. Oxford ; New York: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.

This book is basically a chronological almanac or journal consisting of papers, documents, and records concerning the London book trade between the years of 1641-1700. It was a huge, old, dusty book that aggravated my allergies. The cramped, printed paragraphs made my eyes blurry. Needless to say, this wasn't my favorite book. However, it was a helpful source guide when searching for references to the topic.

Edward, Pickard Hall. Printing : Its Parentage, Progress, and Practice, with some Account of the 'Authorised Version of the Bible' and of the Clarendon Press, Oxford. Oxford: Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1876. Print.

Besides being a mouthful to pronounce, Printing is composed of four parts: The Progress of Printing, The Practice of Printing, The Newspaper Press, and the Bible. The Progress of Printing consisted of an in-depth history of typography, having extensive information about different styles of fonts. The Practice of Printing takes it even further, with information about kinds of paper used, printing companies, and different types of ink. It was also filled with examples of ornate printed pages from centuries ago.

Lewis, John Noel Claude. Anatomy of Printing : The Influences of Art and History on its Design. New York: New York : Watson-Guptill Publications, 1970. Print.

Anatomy of Printing covers the background and beginning of printing, the reformation of the printing press, printing in the Renaissance, the waning of printing, printing in eighteenth century England, the Baroque and the Rococo, printing and the Neo-Classical movement, the Industrial Revolution, Art Nouveau, and modern printing (Dada, Surrealism, Cubism, Constructivism, modern typesetting).

Crawford, Douglas C. McMurtrie, Douglas. The Invention of Printing : A Bibliography. Ed. John Adamson. New York: New York : Burt Franklin, 1942. Print.

Crawford covers printing in the Orient and in Europe, going over textile printing, playing cards, metal engravings and woodcuts, block books and binders stamps. He then covers the history of printing inventions, 16th century to the modern day. He has several chapters devoted to Gutenberg and the technique of the School of Gutenberg. He also goes over the technique of the School of the Dutch.

Delving into the Depths of the Library: Fort Worth Edition (An annotated bibliography on the history and influence of the printed book)

Rachel recently posted about her experience "delving into the depths of the library", and I had a similar experience at some different libraries. Since I'm home for the Thanksgiving break, I didn't have access to everyone's favorite library, the HBLL. Instead, I got to explore two of the Fort Worth Public Libraries.

The Rise of the Author: Delving into the Depths of the Library

I decided to look into the Rise of the Author before the 1700's because of what we've talked about in class concerning who really authored oral epics.  It was an interesting idea to me that an individual author hasn't always been the writer of a book, like a group of people who will write a autobiography for someone famous, or come up as a group with the idea for a book.  I thought it was interesting that those people to whom we attribute great epics might not have been the sole writers; it might have been a conglomeration of ideas, a hodge-podge of stories through generations.  And we don't even know who wrote Beowulf!

Well, I wanted this exploration into the print resources of the library for our bibliography requirement to be authentic, so I spent over two and a half hours walking up and down flights of stairs, sitting at computers, and then walking up and down more flights of stairs and rows of bookshelves until it was done!

The magnificent HBLL

I decided to look up sources pertaining to the "Rise of the Author before 1700," first because it sounds cool, and second because my desire to write a book and be an author is helping me to feel particularly kinship-y with this class of people.

Annotated Bibliography: History of Typography, 1450-1700

Just a quick definition: what is typography?  "...it is not merely the shapes of letters and the manner of making them that requires study but also their size, the spacing between lines, the size and proportion of the printed page..."  (B.L. Ullman, The origin and development of humanistic script, 1960)

 Included is my bibliography with information on the author, publisher, and year. There is a short synopsis on each source and in brackets at the end of each annotation, I include how I found the source and what it was like to consult it in print.