1 Typography Chapters 1-2
Why were there divergent copying hands during the Middle Ages?
The different copying hands developed because there was no travel between areas during the Middle Ages.
What was Parchment made of?
The dried, stretched, bleached, de-furred hides of animals.
What lead to the Middle Ages and isolation?
The fall of the Roman Empire in 476AD meant that in Europe it was no longer safe to live in organized cities because of the Visigoths and Vandals ransacking everywhere.
What is Celtic Lettering?
The lettering that led to upper and lowercase letters, developed in Ireland, often utilizing knot work.
What is Mnemonics?
The remembering of stories, myths, healing remedies, genealogy, and history to pass from one generation to another.
How do you recognize Carolingian lettering?
There is a twist and a tapering to the strokes.
Describe early book covers
They were gold and jewel encrusted, very elaborate.
Why were Bibles so very expensive?
They were hand copied, taking years to complete, used finest materials to honor God.
What are some of the advantages of a written language?
Thoughts and stories are preserved word for word; people across generations can communicate.
Why are Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics so different in appearance?
Hieroglyphics was written with ink and reed brush on papyrus, and Cuneiform was pressed into wet clay using a triangular tipped stylus. The tools and the substrate affect the appearance of a script.
What was significantly different about written Phoenician?
It was the first alphabet that associated a sound to an abstract symbol.
How was writing first used in historic times?
It was used to identify the contents of packages during shipping.
Who deciphered Hieroglyphics?
Jean Francois Champollion in 1822, used the cartouches on the Rosetta Stone to sound out Cleopatra's name.
What are secular scribes?
Letterers hired to write wills, bank notes, business deals, mortgages, etc.
What is Romanesque Lettering?
Lettering that featured a variety of different forms of the same letter in a single piece.
What is Gothic lettering?
Lettering that is tightly packed, condensed, vertical and angular on the page.
Why are cuneiform and hieroglyphics so different in appearance?
One was written with a brush on a paperlike substance the other was pressed into wet clay with a triangular tipped stylus.
To where would you trace the origins of our alphabet?
Our alphabet goes back to the Ancient Roman, Latin, which comes from the Greek, which comes from the Phoenician.
How is papyrus made?
Outer bark was peeled off, inner pith was soaked, mashed flat, layered criss-cross, weighted down and dried to make a sheet of papyrus.
What was a disadvantage of Papyrus?
Papyrus had to rolled into scrolls, could only write on one side, and it would mold in humid climates.
A _____________ is when the first sounds of symbols are used to sound out a pharaoh's name.
Phonogram
Who was taught to read and write in ancient times?
Priests and Officials
A ________ is when two or more pictographs are put together to sound out the syllables of a word.
Rebus
In which direction are hieroglyphics read?
Top to bottom in the direction the characters face.
Why were Gothic Cathedrals built around 1200 to 1400?
Towns were rapidly growing, and churches raised the money to create a monument to distinguish the town, its people and their religion.
Why did the Romans put up Triumphal Arches?
Triumphal Arches were used to remind inhabitants of their part in the Roman Empire.
Define an ideograph?
Two or more pictographs put together to represent an abstract idea.
Which country adopted the Phoencian alphabet and added some characters to it? made it their own?
Ancient Greece
What country was second to adopt the Phoenician alphabet?
Ancient Italy
What is Transliteration?
Applying our alphabet to a spoken language that has not yet been written down or developed their own alphabet.
When were European cities resettled after the isolation of the Middle Ages?
Around 1100, tradesmen, merchants and teachers moved to cities, universities were established, guilds were formed.
Why was parchment so expensive?
Because you had to grow an animal, then skin it, then treat the skin to get parchment.
When does the Renaissance happen in Europe?
Between 1400 & 1450 AD the Renaissance is in Europe.
A __________ is a looped ellipse representing eternal life that was drawn around the names of pharoahs.
Cartouche
What is the name of the isolated Medieval communities?
Feudal communities were enclosed near a manor house and its wall and were self-sufficient.
When was the Black Plague in Europe?
From 1347 to 1377 more than 40% of Europe's population died; 25 million people. Bubonic plague was spread by the fleas of infected rats biting people.
Who was Charlemagne?
A French nobleman who put together a peaceful kingdom around 800AD, ruled as king.
What is a codex?
A codex is a bound book with pages; usually made of parchment, used by early Christians to compare texts.
What is Rustica?
A common form of the Roman Alphabet that was more condensed and took up less space than Quadrata
What is Gothic Textura?
A condensed, tightly spaced version of Gothic lettering.
Describe a rebus?
A drawing in which the first syllables of images are used to sound out the word.
Describe a phonogram?
A drawing that uses the first sound of each object to sound out the word.
What is Carolingian lettering?
A lettering style by Alcuin of York, a monk who standardized the lettering under Charlemagne's rule.
What is a Scriptorium?
A place in a monastery where monks copy and one reads aloud from a sacred book.
What is Rotunda Lettering?
A rounder form of Gothic lettering favored in Italy & France.
Describe a pictograph?
A simple drawing representing a person or thing.
What is a substrate?
A writing surface
Who developed the Carolingian Lettering Style?
Alcuin of York; Charlemagne was illiterate.
Where did Papermaking originate?
In China, 105 AD
Where and when did hieroglyphics evolve?
In Egypt, Africa, in roughly 3000 BC
When and where did the writing system cuneiform evolve?
In Sumeria in about 3200 BC
How were hieroglyphics written?
In ink with a reed brush on a paperlike surface
Where is the fertile crescent?
It is the area between and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that flooded each year, bringing up rich river soil for easy farming.
What is Capitalis Quadrata?
It is the formal version of the ancient Roman alphabet used in inscriptions
What was an advantage of Papyrus?
It was a free and renewable resource of weeds growing in the Nile, it was readily available, didn't take too long to make into paper.
Why did monks copy Bibles?
It was a way for them to learn the text, and raised money when sold for their order.
What was an advantage of rag paper?
It was less costly to produce than parchment, and it allowed books to be made more cheaply, making them more widely available to the lower classes.
How did the Phoenician alphabet differ from other early writing systems?
It was phonetic based and sounded out words
Why did the Phoenician alphabet spread so rapidly in the ancient world?
It was simple to learn with only 22 characters
Name three places where early writing systems developed.
Sumeria (Mesopotamia) developed Cuneiform; Egypt (Africa) developed Hieroglyphics; Minoan on island of Crete developed Minoan Script
What country used clay tablets as a substrate?
Sumeria (Mesopotamia) engraved Cuneiform into clay tablets made from the mud of the local riverbed.
What is a cartouche?
The Ankh symbol for eternal life is placed around the name of a pharoah showing they would live for eternity.
How did the Phoenician alphabet spread so widely in the ancient world?
The Phoenicians were sea traders and they spread it with cargo they carried and marked.
What is the Renaissance?
The Rebirth of Learning in Europe, meaning the restudying of the ancient Greek and Latin texts, artists, poets and philosophers.
Why is the Rosetta Stone important?
The Rosetta Stone had the same inscription in three different languages and helped to decode hieroglyphics.
How was cuneiform written?
Using a triangular tipped stylus pressed into wet clay
What was an advantage of Parchment over Papyrus?
You could fold parchment and it would not crack, could write on both side of it and it wouldn't seep through, could sew pages together.
What is papryrus?
a paper like substance made from a weed that grows in the Nile River
What is papyrus made from?
a weed that grows in the Nile
When did the Phoenician alphabet evolve?
around 1500 - 1200 BC
When was rag paper introduced into Europe?
in 1100 AD in Fabriano, Italy by Asian papermakers brought back by boat.
What is Boustrephedon?
means as the ox plows, and refers to a time when symbols were read in alternating directions on every other line.
How were phonograms used in hieroglyphics?
to sound out pharaoh's name