The pre-history of typography. Ancient “prints” in the Far East and in Europe before Gutenberg. Gutenberg and his era. Typography in Europe in the 15th century as a highly qualified technology of the production and development of texts. The dissemination and flourishing of typography during the 15th century. The development of typography and of the typology of the book during the 16th century. 17th century: the era of great authors and average typographers. The book and the publishing activity during the Enlightenment. The publishing activity during the 19th century: changes and innovations, new printing technologies. The book publishing industry in the 19th and 20th century.

The student will obtain the knowledge of the history and of the typology of the printed book and of typography so as to be able to evaluate and describe the printed book whenever it was printed.

More specifically:

1. The understanding of printing as a “revolution” in the production and dissemination of texts and images, thus of information, knowledge and ideas. The printed book as a mass information medium.
2. Focus on great printers – publishers and of their methods, of famous typographic centres such as Venice and Antwerp. Case studies of books.
3. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of book production during the above-mentioned eras taking into consideration the economic, social, cultural, ideological and political conditions.
4. The impact of technology on typography from the Gutenberg era to nowadays. The development of the book and of other printed forms as material objects. Typology of the book.

Week #1: Prehistory of the book and of typography I: From the beginning of writing to the development of alphabets. Ancient “prints” of texts.

Week #2: Prehistory of the book and of typography I: printing in the Far East and in Europe before Gutenberg.

Week #3: Gutenberg and his era. What is exactly the “invention of printing”?

Week #4: The printing shop of the 15nth century as a highly qualified Renaissance technology and as a pre-industrial information system.

Week #5: The dissemination and flourishing of typography during the 15nth century.

Week #6: The development of typography and of the typology of the book during the 16nth century. Famous printers-publishers and typographic centres. Book decoration and illustration.

Week #7: 17nth century: the era of great authors and of average typographers. Crisis in the art of typography. The coming of the Press.

Week #8: The flourishing of the printed book and of the publishing activity during the 18nth century.

Week #9: The publishing activity during the Industrial Revolution (19nth century): innovation, new technologies, “new” readers, new forms of the book, part I.

Week #10: The publishing activity during the Industrial Revolution (19nth century): innovation, new technologies, “new” readers, new forms of the book, part II

Week #11: The book publishing activity in the 20nth century.

Week #12: Changes in the publishing chain from the Gutenberg era to nowadays.

Week #13: Revision, discussion

• BARBIER, FREDERIC. Histoire du Livre, Paris: Armand Colin, 2001.
• EISENSTEIN, ELIZABETH. The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1983
• ELIOT, SIMON - ROSE, JONATHAN. A Companion to the History of the Book, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007.
• ESCOLAR, HIPÓLITO. The History of the Book, (translated by Nigel Williams and Karen Macdonald Welch), Μadrid 1994.
• FEBVRE, LUCIEN και MARTIN, H.-J. The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing, μετ. David Gerard, London-New York  ³
• GIESECKE, MICHAEL. Der Buchdruck in der frühen Neuzeit. Eine historische Fallstudie über die Durchset-zung neuer Informations und Kommunicationstechnologien, Frankfurt 1998.
• JANZIN, MARION - GÜNTNER, JOACHIM, Das Buch vom Buch. 5000 Jahre Buchgeschichte, Hannover, ³
• RICHARDSON, BRIAN. Printing, Writers and Readers in Renaissance Italy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999.
• STEINBERG, S. H. Five Hundred Years of Printing, Βaltimore ³
• Suarez, Michael F. - Woudhuysen, H.R. (επιμ.). The Oxford companion to the book, Oxford University Press, 2010
• THOMPSON, LAWRENCE S. κ.ά. «Printers and Printing», Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science edited by Miriam A. Drake, New York – Basel.

Lectures with ppt presentations.

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Written exams