Movable Type

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Portrait of Pierre Didot  1823.  This medal was issued in Paris to commemorate Pierre Didot.



Around the edge of the reverse - Horace, Virgil, Racine and La Fontaine editions in folio 

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One of the greatest sources of civic pride in Haarlem is their role in creating the modern printing press.

While it was of course invented by Gutenberg in Germany, it is often claimed LJ Coster of Haarlem discovered it simultaneously.

Even in the 17th century Haarlem took pride in this fact and had a printing press on their municipal medals and tokens.

Nowadays, a statue of him still stands on the main square. Throughout the centuries, celebrations have been held in the city in Jubilee years; this medal by JP Braemt was fabricated for the 400th anniversary of his invention.


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Obverse: Angel standing, facing, with head left, holding shield with left hand and flaming torch with right; books and olive tree either side; printing press in background.


Latin Inscription: LAUS URBI LUX ORBI
Translation: THE GLORY OF THE CITY, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

Latin Inscription in exergue: CIƆCCCCXX – CIƆCCCCXXV BRAEMT FECIT
Translation: CIƆCCCCXX – CIƆCCCCXXV BRAEMT DID


Reverse: Inscription within wreath

Latin Inscription surrounding wreath: CELEBRATUM HARLEMI X JULII CIƆIƆCCCXXIII
Translation: CELEBRATED IN HARLEM JULY 10, 1823

Latin Inscription within wreath: SAECULARE IV TYPOGRAPHIAE INVENTAE HARLEMI A LAUR JANI F COSTERO
Translation: 400TH ANNIVERSARY TYPOGRAPHY INVENTED IN HARLEM BY LAUR JANI F COSTERO

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First instalment of the pattern collection by JG Schelter and Giesecke. Leipzig 1899
Leipzig-based foundry started in 1819 by punchcutter Johann Schelter and typefounder Christian Friedrich Giesecke



The title page incorporates a block showing cherubs engaged in print-related activities



They also show their factory building



Two pages showing the block from title page along with others




The bottom half of this page shows another set of print-related blocks.

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Das Hausbuch der Mendelschen Zwölfbrüderstiftung zu Nürnberg – The house-book of the Mendel Twelve Brothers Foundation in Nuremburg
In 1388, the wealthy merchant Konrad Mendel had a retirement home built to house and feed twelve needy old craftsmen from Nuremberg at a time and had it equipped with capital for its long-term operation. It was an alms-house intended to support twelve elderly poor citizens of good repute. The 'brothers' followed a rule similar to that of a monastery and were expected to spent a significant amount of time in church and at prayer. From around 1425/26, each "Mendel brother" was portrayed with a full-page portrait in the Mendel House Book. By the end of the imperial city period, it had grown to a total of 857 pages with 765 depictions of craftsmen in folio format.
Mendel's foundation model found a prominent successor in the early 16th century, when the mining entrepreneur Matthäus Landauer founded a second Nuremberg "Twelve Brothers' House" with a similar function and the same memorial book format: the Landauer Twelve Brothers Foundation with its house book of the same name, begun in 1511, which includes 439 pages with portraits of 406 craftsmen. This foundation also lasted until 1806.

This is a two-volume work published in 1965 by Bruckmann München, containing reproductions of 15th and 16th century watercolours depicting craftsman at work, with an accompanying volume of historical essays.

Reproduction from a project of Nürnberger City Library that edited and digitized the craftsmen illustrations from 15th-19th century house books of the Nürnberger Zwölfbrüderstiftungen.



Above the image:    Carl Friederich Barth, citizen and typesetter at the Adelbuller printing house, was received into the fraternity of this honorable foundation on July 9, 1713, in his 41st year, at the intercession of his friends because he was quite lame in his hands.

Below the image:  He was a brother of this foundation for no longer than 13 weeks, when on September 27, 1713, he was struck by a violent flow in the chapel at All Saints during the midday prayer of the brothers, which caused a heart attack and finally the painful fracture, whereupon he passed away blessedly in God on October 10 of this year, and was buried on the 13th thereafter in St. Rochus Kirchhoff under his friend's stone. May God raise him to eternal life.

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Giambattista Bodoni was an Italian printer who designed several modern typefaces, one of which bears his name and is in common use today.


Statue of Bodoni in Saluzzo, Piemonte Italy.

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John Baskerville was a printer, type designer and punch cutter.





Brass plaque on the wall of Baskerville House, Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham



A monument to John Baskerville outside Baskerville House which was itself built on Baskerville's home.
Virgil: memorial to John Baskerville, letter-founder, Centenary Square, Birmingham
From the Wikipedia article 'Baskerville House'

A sculpture of the Baskerville typeface, Industry and Genius, in honour of John Baskerville stands outside the main entrance to Baskerville House in Centenary Square. It is by local artist David Patten and was created as part of the 'Percentage For Art' scheme in 1990. The letters spell out Virgil, the name of the Roman poet whose works were printed by Baskerville, in his typeface, in 1757. Made out of Portland stone and bronze, it is 150 centimetres (59 in) high, 100 centimetres (39 in) wide and 650 centimetres (256 in) long.





Apologies, this last one is not the best of images

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Printing and books featured prominently in the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022.

A huge model of a printing press paid tribute to the impact of 18th century printer and typographer John Baskerville, renowned for his eponymous typeface and for inventing wove paper.
 

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Portrait of Roger Excoffon.

Excoffon (1910–1983) worked in Paris as a graphic designer, typographer, and type designer. His most famous type is said to be Mistral, a freely rendered scriptface. He was also an art consultant for the Fonderie Olive type foundry in Marseille. This unusual portrait of Excoffon was executed in halftone dots and produced by Cabinet des Médailles, Paris.
 

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The woodblock fragment Bois Protat  (c. 1370–1380) is a fragmentary woodblock for printing, and the images on it are the oldest surviving woodcut images from the Western world.

It is cut on both sides, with a scene from Christ's crucifixion on the recto, and a kneeling angel from a presumed Annunciation scene on the verso.

The crucifixion scene likely consisted of three or more blocks; the surviving block fragment features Longinus the Roman centurion at the Crucifixion, shown speaking with a banderole, a mediaeval precursor to the modern speech balloon containing his words.

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One might better credit Baskerville with making decently smooth paper, arising from  his work with Paper Machie objets de vertu and even furniture and sedan chair panels.

Thus enabling the use of lighter and more delicate typefaces and much finer line illustrations