91Èȱ¬

This book, Laertii Diogenis Vitae et sententiae eorum qui in philosophia probati fuerunt (Lives of the philosophers by Diogenes Laertius), was printed in 1475 by Nicholas Jenson (1420-1480) in Venice. Born in France, Jenson set up a workshop in Venice in 1470. He printed more than 70 works, and invented Roman type which is used in this book.

The book is an incunabule (a book printed before 1500) and one of the earliest printed books. What most intrigues me is the way Jenson has left spaces for the capital letters to be hand drawn in - in the way it was done on manuscripts before the invention of printing. Many of the words are abbreviated, as manuscript scribes needed to do to save themselves effort and space on expensive vellum. This shows how the conventions of a previous time - illuminated manuscripts - are carried over into a new format. It's similar to the stage we are at now, where digital literature is often hampered by conventions carried over from print. I believe digital literature will look very different when it has fully developed, just as modern books look quite different from this incunable. It's not just a book but a snapshot of a point on the cusp of history.