Estabilidad

An incunable is the name given to the editions of, because they were carried out at the time where printing works was with the cradle ( incunabula in Latin). It is a delivers printed during the time ranging between the beginning of Western printing works (Gutenberg) towards 1440 - 50 until the end of the first century of the Typographie in 1500, is one period of approximately 60 years for France.

The “incunable” term appears in the history of the book about the 17th century, this term does not correspond to large thing, it only makes it possible to go back the first books printed with the process to Gutenberg.

The completion date in 1500 is arbitrary and varies according to the sources. The printed books in January 1501 do not differ from those printed in December 1500, the technical innovations in the Imprimerie will only intervene much later. On the other hand, the page layout of the books evolves/moves very quickly. This period varies slightly according to the place of impression of the book, thus a book printed in 1514 in Germany of the South will be also regarded an incunable or, according to the sources, as a Post-incunable.

definition of the size of the plank

ImageSize = width: 550 height: 150 # cut total image: width, height PlotArea = width: 450 height: 95 left: 50 bottom: 40 # cut real plank within the image DateFormat = yyyy # format of the dates used Period = from: - 200 till: 2007 # amount of time (of… with…) TimeAxis = orientation: horizontal # orientation of the plank (vertical or horizontal) ScaleMajor = links: year increment: 200 start: 0 # temporal increment (major)

definition of the data of the plank

PlotData= # definition of the first bar: 45 pixels broad, etc bar: deliver color: yellow width: 45 mark: (line, white) align: left fontsize: M from: start till: 2007 shift: (- 15,30) At: 0 mark: (line, black) shift: (0,30) textcolor: black fontsize: 8 text: Parchment At: 1300 mark: (line, black) shift: (- 15,30) textcolor: black fontsize: 8 text: Paper At: 1440 mark: (line, black) shift: (0,30) textcolor: black fontsize: 8 text: Invention of the typography bar: Evolution color: blue width: 45 mark: (line, white) align: left fontsize: M bar: Evolution color: blue from: start till: 0 shift: (- 30, - 60) textcolor: blue text: Papyrus bar: Evolution color: red from: 0 till: 1440 shift: (- 15, - 60) textcolor: red text: Codex bar: Evolution color: green from: 1440 till: 1500 shift: (- 15, - 60) textcolor: green text: Incunable bar: Evolution color: orange from: 1500 till: 2007 shift: (- 30,0) text: Current book

The page layout

The page layout of an incunable takes again that of the handwritten books Codex. The Cahier S of the book are made of sheets folded and connected together by a wire in ox nerve or parchment rolled and bent to the back.

The format more used is folio - sheet folded into 2 -, but there exist also incunables with the quarto formats - sheet folded into 4 - this more practical format to handle, will be used by the printers of manual, delivers of right, Romance .

The pages are printed recto-back (Opisthographie) on paper or Vélin. The paper used since the 13th century a little everywhere in Europe will support the development of printing works considerably.

The title page does not exist yet, the impression of the book begins with the recto from the first layer from where a premature wear of this first page.

The text is spread out over two or three columns from 30 to 70 lines per column.

The letters are printed in characters Gothic S imitation of the manuscripts Codex. Later, the Roman character resulting from the concise inscriptions of the ancient monuments appears.

At the beginning, the characters were molten in the workshop of the printer. It is towards 1540 that Claude Garamond created the first foundry of characters.

Illustrations

With the difference in the codices, illuminations are very often replaced by illustrations engraved on wood and reproduced in Xylographie and, for some, colored with the hand.

For the most invaluable incunables, reserved for notable most fortunate, the illustrations and reference letters will be carried out by a Miniaturiste, the printer then leaves a white in the page.

The sections can be painted, gilded, marbled.

The Binding

Before the discovery of printing works, the binding was an exclusively monastic art. As from the 13th century, the ligator - binder - and thereafter the religator - bookbinder - carry out bindings in:

brown calf,
skin of sow,
of many handwritten parchments (Palimpsest) will be also used to cover the books.

The decoration of the binding is carried out by cold stamping - embossing of leather by irons known as “monastic”. To fight against the flight the most invaluable works are equipped with a heavy chain fixed of with dimensions at the binding and other with the desk of reading, practical which will remain until the 17th century.

The binding of the incunables takes again those of the codices, the bindings are often parts of great luxury, with the gilded and engraved sections. But as the printed book is produced in series, and by preoccupations with an economy, the Imprimeur also will make connect these books in more rudimentary covers, realized out of paperboard. The metal corners, the clasps are removed. With the discovery of printing works, the art of the Reliure develops, towards the end of the 15th century century one starts has to employ the Maroquin tints in red, green, marbled.

The commercial binding appears with. with for example the Parisian binding of famous the Bibliophile French Jean Grolier de Servières 1479-1565, Thomas Mahieu 1520-1590, Pierre Roffet commercial bookbinder of François I {{er}} and of Henri II.

With the difference in the codex - each manuscript is single - the printed book is produced in series.

The text begin with the Incipit and ends in the Excipit. The claims and the Foliotation - or foliation - the signature are always used.

The production of the incunables - in Italy and Germany mainly - is primarily nun: canticles, litanies, ritual, prayers in Latin, life of Jesus and, of course, works of Holy Augustin.

The production is also directed towards the reproduction of herbaria, the medieval texts, calendars, the Greek literature (Homère), the work of the poet writer Horace, the treaties of medicine, printed in languages other than Latin - Romance, Germanic, Anglo-Saxon languages vernacular S etc

For the same edition, the contents of a book can vary. So in the course of impression the correct modifies the contents of the book, by preoccupation with an economy, the first pulling will not be destroyed. To final, the book will be connected with the modified pages and the not modified pages. For the printers the most courageous modifications of the text will be reported the hand.

The incunable in France

The first incunables are in Gothic letters, less angular than those of the picture books. These letters were called “letters of nap”, in opposition to the “letters of form”, and also “Flemish” or “German”.

The Gothic letters were replaced, in the same century, by the Roman character “”, the “Italic ” and the “cicéro”.

In these editions, the I and the J , the U and the v are indistinctly employed one for the other; in the Latin words finishing in tio and tia , the T is in general replaced by the C , as in Spanish; the Diphthong S œ and æ do not exist.

In Punctuation, the not with the figure of a star and the Virgule is marked by an oblique line.

The Alinéa S are often aligned, i.e. on the level of the other lines; they are sometimes projecting, or apart from the other lines of some letters, other times returning as in the current editions.

Often the pagination does not exist. The margins have a great width.

Paper, at the beginning, is large, unequal, yellow or gray.

Sorbonne

In 1470 three German workmen, resulting from the typographical printing works of Mainz, Ulrich Gering, Martin Grantz and Michel Friburger, install in France, in Paris, in the buildings of the Sorbonne, the first typographical printing works.

In 1477, Louis XI order the drafting of the first French book with the printing works of the Sorbonne.

Bookseller Printer

Merchants of book, since the 12th siècle

In 1537, François 1st founds the obligation of Registration of copyright. Officially to defend the statute of the Libraire S, semi-officially to supervise what was écrit.
In 1546 Etienne Dolet printer-bookseller is tortured, strangled and burned with its books with Paris, place Maubert.

First incunables

B42 bible

The first known incunable is the Bible with forty-two lines, known as B42, printed by Johannes Gutenberg, Peter Schöffer and Johann Fust towards 1455. It is composed of two volumes which make together 1282 pages made up of two columns of forty-two lines. The text is black and in Gothic letters. On an estimated pulling of one hundred eighty specimens, only forty-eight reached us.

Psalmorum Codex

Psautier liturgical, known as " Psautier of Mainz " , work printed by Johann Fust and Pierre Schoeffer á Mainz in 1457 celebrates, reprinted by them in 1459.

It will have to be waited until 1457 so that Schoeffer and Fust - well that the technical collaboration of this last is not clearly proven print their first book color Psalmorum Codex, more known in France under the name of Psautier de Mayence.
This work is considered, with the four books printed by Gutenberg, like one of the most invaluable books of all times for several reasons:

red, color printing black and blue,
its quality of impression, in spite of the use of a nature known as “of form”,
regularity of the cast iron of the characters,
illustrations, by the precision of engraving,
made in filigree decorated reference letters,
a colophon at the end of the work.

Pierre Schoeffer will have the greatest difficulties in print his book. He will spend, appears he, more than 4.000 guilders for the impression of 12 feuillets.
The psautier was at that time, the most required book for the devotion private. He contains calendar, litanies, canticles and prayers in Latin.

Chronicles of Nuremberg

Another incunable celebrates are the Chroniques of Nuremberg of Hartmann Schedel, printed by Anton Koberger in 1493.

The other famous printers are Albrecht Pfister (Bamberg), Günther Zainer (Augsburg), Johannes Mentelin (Strasbourg), William Caxton (Bruges) and Michael Furter (Basle).

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