Books Before the Printing Press

Until the 15th century in Europe, written knowledge was recorded altogether by hand. Each book was a unique object, and preparing one not only required the knowledge it was meant to store but the many artisanal skills needed to make the vellum or paper, build and sew the bindings, and inscribe the words legibly into its pages.

BREVIARY

14th Century, created in Italy (probably Taranto) between 1350 and 1400

Not only is this work a true medieval manuscript, but the pastedowns (sheets that were used to cover the interior of the wooden boards used as covers) are written text from the late 11th or early 12th centuries, in an early form of Gothic script.

This substantial fragment is from a manuscript breviary—that is, a book that contained the daily service that was used by those in orders in the Roman Catholic Church. The book contains the texts of the Divine Office. Based on the complexity of the text, we can assume that the work was not meant for use by a lay person, but would have been used by a monk.

The work also includes De Mensurabili Musica (Concerning Measured Music), which is an early 13th century work by French music theorist Johannes de Garlandia, and includes substantial passages of musical notation.

HOMILIARY

Early 15th Century, created in Spain

This work is a compilation of homilies by St. Augustine, John Christomos, St. Benedict, Pope Leo I and others. The book itself is worn: Some pages have been trimmed, cut, or repaired. Text has been scratched out or corrected. Original board covers were lost and restored. This is not unusual, though—collections of homilies were created to be used.

Homiliaries were first created in the 780s under Charlemagne, and were held in very high esteem. They were read in connection with the Divine Office and provided readings from prominent theologians to illuminate the main events of the Church calendar. The work is not illuminated (that is, there is no use of gold or silver leaf in the production of the work), but it contains highly decorated initials, and ornate pen work throughout.

This is especially interesting since this homiliary was created in the early 15th century, in such close proximity to Gutenberg’s development of the printing press. Early printed works often borrowed structure and ornamentation from the manuscript tradition. As we will see, it was not uncommon for incunabula to allot space for decorated capitals, include illustration in the form of wood block prints, and to use columns or other textual structure that replicated the handwritten codices of the middle ages.