The Portable Book

The development of printing, typography, and the book as we know them today gained decisive momentum during the Renaissance. These advancements played a crucial role in the transition to the modern era through their power to disseminate knowledge. Around the mid-15th century, almost simultaneously, the printing press using movable type was invented in the Netherlands and Germany.¹ The most renowned work resulting from this invention is the 42-line Bible produced by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, the printing hub of Germany. In 1462, after the city was sacked by Archbishop Adolf II, many printers fled, primarily to Italy, where they blended their Gothic lettering tradition with the script trends of Italian Humanism.

Gothic script of the Middle Ages, particularly in Western Europe, was characterized by dark, hard-to-read, angular, and vertically proportioned letters—traits that mirrored the architecture and painting of the period. Humanist script, developed in Italy, embraced classical ideals inherited from Greek and Roman cultures, where the square and circle served as foundations of proportion. This began a process of rationalizing letterforms and the systematic emergence of typography aimed at legibility and reproducibility. Uppercase letters (majuscules) from ancient stone inscriptions on buildings and classical monuments were combined with lowercase letters (minuscules) from distinctive Carolingian calligraphic manuscripts, typical of the early 9th century. Later, cursive script was added to this repertoire—an adaptation of fast, everyday handwriting. Cursive was favored for its narrow form, which saved space on the page, making it ideal for producing small, portable books, as envisioned by Aldus Manutius.² Since then, cursive—or italics—has been used to emphasize words within a text.

Venice became one of the most influential printing centers of the Renaissance due to its mercantile tradition and proximity to several universities. By the end of the 15th century, it hosted more than fifty active printing presses. The first humanist-style type families were developed there—known today as Venetian or Antiqua. One of the notable typographers of the time was the Frenchman Nicolas Jenson, who gained experience in Mainz and later carried out most of his work in Venice.³ In 1470, Jenson printed De Præparatione Evangelica by Eusebius. This work marked a milestone in the development of two new disciplines: type design and book design, which emerged at that time as distinct fields with their own rules and objectives.

Notes

1. Movable type and its application to paper had already been created in East Asia, but in Europe, the contribution lay in the adoption of the press—a tool originally used for producing wine and oils such as olive oil.

2. Aldus Manutius (1449–1515) was an Italian humanist and printer, considered the creator of the modern book.

3. Adobe Jenson Pro, designed by Robert Slimbach, captures the essence of the cursive type designs by Ludovico degli Arrighi and the roman typefaces by Nicolas Jenson—a combination of legibility, expression, and consistency drawn from two icons of Renaissance typography.

By César Sesio

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2/12. South portal of Chartres Cathedral (c. 1215–20).

3/12. The Gutenberg Bible, also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible, or simply B42, is the first book printed in Western Europe using movable metal type. It marks a turning point in the art of bookmaking and in the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern world.

4/12. The Gutenberg Bible, (detail) also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible, or simply B42, is the first book printed in Western Europe using movable metal type. It marks a turning point in the art of bookmaking and in the transition from the Middle Ages to the modern world.

5/12. Cologne cathedral.

6/12. The inscription on the base of Trajan's Column, which uses Roman square capitals. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which depicts the wars between the Romans and Dacians.

7/12. Carolingian minuscule alphabet. It is thought to have originated before 778 CE at the scriptorium of the Benedictine monks of Corbie Abbey, about 150 kilometres (95 miles) north of Paris, and then developed by Alcuin of York for wide use in the Carolingian Renaissance.

8/12. A specimen of Nicolas Jenson's archetypal roman typeface, from the Laertis, published in Venice c. 1475.

9/12. Arrighi's italic typeface design, c. 1523. The type is based on the Renaissance Italian handwritten script known as "cursiva humanistica". It inspired later French italic types.

10/12. In 1470, Nicola Jenson printed De Præparatione Evangelica by Eusebius.

11/12. In 1470, Nicola Jenson printed De Præparatione Evangelica by Eusebius.

The Portable Book