История письма и чтения. Асафова Г.К. - 130 стр.

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schoolbooks, and collections of popular tales. He published more than 700 titles,

mostly small volumes for the ordinary citizen, and continued Caxton's

standardizing of the language, a solid contribution to the native book trade. The

best of the early printers was Richard Pynson of Normandy, who began printing in

1492 and became printer to the king in 1508. Pynson, the first to use roman type in

England (1509), published the first English book on arithmetic (1522). After his

early liturgies and some fine illustrated books, he concentrated mainly on legal

works. In 1521 he published Henry VIII's answer to Luther in defense of the

papacy, for which the King received the title of fidei defensor (“defender of the

faith”) from the Pope.

THE AGE OF EARLY PRINTING: 1450–1550

Before the invention of printing, the number of manuscript books in Europe

could be counted in thousands. By 1500, after only 50 years of printing, there were

more than 9,000,000 books. These figures indicate the impact of the press, the

rapidity with which it spread, the need for an artificial script, and the vulnerability

of written culture up to that time.

The printed books of this initial period, up to 1500, are known as

incunabula; i.e., “swaddling clothes” or “cradle,” from a Latin phrase used in 1639

to describe the beginnings of typography. The dividing line, however, is artificial.

The initial period of printing, a restless, highly competitive free-for-all, runs well

into the 16th century. Printing began to settle down, to become regulated from

within and controlled from without, only after about 1550. In this first 100 years,

the printer dominated the book trade. The printer was often his own type founder,

editor, publisher, and bookseller; only papermaking and, usually, bookbinding

were outside his province.