Pentateuch of Printing with a Chapter on Judges (page 1/3)

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Fifteenth Century Wooden Composing Stick

“Standing in front of the case, the compositor held in his left hand a wooden “composing-stick,” in which a rectangular trench had been cut to receive the letters. Reading and keeping in his mind a few words of his manuscript, he picked up the types letter by letter and placed them side by side until first [...] [more...]

A Line of Composed Type

“When the end of a line was reached, and there was no room for more words and yet some space left, the compositor by placing a little extra space between the words made the line fill out the stick. This was called ‘justifying” the line. Each line was lifted out of the stick and placed on a wooden board; thus line after line was [...] [more...]

Cherubs carrying books

Anatomically correct cherubs carrying books through the undergrowth.

Old Iron Composing Stick

Not mentioned in the text, but see the fifteenth century composing stick for details. [more...]

From the Biblia Pauperum. Block Book. 15th Century.

This image is taken from a fifteenth century “Speculum humanæ salvationis”, probably from the first Latin edition of around 1470. The panels represent the fall of Lucifer and the creation of Eve from Adam, respectively. [more...]