Speaking broadly, we, as a species, seem to have placed great value on making our mark on the world. There are relics from nearly every culture that have been preserved and that are now displayed for people to learn from and sit in awe over. This truth not only illustrates our efforts as humans to create and make known our cultures through the arts, but also the notion that such efforts are appreciated by those who come after us. Listening to the presentation this morning on the history of booking making and illuminated manuscripts only furthered my appreciation for such a rich human history. Being able to touch and look through books from centuries ago was both fascinating and thought provoking. After learning about the process of book making and the various mediums on which books have printed over time, I found myself wondering what the next medium for this process will be. Have we already found the answer? In the digital age, are kindles, nooks and iPads the new medium? If so, what will come in next? If not, and paper is still king, what will eventually take its place?
2 Replies to “Bookmaking”
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Hi Jack,
I think the question of what the new medium for literature and knowledge is going to be is an interesting one. Although ebooks have been out for a number of years now, it’s interesting to see how books still endure albeit in a slightly different way. I remember talking to an alum in publishing who said that because of the availability of ebooks, people were still buying physical books but the type of demand had changed. Now there is a much larger emphasis on the visual appearance of the book and a push to make books more physically appealing because often times they are used as almost decorative elements alongside their written content. I think this is an interesting transition in the way we view books and will perhaps preserve a lot more of the aspect of physical beauty of illuminated manuscripts than we originally thought .
–Erica
Hi, Jack. This is a very interesting topic. Yes, indeed, the transformation from the traditional ways of reading, writing and communicating to the modern technology is incredibly fast and makes people wonder what comes next. From my perspective, it is all about individual preference though. The purpose of inviting the new technology is not only to make everyday life convenient, but to more broadly spread the ideas of inheriting our predecessors’ wisdom. History is of the same importance of the future, thus no matter what replaces the paper or what improvement is made on paper products, this form of medium will always exist.