Field Trip: Rare Book Library University of Illinois

Last Friday my Graphic Design History class went on another field trip. We went to the Rare Book Library in the main library at the University of Illinois. I thought the trip was going to very dull and boring, but I was actually interested. One of the curators, a Mr. Marten Stromberg delivered an amazing presentation of some works collected there and kept the trip very entertaining. The above picture is from Gutenberg's Bible, probably one of the earliest prints of all time. It is an example from the year ca. 1450 and shows us a Gothic/German influence on the typeface brought to us by the man who brought printing to the western world.

The above image is a French children's pocket book. They type was so small that it was nearly impossible to read with my own eyes and the curves of the font didn't help either. The entire book could have fit in the palm of my hand. Tiny!

Starting to see a Roman influence in these early works, but the reason I took this picture is because of the beautiful drop cap and gorgeous borders that were printed from wood engravings. I have to admit that I'm not that interested in the printing side of graphic design, I have a concentration in the illustration side of my major, so I'm much more impressed by images and pictures. Early print still piques my interest somewhat, but those borders really catch my eye, especially that top border, it almost pops off the page for me.

Another example of early woodgraving. I apologize for not knowing the name of this work, or others in this blog. I was given a sheet that has all the names of the pieces we saw on the field trip, but I can't read Latin and even the English titles don't ring any bells when I read them. This piece is different because it sort of mixes a German style with a Roman influence.

This piece on the right is an example of some the best looking borders I've ever seen in early works. It's hard to believe that it was a wood engraving that was pressed onto paper to make the border. I couldn't imagine creating the engraving used to create these images. I think it would take me years to make just one of them and shudder at the thought of spending that much time.

An example from 1786 from William Caslon, the designer of the font that was used in the Declaration of Independence. Stromberg told us a funny story about how Benjamin Franklin took this work and ripped the top off, to conceal that it belonged to Caslon, and then took the type around to his friends, proclaiming this was an example of Baskerville's work. Baskerville was a contemporary of Caslon. Franklin asked his friends what the faults in the type were, then took his findings back to Caslon and informed him what he had learned.

Finally, a sans serif typeface! From 1945, by Kenneth Patchen, an architect. Designers of this period were tired of serifs and hailed futurism, their work showing great strides in font design. I can't believe how great this page looks and that it was created around the end of World War II. I have seen works created today that look very similar to this, because we are still using these fonts. Simply beautiful! It's hard to believe this was not printed digitally. Stunning! This is the kind of type I can really get behind.