Exploited Color in Books
Janet Kuypers
8/14/19, the day in 1457 the
first Book was Printed in Color
We think that we in the modern world
have a monopoly over sensory exploitation,
since our 20-second attention spans
look at screens and magazines in full color.
But we should make clear that everything here
has existed long ago this way, even if it was
merely a printed page, but still, people
exploited color in books a half millennium ago.
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Those of us who love holding books in our hands
may be the same who prefer newspapers to tablets,
those cumbersome pages still have a glorious feel
as we hold and turn the pages in our hands.
And as we welcome better inks on the pages now
that are less inclined to rub into your hands,
we’re also graced with color, in pictures, in ads,
in headers and occasionally in type. And it’s type
in books that first caught the eye of book designers,
when in 1457 the first color book was ever printed.
A book with the Book of Psalms and commissioned
by the Archbishop of Mainz, it had bold initial letters
emblazoned in blues and reds — and yes, this was
also the first time different size types were also used.
The book was also printed on vellum, fine parchment
paper, get a load of this, made from the skin of a calf.
This makes me think of the cream paper we love
when reading poetry books and literary magazines
(with the modern conveniences of not killing animals),
printed with both black ink and occasional color inks.
Because yes, the convenience of full color 3x4 screens
at your fingertips is splendid with memory to view
miniature video, photography or just the right type.
But holding a book in your hands, with just the right
amount of color, that is what can really pull you in,
into not only a story, but also into finding something
you’ll want to look at for more than 20 seconds,
because you’ll want to keep that on your library shelf.
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