3 comments

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  Denise G

  2 years ago

  Oh ,Jandy, when I took this class last year and learned all that went into making books and the scribes that worked so hard on them I couldn't help but appreciate the craftsmanship. It is , for the most part, a thing of the past. I'm not saying that in the snobbish way that some may--but instead, merely appreciating the creation on the outside as well as the created word inside. Maybe this a little different than those you are addressing though?
  ? Denise
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  Jandy

  2 years ago

  Oh, I can definitely appreciate the craftsmanship side of it, and especially, as you point out, the original manuscripts that were created before printing. Some of them are amazing and are deservedly treasured--I think of things like the Book of Kells in Dublin, and various other illuminated manuscripts especially. But somehow that doesn't translate over for me into printed books. I mean, I acknowledge that early printing was also time-consuming and difficult on the typesetters and all. But I don't get why the first printed edition of a work, for example, is so great, while the second edition (which could have been printed, like, two years later) is much less valuable. It's this obsession with first printed editions for their own sake that mystifies me.
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  Denise G

  2 years ago

  Ahhhh, and I am relieved. I figured I had to be thinking of it in a different vein. Understood now
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