Topic 2 - Illuminated Manuscripts - 18th March

An illuminated manuscript differs to a normal manuscript through its beautiful decorations and illustrations, some which were also decorated with silver and gold. It was a long and careful process to create these beautiful and unique manuscripts.
I was interested to learn that there are 5 different styles of illuminated manuscripts; Insular, Carolingian, Ottonian, Romanesque and Gothic, all of them with distinct characteristics.

There are also many types of manuscripts which were mostly for religious purposes. They included bibles, service books, musical manuscripts, as well as histories and text books among others.
There were even different types of scripts used.

 I found that watching videos of the manuscripts being made was more interesting and easier to understand rather than reading the long essays about them. One of the other students posted a video that showed everything involved in making the illuminated manuscripts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aDHJu9J10o

The video shows how the parchment was prepared for the manuscripts by being soaked, stretched, scraped for thickness, rubbed with powders to prepare for writing, cut to size, folded and ruled. It shows how the writing was done by the scribe with a quill and how easily errors were able to be scratched out because of the parchments durability.
The manuscript was decorated with paints and precious metals only after the scribe was finished copying the text. The illuminator first sketched the design then added details. Precious metals were applied first followed by paler shades of paint, then the darker shades, black outlines and white highlights.
The manuscripts were then sewed together in gatherings and bound in a leather covered wood cover. Clasps were added to stop parchment from expanding. Covers could also be decorated.

After much research I took a lot of interest in a particular element of illuminated manuscripts called Fore Edge Painting.
I actually came across Fore Edge Painting while browsing the internet and was instantly reminded of illuminated manuscripts. These paintings are done on the edges of pages and when combined with a gilded edge causes the image to disappear and can only be seen when the pages of the books are fanned out.

The earliest dated fore edge painting is believed to be from 1651 and was a family coat of arms painted on a bible. This form of art originated in the 10th Century where monks cataloguing monastery libraries identified books by lettering 'class marks' on closed edges.

After my research I found that fore edge painting was in fact related to illuminated manuscripts. I found an online glossary for terms in relation to illuminated manuscripts. It also included a catalogue of images of all sorts of illuminated manuscripts. Quite a good site!

http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossA.asp

It's A Book!

I found this video which made me laugh and raised the question of what will a book be in the future? I posted it on the forum to see what other students responses would be. Will people in the future even know what a book is? I tossed up whether to leave this video for the last topic or not but I think it applies to both.

The video received responses such as;

"it really does highlight the different generations"

"Are concentration spans shrinking, or are we becoming pro multi-taskers! It's a fine line."

"it does make one think about whether people will even appreciate being able to access a book or even want to in the future"

"Like many parts of our culture the seeds need planting while still young. I'm a grandpa and have the experience of planting the seeds for reading books with my own kids and now theirs"

'It's a Book' (Video trailer for the book by Lane Smith) 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YvMFLf0K3k

Further Studies - Blind People and books

In my last post i thought that it would be interesting to know how blind people define a book. For people who can see it would be easy for us to be able to look at a book and describe it. I have taken particular interest in a blind persons definition as i feel that they would define them through the feel and function rather than the form and content.
I thought that it was interesting that many articles talked about what a break through eBooks have been for the blind, as I know that myself and others are not quite convinced that eBooks should be classified as a book. I discovered from one article that under 1% of books are published in braille and even smaller proportion of them being children's books.The author of the article states that:

'I have all the sensory hankerings of the book-lover – the smell of the paper; the satisfying crack of opening a new book; the pleasingly rounded feel of the spine – with none of the satisfaction of reading them.' 
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/17/peter-white-books-braille-ereaders)

Blind people now have access to many resources that allow them to read or hear any book that they want. These technologies include; talking books, scanners that turn regular books to braille or synthetic speech and eBoooks. These technologies have made it possible for the reader to decide what they want to read rather than the person who decides which books are published in braille.

Topic 1: The Book Form - 11th March

There are so many interesting points on this topic! So many different ideas, views and discussions to be had on what is a book, and what isn't?

There is such a diverse response to the question, What is a Book? I found it interesting to see what other students felt needed to be included in their definitions and what they decided would be ok to leave out.

There is so much history behind all parts of a book.

Papyrus was used most for making scrolls but cracked when folded so in order to fix this, sheets of papyrus were glued together and rolled up to make scrolls. The text was rolled up on the inside to protect it and while being unrolled with one hand, it had to be rolled up with the other at the same time. Papyrus was fragile and easily damaged by both moisture and dryness. Parchment was more durable but much heavier which wasn't ideal for bigger volumes. The codex evolved from writing tablets.

They had a protective cover, it could be used for both large and small volumes, it was more efficient, portable, easier to store and easier to read.

But is all this history relevant to what makes a book a book today?

The most interesting point that I found in one of the discussions was about Brail in books. It's not something I ever considered when thinking of my own definition. I would be interested to know how a blind person would define a book. I imagine that the physical form would be much the same but what would they say about the content? Perhaps this is something I could try and find more info on.

I do recognise that the definition of a book is culturally specific and I believe that my definition reflects my cultures expectations. This does not mean that I have disregarded other things that may be included in other people's definition of a book. It just means my definition targets my society in 2013 (and more likely the definition most 90's kids would relate to).

One thing I did forget to mention in my definition but I'm not too worried about is that it's not just the form of a book that may differ but also the structure of the content. Books are not always read in the Western convention and I think that as we accept more cultures as a part of our own, it may be important to include their way of reading into my definition. For example, I know that Japanese Manga is very popular among many youth and these books are printed to be read from back to front.

My definition of a book is as follows:

A book typically consists of a cover and pages bound together with the ability to be opened, closed, an pages turned in between. Most commonly a book is made of paper but has been made from other materials in the past. A book has a beginning and an end. It may contain written or printed information, thoughts and ideas, pictures or stories etc. It really could contain anything! 
There are many other things that contain 'book-like' features (eg. an ebook or a scroll), or may be considered perhaps as a 'sub category' of books (eg. a magazine or newspaper).

I think my definition did very well in taking into account many of the points in the study guide. It mentioned; what a book is made of (and acknowledge that it was different in the past), it took in to account the most common physical form of a book and mentioned the idea of other things that have book-like features, it mentioned the idea of a cover, pages and sequence but not necessarily as essential components, and what it may or may not contain. 

After further reading I think my definition will remain as is. The research that I have done has reinforced my ideas of what a book is. I thought it was interesting that the web resource 'The book form: A brief history of the book' on the Art and Books website says that the scroll is considered to be the first book form from around 3000 BC. I disagree. I wonder if scrolls can really be classed as books and if the term 'book' was used at all in this time? Or were they simply just scrolls? I understand that scrolls have 'book-like' features, but I think that scrolls would have a fairly strong definition of their own. I'm learning that there are ways of making the definition of a book less complicated. 

To back up my ideas of what is not a book I read Philip Smith's 'The Whatness of Bookness, or What is a Book'. I strongly agree with Smith and glad I took the time to read the article. I believe that just because something has book-like features, it doesn't make it a book. Smith says in his article that 'The term (book) should not strictly include pre-codex carriers of text such as the scroll or the clay tablet, in fact nothing on a single leaf or planar surface such as a TV screen, poster or handbill..'

I think there is a lot more to a book than just 'something you pick up and read.'(Richard Seibert - www.artistbooks.com/editions/wiab.html) 

That could be anything!!

I apologise to anyone who may disagree but to me, a scroll is a scroll, a poster is a poster, and a book is a book.  

:)

Week One - Introduction - 4th March

This week I spent a lot of time going over the subject outline and study guide to make sure that I know all about the assignments and their due dates. I am a bit worried about doing this subject by distance as it's the first time I've studied in this mode. This is my second time doing this subject so I want to ensure that I keep up to date.
I've already found that it is hard to keep up with everyone on the forum as some days there may be no posts and then other days there are heaps and going through them can be quite time consuming. However, it has been quite interesting to see the variety in ages, courses being studied and locations that people have talked about in their introductory posts.

I myself posted a message:
Hi just thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Jenna and I am in my final year of study in the Bachelor of Arts (Graphic Design). This is my second time doing this subject and this time I'm doing it by distance as it is my only subject left to do. 
I'm unsure of what I want to do upon completing my degree. Perhaps continue studying but in a different field? For now I am filling my time with casual work in Wagga. 
I was initially drawn to this subject by the children's books topic after briefly touching on this topic in highschool English and having worked in a preschool. This time round however, I feel I will benefit from choosing comics and graphic novels in order to make the subject a little bit different for myself and expand my knowledge in a different area. Hopefully it will interest me as much as children's books did :)

I thought that it would be a good idea to keep track of my forum postings in this learning journal.
I decide to keep my learning journal in the form of a blog as I feel that it is something I feel quite comfortable with doing having taken many subjects that have required the use of an online blog. I also feel that it would be a good way to add videos and images to my thoughts and researches. I'm hoping that I will be able to show my learning within my journal. I feel that learning by distance will make for a different experience and I may learn different to last year without having the in class discussions with the lecturer and other students. I think I will definitely take advantages of the points in the study guide that direct you when your unsure of what to put in the learning journal.

I have also already been thinking about my topic for my essay and have decided that instead of redoing the topic I did last year that I will choose a different one in order to expand my knowledge in a different topic. So this time I will be doing 'What is an artist's Book?'. I have already made many points to discuss within the essay and will begin expanding on those points very soon.

So these are my plans for the semester and hopefully studying by distance will prove to be a worthwhile experience and encourage me to keep organised and and to become an independent learner
:)