“An Eye for an Ear”

stephen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:29:11 +0000

gutenberg bible spread in the Library of Congress

One of the three known “perfect vellum” copies of The Gutenberg Bible, is owned and displayed at the Library of Congress. It is important to understand its impact, not just in the history of graphic design and typography, but as one of the most significant documents in the development of western culture.

It was a remarkable typographic and technical achievement, Gutenberg had to overcome a variety of difficulties to produce the two volume edition. However, producing multiples of a book went beyond a practical solution, it changed the way we think and relate to one another. According to Marshall McLuhan, (I’m simplifying his ideas considerably), we moved from story telling = group, shared knowledge, to print = individual, specialized knowledge. This ability to distribute information took the power of interpretation out of the hands of the few (literary intelligentsia) and gave it to us all.

Where: Library of Congress, 2nd floor of the Jefferson Building.
When: Monday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm.
Metro stop: “Capitol South” on the Blue and Orange lines. Two blocks north on 1st St SE

For more on McLuhan’s (prophet of the electronic age) interpretation read Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man or The Book of Probes by Marshall McLuhan.

Please reduce, reuse, and recycle these ideas.

six-16 stoppages » designhistory

“An Eye for an Ear”