Manuscript design in antiquity

Although its advent (5) as a profession is fairly (7) recent, graphic design has roots that reach deep into antiquity. The invention of the alphabet (29) (from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet (32), alpha and beta) made possible to represent the sounds of a spoken language by a set of visual symbols transferred to a special surface. The ancient Greeks adopted the “Phoenician alphabet” (34) and spread it through their city-states (35) around 1000 BC. As early as (9) 2^nd century A.D., the Greeks developed a more rounded writing style called “uncial” (43). This script could be written more quickly because its rounded letters were formed with fewer strokes (25). Greek scribes made their pens from hard reeds, cut into a nib (22) and split at the tip to aid ink (17) flow. These pens gave their writing a totally different character than writing by Egyptian scribes, who used soft reeds to brush (12) ink (17) on the substrate (26). The Greek alphabet fathered (2) the Etruscan (31), Latin (33), and Cyrillic (30) alphabets.

The manuscripts made in ancient China, Egypt, Greece and Rome were richly illustrated. In a manuscript the text was supplemented by decorated initials (16), marginalia (21) and miniature illustrations. The luminosity of gold and silver reflecting light from the pages of handwritten book, gave the sensation of the page being illuminated; this effect gave birth to the term “illuminated manuscript” (14). Today this name is used for all decorated and illustrated handwritten books produced from the late Roman Empire until typography was developed in Europe around 1450.

Manuscript production was costly and time-consuming (6). Around 190 B.C. in the Roman Empire (40), parchment (24), made from the skins of domestic animals, began to be used as a substrate (26). Vellum (28), the finest parchment (24), is made from the skin of newborn calves. With the use of parchment (24), the codex (36) (book form) began to compete with the scroll (42) of papyrus (23). Nearly all books were created in the monastic scriptorium (39) or writing room. Its head was the “scrittore” (39), a well educated scholar who understood Greek and Latin and functioned as both editor and art director. The scrittori (41) laid out the pages (19) to indicate where the illustrations were to be added after the text was written. The “copista” (37) was a production letterer (20) who spent his days bent over a writing table penning pages in a trained lettering style. The illuminator (15) or illustrator was an artist responsible for (4) ornamentation and images.

The ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (38), which contained texts intended to aid the deceased in the afterlife, is a superb example of early graphic design. Hieroglyphic narratives penned by scribes are supplied with colourful illustrations on rolls of papyrus. Words and pictures are unified into a cohesive whole (3): both elements are compressed into a horizontal band, the repetitive vertical structure of the writing is echoed (1) in both the columns and (10) the figures, and a consistent style of brushwork (11) is used for the writing and drawing. Flat areas of colour (13) are bound by firm brush (11) contours that contrast vibrantly (8) with the rich texture (27) of the hieroglyphic writing (18).

Illustrations: 1. Uncial – the book hand of the 5^th – 8^th centuries, 2. Book of Hours. Utrecht, c.1470. Vellum, 3. Jean Miélot (? – 1472) – a European author and scribe – in his scriptorium working on the Miracles of Our Lady. 4. Papyrus page from the Book of the Dead, 18th dynasty; in the Egyptian Museum, Turin, Italy. Egyptian Museum, Torino, Italy

VOCABULARY NOTES

VERBS & COMBINATIONS WITH VERBS

1. to echo in smth ['ɪkəʊ] – повторяться, отражаться, находить отклик в чём-л

2. to father smth ['fɑ:ðə] – порождать что-л

syn. to generate smth, give birth to smth, to give rise to smth

COMBINATIONS WITH ADJECTIVES

3. cohesive whole [kəʊ'hi:sɪv 'həʊl] – единое целое

4. to be responsible for smth – отвечать (быть ответственным) за что-л

NOUNS & COMBINATIONS WITH THEIR ATTRIBUTES

5. advent ['ædvənt] – прибытие, приход, появление

syn. arrival, emergence

6. time-consuming production ['taɪm kən'sju:mɪŋ prə'dʌkʃən] – трудоёмкое производство

ADVERBS

7. fairly ['feəlɪ] – довольно, достаточно, в известной степени

syn. quite, rather, somewhat, (разг.) pretty

8. vibrantly (to contrast with smth) ['vaɪbrəntlɪ] – живо, резко, ярко (контрастировать с чем-л)

SET PHRASES

9. as early as (some time) [əz 'з:lɪ əz] – уже в (какое-л время)

10. both … and … [bəʊθ … ənd] – (correlative conj. – парный союз) и …, и …; как …, так и …

PROFESSIONAL TERMS

11. brush [brʌʃ] кисть; (перен.) работа кистью (также brushwork)

12. to brush [brʌʃ] – наносить кистью

13. flat colour ['flæt 'kʌlə] – блеклый, тусклый цвет

N.B.: Mind the word-order change in the translation of the combination:

flat areas of colour – участки тусклого цвета

14. illuminated manuscript [ɪˌl(j)u:mɪ'neɪtɪd 'mænjuskrɪpt] – иллюминированная рукопись (богато украшенная золотом, серебром, драгоценными камнями и рисунками)

15. illuminator [ɪˌl(j)u:mɪ'neɪtə] – художник-иллюминатор (оформитель и иллюстратор рукописей цветными рисунками)

16. initial [ɪ'nɪʃ(ə)l] (letter) – заглавная (буква)

syn. capital letter – большая, прописная (буква)

17. ink [ɪŋk] – чернила

18. hieroglyphic writing [ˌhaɪ(ə)rə'glɪfɪk 'raɪtɪŋ] – надпись иероглифами

19. to lay out a page ['leɪ 'aʊt ə 'peɪdʒ] – размечать, планировать страницу

20. letterer ['letərə] – шрифтовик

21. marginalia [ˌmɑ:dʒɪ'neɪljə] (в полиграфии) боковушки, маргиналии, поля (книги), сноски на полях (книги)

22. nib [nɪb] – (заострённый) кончик (обычно гусиного пера), перо (пишущей ручки)

23. papyrus [pə'paɪ(ə)rəs] – папирус

24. parchment ['pɑ:tʃmənt] – пергамент

25. stroke [strəʊk] – штрих

26. substrate ['sʌbstreɪt] – основание, основа

syn. substratum (pl –ta)

27. texture ['tekstʃə] – текстура, структура, фактура

28. vellum ['veləm] – (тонкий) пергамент, пергамен (кожа), велень, веленевая бумага, плотная писчая бумага

CULTUROLOGICAL & HISTORICAL TERMS

29. aphabet ['ælfəbɪt] – азбука, алфавит. В тексте различают:

30. Cyrillic a. [sɪ'rɪlɪk] – кириллица, славянская азбука, русский (болгарский, сербский) шрифт

31. Etruscan a. [ɪ'trʌskən] – этрусский алфавит. Этруски – древние племена, населявшие в первом тысячелетии до н.э. северо-запад Аппенинского полуострова, древнюю Этрурия, современную Тоскану.

32. Greek a. [ɡri:k] – (древне)греческий алфавит

33. Latin a. ['lætɪn] – латинский алфавит

34. Phoenician a. [fɪ'nɪ∫(ə)n] – Финикийский алфавит. Один из первых зафиксированных в истории человечества систем фонетического письма, появившийся около XIII века до н. э. и давший начало практически всем алфавитным системам, существующим на сегодняшний день.

35. city-state [ˌsɪtɪ'steɪt] – полис (город-государство у древних греков)

36. codex (pl. сodices) ['kəʊdeks] – рукописная книга (Библия, сборник античных писателей, древние рукописи)

37. copista [kə'pɪstə] (из итальянского) (= English copyist) переписчик

syn. v.s. UNIT III: scribe

38. the Egyptian Book of the Dead [ði ɪ'dʒɪp∫(ə)n 'bʊk əv ðə 'ded]

– Египетская Книга Мёртвых

39. monastic scriptorium [mə'næstɪk skrɪp'tɔ:rɪəm] – монастырское помещение для переписки рукописей

40. the Roman Empire [ðə 'rəʊmən 'empaɪə] – Римская Империя

41. scrittore (pl –ri) [skrɪ'tɔ:rə -rɪ] – (из итальянского) (= English scribe) писец, писарь, переписчик

42. scroll [skrəʊl] – свиток (как вид рукописи)

syn. roll

43. uncial (writing style) ['ʌnsɪəl] – унциальный (стиль письма). Вариант одного из основных типов обычного письма III—V вв. Характеризуется крупными, округлыми буквами без острых углов и ломаных линий.

UNIT IV