Persuasive Paper about the Book Trade

The immediate predicament I discovered when presented with this assignment was the question of what I was supposed to argue about?  I chose the very broad topic of publishingand bookselling before 1700 for my annotated bibliography and was unable to foresee a persuasive writing assignment, or I might have chosen a different topic that I could argue about.  For example, if I had print’s effect on the Protestant Reformation, I might argue that it was the deciding factor in the reformation and what enabled change.  Instead I have publishing and bookselling and a dearth of ideas.

Typography basics

In my research about typography, I've found that the most important tools used to describe and classify fonts are the physical attributes of type.

Let's learn some of these attributes through a quiz! :)

Response to Kacee's blog post ("Children's Literature, an Annotated Bibliography")

I really have been thinking recently a lot about what Kacee said in her last paragraph, about the Google Trap.

Related to the Google Trap is what I call Google Brain, in which we depend on Google (or other things that aren't our brains) for things our brains are capable of...

People of the (Group 4) world, I give you Google Brain!!! (Also known as "Google and Memory," an infographic.)

From here. Click to view larger.

We use Google as "extensions of our knowledge." The infographic gives good consequences and bad consequences. While I agree with these, I think the authors of the infographic missed an important point. By using our Google Brains, we can choose to spend our memories, our brains, on things that are more important than remembering to send an email, remembering every item on a grocery list, and remembering what 12x4 is... Spend your brain power studying for a test, practicing for an upcoming concert (shameless plug for the BYU Harp Solo and Ensemble Concert--I am playing the piece I blogged about earlier this semester!), or doing other things that you care about (and which require brain power). I don't mind leaving it to Google to remind me what I have due tomorrow and who I need to call about what.

What do you think?

Children's Literature, an Annotated Bibliography

Some of my favorite children's books.

The greatest difficulty I face in most of these units is figuring out what to write about. I like to keep my writing interesting and the best way for me to do that is to write about what interests me. Last Saturday, I was perusing the of topics we could write our annotated bibliographies about. I came across visual arts and how these were affected by printing. This led me to think about illustrations in books, which led me to thinking about picture books, which led me thinking about children's books, which led me to writing my last post on Monday. The more I have learned about the history of children's literature, the more enamored I become with it. THEREFORE I give you an annotated bibliography about children's literature, its history, criticism, and evaluation of the genre as it affects the printed word.

Typography annotated bibliography

I began this assignment with a general search on Wikipedia. I found the Typography article and looked at its sources to find some books that might be found at the HBLL. I looked up these books at lib.byu.edu and wrote down the first few characters of their call numbers.  I just recorded the general area of the call numbers so I could browse the proper section of the library.

Browsing

I found {1} and {3} browsing the library stacks.

I noticed a couple of interesting things while browsing. First, there is only a very small area dedicated to typography in the library—only about three cabinets. Additionally, I found that the topics covered in this area were broad. They included connections between typography and the following fields: graphic design, web design, print design, history, and international typeface references.

I used the bibliography in {1} to find {2}.

Finding a reference work

I found an encyclopedia {4} through the HBLL website. I found {5} in the references section of {4}.

Finding a periodical

I found a typography periodical {6} by searching “typography” at lib.byu.edu, and then selecting “Journals” under “Resource Type” in the navigation bar to the left of the search results. I found {7} via {6}. It is important to note that {6}, my periodical print reference contained no actual bibliography, footnotes, or endnotes (!). But Milton Glaser, the author of {7}, was listed as a contributor. I searched for him on the library website and found a work he authored.

Bibliographry

I chose to research the effects of print on the Reformation. The beginning of my bibliography is as follows:

Cracium, Maria and Ghita, Ovidiu and Murdock, Graeme and the contributors. Confessional Identity in East-Central Europe. Ashgate Publishing Company, 2002. Covers several topics relating to the role of printing in the Reformation.

Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. Divine Art, Infernal Machine. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. According to Dr. Burton, Eisenstein is "the major person to have assessed the influence of printing upon Western culture." The second chapter "After Luther: Civil War in Christendom" should be especially pertinent. 

Fudge, John D. Commerce and Print in the Early Reformation. Brill Academic Publishers, 2007. This covers the topic of the effect of printing on the Reformation in detail.

Lindberg, Carter. A Brief History of Christianity. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2006. This concise history of the development of Christianity goes into detail about the Reformation in Europe in chapter 8.

Tyson, Gerald P. and Wagonheim, Sylvia S. Print and Culture in the Renaissance. Associated University Presses, 1986. Covers a range of topics related to printing and the Renaissance, most notably two chapters dealing specifically with the Reformation.

I went to the Harold B. Lee Library, searched for "reformation and printing," and explored the shelves in both the religion section. Like Royal Skousen, I like browsing. I nabbed the books that sounded relevant and left the library.

Against the Current of Change

The Tyndale Bible

What kind of stamina and character would it require to take the most revered, authoritative and regulated book in all of Europe and modify it so that it was in a lower, common everyday language, the same one used by commoners, everyday untaught peasants and servants. This was William Tyndale's work as one of the pioneers to the translation of the Latin Bible into English. What struck me as amazing as I was shuffling slowly through the large display cases filled with different Bible translations was the effort, undying patience and pure boldness required to defy all authority in pursuit of what you believe to be a higher cause. The Exhibit of the King James Bible in the library was quite the collection which showed the history and progression of each Bible into English, usually accompanied by a martyr.

Joseph Smith reading the family Bible

As a brief history, William Tyndale was a very well educated individual, known for his ability to speak languages such as Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, Italian, and German. He studied at Oxford and during his time he would sputter off his wild opinions in the realms of religion. At one famous encounter John Foxe wrote in Foxe's Book of Martyrs that a man told William, "We had better be without God's laws than the Pope's", to which came the vehement response, "I defy the Pope, and all his law's; and if God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost!"

Literature that Relfects Society

As I anticipate completing the bibliography assignment, I find myself reflecting on the time in my life when weekly visits to the library found me bringing home the likes of these books:

Do you remember library day in elementary school? -- That half hour or 45 minutes set aside each week where you traverse the halls in a single file line with your class as you journey to the library in search of a new book? From third grade up, my personal book selections consisted of chapter books. Yours probably did too. But think back to the time before novels. Think back to the time when going to the library meant finding a new picture book. Think back to the time when Curious George, Green Eggs and Ham, and Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day meant more to you than any other reading you did. For me, this was the time when the printed word meant the most to me. This was when reading was exciting!

The history of children's literature greatly reflects and has been profoundly influenced by the history of the printing press. Spanning folk, oral, written, and print knowledge, children's literature is an ever-changing genre that manifests cultural perceptions of childhood.