realistic way. Further
emphasis of the essential flatness of surface in material that is to
decorate a flat sheet of paper.]

_Periods of Design Which Have Most Affected Printing_

The student of design finds that historical study of his subject carries
him through the entire history of art, from the crude expressions of
prehistoric man down the long and varied centuries to the styles and
fancies of the present day. He will find his theme closely interwoven
with the story of the development of races, the rise and fall of
nations, the whole thrilling drama of ancient and modern history.

Printing, as a means of making records and of embodying and illustrating
thought, has given us the wide field of literature on design. But in the
making of books as an application of design, and in the making of all
other forms of printed matter, printers since Gutenberg have been
influenced by relatively few of the many distinct periods through which
art has come. And those few have usually been the artistic feeling which
prevailed at the time the printers lived.

To trace the periods of design that have most influenced printing is to
tell in part the history of the craft. Since that subject is developed
elsewhere in this series, suffice it to follow briefly the steps through
which the making of books has passed.

Since the invention of movable types came opportunely to meet the desire
for enlightenment by means of books, it was natural that printed books
should be planned closely to imitate the hand-written or lettered books.
These latter, having been produced for centuries by the men of the
church to whom had been given training in the arts, had been brought to
a high state of perfection in design. It has often been said that
Gutenberg's forty-two line Bible, one of the first books printed from
type, has never been surpassed in pure beauty of design and in the
rich quality of its type masses.

[Illustration: Fig. 30. A reproduction, greatly reduced, of a page from
a Manuscript Bible of the early 14th Century. Entirely the product of
the quill and brush of the writer and illuminator. Such books were
usually done in black ink on parchment or vellum and decorated in water
colors and gold leaf.]

[Illustration: Fig. 31. A page from an illuminated Flemish manuscript of
the middle 15th Century, showing characteristic treatment of
illustration and decoration. This and the preceding example are shown
for comparison with Figs. 32