{ "id": "p16022coll536:74", "object": "https://cdm16022.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/p16022coll536/id/74", "set_spec": "p16022coll536", "collection_name": "Maywald Collection", "collection_name_s": "Maywald Collection", "collection_description": "
The inclusion of intricate initial capitals at the beginning of a paragraph was common in medieval manuscripts as early as the 7th century CE. Scribes would frequently add decorative illustrated letters to embellish the page. That tradition carried on after Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of printing using metal type and a printing press in Europe in 1439. Rather than hand illustrating each capital, printers carved decorative letters in wood and composed them in the press with metal type to replicate the scribe’s hand-drawn art.
\n\nThe resulting letterforms were so striking that collectors often cut them out of books and manuscripts during the late 19th century. Dr. Claus Maywald, head librarian at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany, assembled over 6,000 examples of these initials that had been removed from books and donated this important collection to the University of Minnesota’s Andersen Library in 2011.
\n\nThe Maywald Collection includes ornamental initials from 1470 to 1690, books containing exemplar initials, and contemporary reproductions created using modern technology and printed using traditional letterpress methods. These initial letterform styles include:
\n\nThese letterforms reveal the unparalleled craftsmanship and imagination of wood engravers who created wood type for use in early printing. The detail achieved by the carvers was done mostly without magnification and using only natural light. Many of these letters are no larger than postage stamps and the skill required to do this (backwards and in relief) is extraordinary.
", "title": "Detail from Album of initial capitals, 1500s-1737 (bulk 1500s), Volume 1, Page 34, Line 3, Item 02, I", "title_s": "Detail from Album of initial capitals, 1500s-1737 (bulk 1500s), Volume 1, Page 34, Line 3, Item 02, I", "title_t": "Detail from Album of initial capitals, 1500s-1737 (bulk 1500s), Volume 1, Page 34, Line 3, Item 02, I", "title_search": "Detail from Album of initial capitals, 1500s-1737 (bulk 1500s), Volume 1, Page 34, Line 3, Item 02, I", "title_sort": "detailfromalbumofinitialcapitals1500s1737bulk1500svolume1page34line3item02i", "title_alternative": "Floriated Romanesque I", "title_alternative_s": "Floriated Romanesque I", "title_alternative_t": "Floriated Romanesque I", "description": "This floriated wood-type initial is a Romanesque I adorned with line shade, bifurcated serifs with exaggerated curls, medial rounded bump-outs, and hatched shading. The notch in the bottom serif encloses a single dot. It sits on a criblé background enclosed in a frame.", "date_created": [ "1516" ], "date_created_ss": [ "1516" ], "date_created_sort": "1516", "contributor": [ "Le Preux, Poncet" ], "contributor_ss": [ "Le Preux, Poncet" ], "notes": "Back: Blackletter; contraction, truncation, ſ", "types": [ "Text" ], "format": [ "Scrapbooks | http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300027341" ], "format_name": [ "Scrapbooks" ], "dimensions": "13.8 x 13.7 millimeters", "subject": [ "Initials Specimens", "Lettering Specimens" ], "subject_ss": [ "Initials Specimens", "Lettering Specimens" ], "language": [ "Latin" ], "city": [ "Paris" ], "country": [ "France" ], "continent": [ "Europe" ], "parent_collection": "Forms part of Album of initial capitals, 1500s-1737 (bulk 1500s), Volume 1. (Quarto Z110.I45 H35); https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll536:58", "parent_collection_name": "Forms part of Album of initial capitals, 1500s-1737 (bulk 1500s), Volume 1. (Quarto Z110.I45 H35)", "contributing_organization": "University of Minnesota Libraries, Special Collections and Rare Books.", "contributing_organization_name": "University of Minnesota Libraries, Special Collections and Rare Books.", "contributing_organization_name_s": "University of Minnesota Libraries, Special Collections and Rare Books.", "contact_information": "University of Minnesota Libraries, Special Collections and Rare Books. 111 Elmer L. Andersen Library, 222 - 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455; https://www.lib.umn.edu/rare", "fiscal_sponsor": "Gift of Claus Maywald, Alzey, Germany.", "local_identifier": [ "Quarto Z110.I45 H35" ], "barcode": "UMN_BARCODE:31951SB1005095O", "system_identifier": "UMN_ALMA:9975523104901701", "dls_identifier": [ "31951SB1005095O", "maywald_j1_p34_l3_i02_I_a" ], "local_rights": "Use of this item may be governed by US and international copyright laws. You may be able to use this item, but copyright and other considerations may apply. For possible additional information or guidance on your use, please contact the contributing organization.", "page_count": 0, "record_type": "primary", "first_viewer_type": "image", "viewer_type": "image", "attachment": "487.jp2", "document_type": "item", "featured_collection_order": 999, "date_added": "2020-06-10T00:00:00Z", "date_added_sort": "2020-06-10T00:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2020-06-10T00:00:00Z", "_version_": 1710338748529508352, "type": "Text", "collection": "p16022coll536", "is_compound": false, "parent_id": "74", "thumb_url": "https://cdm16022.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/p16022coll536/id/74", "thumb_cdn_url": "https://dkp5i0hinw9br.cloudfront.net/090eb70a84ecf72270c9cc06b879e2995837df64.png", "children": [ ] }