Date/Time
Date(s) - 18 Nov 2013
5:15 PM - 6:30 PM
Location
Class of 1978 Pavilion, Special Collections Center
Category(ies) No Categories
Monday, November 18, meeting of the Workshop in the History of Material Texts.
Randall McLeod, “The Birth of Italics.”
5:15 in the Class of ’78 Pavilion, in the Kislak Center for Special Collections on the 6th floor of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.
Randall writes:
“Italic type, one of the greatest of the quattrocento artistic legacies, was the work of Francesco da Bologna (the type-cutter) and Aldo Manuzio Romano (the printer). The fount first appeared in print in 1500 and continued to evolve during the early years, which fact allows for surprisingly precise dating of the books printed then, sometimes in conflict with their colophon dates. The lecture will focus on the inked impressions of italic typefaces, but turns on our actually reading the blank parts of pages (for the blanks aren’t blank).”
Randall McLeod, retired from the English Department, University of Toronto, has written textual criticism on the first Hebrew bible published in France (by Estienne, 1538-44), Castiglione, Holinshed, Harington’s *Orlando Furioso* translation, Shakespeare, Herbert, Donne, Mrs. Siddons, Hopkins, and Shaw. He is a proinactive editor and an explorer of promptbooks. His present work is focused on the Venetian printer, Aldus Manutius. His essay “Fearful Asymmetry” (on sewing and remote offsets) has just appeared in *The Cambridge Companion to Textual Criticism*. *
All are welcome. Those who do not hold University of Pennsylvania ID cards should bring another form of photo identification in order to enter the library building.