Chapter 6. The Margin as Canvas: A Forgotten Function of the Early Printed Page
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Anthony Grafton
Abstract
This chapter examines a little-studied genre of marginalia, one that may be called visual glossing or visual commentaries. It consists of the reader’s drawings on the margin that served as a tool for textual interpretations. Such drawings illustrated the scenes, objects, symbols, historical figures and other characters mentioned in the corresponding passages of the classical texts that Renaissance humanists read. These drawings sometimes existed alone, and sometimes co-existed with textual commentaries. They showed the reader’s understanding, and often imaginations, of the text, more vividly than words. This paper examines closely the visual glossing of Ambrosius Blarer (1492-1564), a Benedictine who eventually became a Lutheran minister, Thomas Smith (1513-1577), an English jurist and statesman, and John Dee (1527-1608/8), an English humanist and magus. Their drawings are suggestive in many ways: as evidence that readers sought a vivid experience of the past not afforded by texts on their own, but also as attempts at a distinctive kind of visual explication of texts. They constitute an unexplored chapter in the history of reading - and, it seems, of pedagogy and philology - in Renaissance Europe.
Abstract
This chapter examines a little-studied genre of marginalia, one that may be called visual glossing or visual commentaries. It consists of the reader’s drawings on the margin that served as a tool for textual interpretations. Such drawings illustrated the scenes, objects, symbols, historical figures and other characters mentioned in the corresponding passages of the classical texts that Renaissance humanists read. These drawings sometimes existed alone, and sometimes co-existed with textual commentaries. They showed the reader’s understanding, and often imaginations, of the text, more vividly than words. This paper examines closely the visual glossing of Ambrosius Blarer (1492-1564), a Benedictine who eventually became a Lutheran minister, Thomas Smith (1513-1577), an English jurist and statesman, and John Dee (1527-1608/8), an English humanist and magus. Their drawings are suggestive in many ways: as evidence that readers sought a vivid experience of the past not afforded by texts on their own, but also as attempts at a distinctive kind of visual explication of texts. They constitute an unexplored chapter in the history of reading - and, it seems, of pedagogy and philology - in Renaissance Europe.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Figures VII
- List of Tables XIII
- List of Contributors XV
- Introduction 1
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I Slips, Scrolls, and Leaves: Before the Codex
- Chapter 1. Text and Paratext in the Greek Classical Tradition 23
- Chapter 2. Tabernacles of Text: A Brief Visual History of the Hebrew Bible 47
- Chapter 3. Impagination, Reading, and Interpretation in Early Chinese Texts 93
- Chapter 4. Sūtra Text in Pecha Format: Page Layout of the Tibetan Vimalakīrtinirdeśa 111
- Chapter 5. Between the Lines and in the Margins: Linguistic Change and Impagination Practices in South Asia 151
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II The Printed World
- Chapter 6. The Margin as Canvas: A Forgotten Function of the Early Printed Page 185
- Chapter 7. Page Layout and the Complex Semiotic System of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn’s Samganghaengsildo 209
- Chapter 8. The Transformation of the Typical Page in the Handpress Era in the Southern Netherlands, 1473–c. 1800 237
- Chapter 9. Writer’s Block or Printer’s Block: The Book and Its Openings in Early Modern China 273
- Chapter 10. Placing Texts on Chinese Pages: From Bamboo Slips to Printed Paper 301
- Chapter 11. Recovering Translation Lost: Symbiosis and Ambilingual Design in Chinese/Manchu Language Reference Manuals of the Qing Dynasty 323
- Chapter 12. Japanophone Glosses (kunten) in Printed and Digitized Manuscripts 351
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III Beyond the Book
- Chapter 13. Beyond the Physical Page: Latest Practice of Scientific Publication 377
- Index 399
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Figures VII
- List of Tables XIII
- List of Contributors XV
- Introduction 1
-
I Slips, Scrolls, and Leaves: Before the Codex
- Chapter 1. Text and Paratext in the Greek Classical Tradition 23
- Chapter 2. Tabernacles of Text: A Brief Visual History of the Hebrew Bible 47
- Chapter 3. Impagination, Reading, and Interpretation in Early Chinese Texts 93
- Chapter 4. Sūtra Text in Pecha Format: Page Layout of the Tibetan Vimalakīrtinirdeśa 111
- Chapter 5. Between the Lines and in the Margins: Linguistic Change and Impagination Practices in South Asia 151
-
II The Printed World
- Chapter 6. The Margin as Canvas: A Forgotten Function of the Early Printed Page 185
- Chapter 7. Page Layout and the Complex Semiotic System of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn’s Samganghaengsildo 209
- Chapter 8. The Transformation of the Typical Page in the Handpress Era in the Southern Netherlands, 1473–c. 1800 237
- Chapter 9. Writer’s Block or Printer’s Block: The Book and Its Openings in Early Modern China 273
- Chapter 10. Placing Texts on Chinese Pages: From Bamboo Slips to Printed Paper 301
- Chapter 11. Recovering Translation Lost: Symbiosis and Ambilingual Design in Chinese/Manchu Language Reference Manuals of the Qing Dynasty 323
- Chapter 12. Japanophone Glosses (kunten) in Printed and Digitized Manuscripts 351
-
III Beyond the Book
- Chapter 13. Beyond the Physical Page: Latest Practice of Scientific Publication 377
- Index 399
