Tag Archives: Codex

16 things about white space

Posted on 3 April 2012 by Propagandum

1. White space is the name typesetters, typographers and type designers – artists of the black – give to a presence where we might expect an absence. We can, if we choose, see a shape where the mark has not been … Continue reading →

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Film review: The Artist – back to the future

Posted on 2 February 2012 by Propagandum

I have just been to see The Artist – brilliant, thoroughly recommended. It connects strongly with a major theme of this blog: people adapting (or not) to media change. OK, it’s set in the period 1927 to 1932 in pre- … Continue reading →

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Baskerville versus the Kindle versus the Medici Psalter – in praise of ordinariness

Posted on 30 January 2012 by Propagandum

In my two previous posts I staged a mock battle between a 1760 book printed by John Baskerville and my Kindle. The ‘e-reader’, for a newcomer and late arrival, did surprisingly well, although I made no secret I like the … Continue reading →

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Baskerville versus the Kindle, Rounds 2–7, Hearing to Sustainability

Posted on 24 January 2012 by Propagandum

In the previous post I pitted my Kindle against a book that is a minor masterpiece of eighteenth-century typography: John Baskerville’s 1760 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. I promise I went into this Battle of the Book-Related Christmas Presents with no preconceptions … Continue reading →

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Baskerville versus the Kindle, Round 1: Seeing

Posted on 18 January 2012 by Propagandum

I have been very kindly (Kindley?) given a Kindle for Christmas. Yes, I haven’t previously given the e-book phenomenon a good writeup. So this is a very good chance to get off some of my high horses and simply try to find … Continue reading →

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‘A page of good prose remains invincible’ 2

Posted on 8 December 2011 by Propagandum

Craig Raine’s title poem ‘A Martian Sends a Postcard Home’ (Oxford University Press, 1979, p. 1) is an attempt at ‘making strange’ the old-known so it becomes the new-known. We look at the world through the eyes of an alien. If … Continue reading →

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‘A page of good prose remains invincible’ 1

Posted on 5 December 2011 by Propagandum

On April 27, 1982, less than two months before his death from cancer, John Cheever appeared at Carnegie Hall to accept the National Medal for Literature. While his colleagues stood and cheered (“John had nothing but friends,” said Malcolm Cowley), … Continue reading →

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Page against the machine 3 – less transparent books?

Posted on 29 November 2011 by Propagandum

How can publishers create radically new products if their management structures and internal power relations remain the same? I can’t remember seeing any discussion of this in the trade press – Tim Oliver’s post in The Bookseller’s Futurebook web spinout is the exception … Continue reading →

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Page against the machine 2 – a sledgehammer without a nut

Posted on 26 November 2011 by Propagandum

In my previous post, I suggested that some multifactorial analysis of previous technological innovations would suggest what is going to happen when publishing companies bang up against the digital content agenda driven by the powerful US techno-behemoths. ‘Multifactorial’ here simply … Continue reading →

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