Alphabet
Success thanks to a few charactersThe term alphabet is generally used today to mean the same as script. Unlike the characters used in hieroglyphics or ideogramic systems, the characters of the alphabet represent the smallest sound units of a language that are free from meaning.
Avant Garde
An unusual font for print mediaIn the 1960s, the idea for an art and political magazine titled Avant Garde was hatched. Herb Lubalin was in charge of the graphic design.
Bänkel
What does a Bänkelsänger have to do with a bench? Stories in music, word and imageBänkelsänger were important colporteurs of news. They spread political news and reported on natural disasters, but also told entertaining and sensational tales of horror and murder. To be seen and heard better by the crowd, they would stand on wooden benches..
Bargain Books
Reading material for the mass marketAlthough the centuries-old practice of copying books by hand had become obsolete with the invention of the printing press, books remained rare commodities for a long time. The expensive manufacturing and the low levels of alphabetisation meant the number of potential readers was very limited at the beginning.
Bestsellers
From the Bible to Harry PotterBestsellers are often the starting point for a whole range of additional products. A wealth of accompanying merchandising products contributed to the cross-media success of literary blockbusters such as J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series with its eponymous young magician.
Bodoni-Antiqua
Perfectly shaped classical fontAntiqua is among the typefaces that have been stylistically embellished and varied by countless punchcutters and printers since the 2nd half of the 15th century. In addition to Nicolas Jenson, Aldus Manutius, Claude Garamond and others, Giambattista Bodoni concerned himself intensively with Antiqua.
Book Art Movement
The book as an entire work of artThe Book Art Movement was a movement that proceeded mainly from England at the end of the 19th century and lasted until roughly the 1930s.
Book burnings in history
Freedom of thought in flamesThe public burning of provocative books stands as the ultimate form of literary censorship. Over the course of history, the practice has been used by state and religious authorities and ideological opponents as a sign of protest.
Book cover
Craftsmanship and artWith the emergence of the codex, it became necessary to protect and support the text block with a cover. The earliest binding of handwritten texts took place in monasteries. Starting in the Middle Ages, the craft of book binding developed into an urban commercial industry.
Book printing and reformation
A media revolutionThe publication of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517 signalled the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Although he had initially only exchanged his ideas verbally and in letters with scholars and theologians, Luther quickly realised the potential that printing held for the dissemination of his ideas.
