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European printers of the fifteenth century were working with what was, to them, an experimental technology. These early print workers helped define what a printed book could look like, eventually re-creating a number of features that were originally left to scribes. One of the most challenging to execute was printing in more than one color. Indeed, Johannes Gutenberg tried and almost immediately abandoned two-color printing in his 42-line bible! Though we normally associate color printing with art or even biology, the very first two-color woodcut prints were a striking series of eclipse diagrams, executed in Erhard Ratdolt's Venice workshop in 1482. Throughout Ratdolt's remarkable career, he mastered a color printing process that remained in common use for hundreds of years. His ambitious printing program innovated with color to produce clearer scientific diagrams, and successfully produced two and even three-color printed text, images, music, initials, and calendars.
Join scholar and printer Elizabeth Savage and the Library's Assistant Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts, Jamie Cumby on a journey through Ratdolt's experiments in color printing, as told through copies in the Library's collection.
Dr. Jamie Cumby joined the Linda Hall Library as Assistant Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts. Dr. Cumby holds a doctorate in modern history and an MLitt in book history from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Prior to joining the Library, she worked as Special Collections Librarian for Pequot Library in Connecticut and served as Senior Editor on “Preserving the World’s Rare Books.” She has also served in roles with the University of St. Andrews, Cambridge Public Library, the MIT Press, and Wellesley’s Special Collections Library. Her doctoral research focused on the history of the book, and her career has included a commitment to public outreach and access to special collections.
Dr. Elizabeth Savage is Senior Lecturer in Book History and Communications, Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, and Honourary Fellow, Centre for the Study of the Book, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford University. She is co-founder and co-director of the Book and Print Initiative, School of Advanced Study. She co-founded and directed the Printing Colour Project, 2009–2018.
Her research into pre-industrial European printing techniques across text and image, especially for colour, has won awards including the Schulman and Bullard Article Prize, the Wolfgang Ratjen-Preis for ‘distinguished research in graphic arts', and honours from the Bibliographical Society of America and the American Printing History Association.
