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E-book Woodcuts as Reading Guides : How Images Shaped Knowledge Transmission in Medical-Astrological Books in Dutch (1500-1550)

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Penilaian

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The importance of printed books for the dissemination of knowledge was al-ready acknowledged in the early period of print. A chronicle printed by Jan van Doesborch in Antwerp in 1530 praises ‘the noble art of book printing, through which art the world has now come to be so ingenious and has come to know more than she knew a hundred years ago, when there was no printing.’1 The printing press made books available in larger numbers, to more differentiated audiences, than ever before. Yet, it is only in recent years that the specific roles of woodcuts and other printed images in knowledge transmission have become the subject of detailed study. At the same time, it is now a fundamental premise in book historical scholarship that the material appearance of books shapes the ways in which these books are used and interpreted.2 As images are one of the most salient aspects of book design, their meanings and functions in processes of knowledge transmission can only be understood if we look not just at what they represent, but also at how they do so through their visual language and material appearance. These issues are crucial to the early period of print, as this new medium spurred many visual innovations and shifts in image use that scholarship is only beginning to address. Key concerns and questions in the fields of book history and history of knowledge are: What roles did images play in the emer-gence of the ‘new sciences’ in the sixteenth century, such as botany, zoology, and anatomy, and in the education of practitioners (e.g. naturalists, medical prac-titioners, craftsmen, engineers)? How did texts and images interact? How did the functions and meanings of woodcuts change through practices of copying and reuse? These questions have made scholars look in new ways at epistemic images – images with a subject matter that is clearly intended to convey, clarify, or substantiate knowledge. However, in early printed works on medicine and astrology in the vernacular, such epistemic images appear alongside a variety of other images. As yet, we know little about the ways in which different kinds of images informed the reading process and how actual readers responded to images.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

902 VAN w

Penerbit

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press., 2024

Deskripsi Fisik

428 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9789048560264

Klasifikasi

902

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

-

Subjek

Miscellany of History

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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