Science News Roundup: Old School Printing
Thirteen years and $8 million later, scribes in Wales finally complete their hand-drawn and illustrated version of the St. John’s Bible.
Now that’s old school.
The work was commissioned by the Benedictine monks at St. John’s Abbey and St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota and funded primarily by donations. Eighteen gorgeously illustrated pages from “Letters and Revelation” will be on display in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts through November 13. A second exhibit, which will include 44 pages from the “Wisdom Books” and “Prophets” will go on display at the New Mexico History Museum on October 21. Can’t catch either show? Consider purchasing a Heritage Edition, a full-size facsimile of the entire 1150-page seven-volume work, available for a mere $140,000. Yeah, I know, this isn’t really a science news story, but doesn’t it give you a better understanding of how profoundly the development of the Gutenberg press changed access to knowledge in our world?
Old School Printing continues below the fold with:
- Inventor of e-books, founder of Project Gutenberg, Michael Hart, dies at 64
- There’s an award Eric Carle hasn’t won yet?
Inventor of ebooks, Founder of Project Gutenberg dies
Speaking of ready access to knowledge, Caterpickles bids a fond farewall to Michael Hart, who reportedly invented the ebook when he typed the US Declaration of Independence onto a computer and posted it to the fledgling Internet on a whim in 1971. For his next trick, he used the computers at the University of Illinois to launch Project Gutenberg, a volunteer-driven organization that offers users access to more than 36,000 free ebooks in 60 different languages. As Hart said in July 2011 when reflecting on his work at Project Gutenberg, “One thing about ebooks that most people haven’t thought much is that ebooks are the very first thing that we’re all able to have as much as we want other than air. Think about that for a moment and you realize we are in the right job.”
There’s an award Eric Carle hasn’t won yet?
In yesterday’s ShelfTalker, children’s bookseller Elizabeth Bluemie laments the fact that some of her favorite illustrators, including Barbara McClintock (Animal Fables from Aesop), Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), and Judy Schachner (Skippyjon Jones) have not yet received their due (in the form of Caldecott Medals). Click through to read her rant and see examples of these artists’ remarkable work.
So, what about you? What caught your eye this week?
CATERPICKLES 
What are you thinking?