Although its advent (5) as a profession is fairly (7) recent, graphic design has roots that reach deep into antiquity. The invention of the alphabet (29) (from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet (32), alpha and beta) made possible to represent the sounds of a spoken language by a set of visual symbols transferred to a special surface. The ancient Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet (34) and spread it through their city-states (35) around 1000 BC. As early as (9) 2nd century A.D., the Greeks developed a more rounded writing style called uncial (43). This script could be written more quickly because its rounded letters were formed with fewer strokes (25). Greek scribes made their pens from hard reeds, cut into a nib (22) and split at the tip to aid ink (17) flow. These pens gave their writing a totally different character than writing by Egyptian scribes, who used soft reeds to brush (12) ink (17) on the substrate (26). The Greek alphabet fathered (2) the Etruscan (31), Latin (33), and Cyrillic (30) alphabets.
The manuscripts made in ancient China, Egypt, Greece and Rome were richly illustrated. In a manuscript the text was supplemented by decorated initials (16), marginalia (21) and miniature illustrations. The luminosity of gold and silver reflecting light from the pages of handwritten book, gave the sensation of the page being illuminated; this effect gave birth to the term illuminated manuscript (14). Today this name is used for all decorated and illustrated handwritten books produced from the late Roman Empire until typography was developed in Europe around 1450.
Manuscript production was costly and time-consuming (6). Around 190 B.C. in the Roman Empire (40), parchment (24), made from the skins of domestic animals, began to be used as a substrate (26). Vellum (28), the finest parchment (24), is made from the skin of newborn calves. With the use of parchment (24), the codex (36) (book form) began to compete with the scroll (42) of papyrus (23). Nearly all books were created in the monastic scriptorium (39) or writing room. Its head was the scrittore (39), a well educated scholar who understood Greek and Latin and functioned as both editor and art director. The scrittori (41) laid out the pages (19) to indicate where the illustrations were to be added after the text was written. The copista (37) was a production letterer (20) who spent his days bent over a writing table penning pages in a trained lettering style. The illuminator (15) or illustrator was an artist responsible for (4) ornamentation and images.
The ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (38), which contained texts intended to aid the deceased in the afterlife, is a superb example of early graphic design. Hieroglyphic narratives penned by scribes are supplied with colourful illustrations on rolls of papyrus. Words and pictures are unified into a cohesive whole (3): both elements are compressed into a horizontal band, the repetitive vertical structure of the writing is echoed (1) in both the columns and (10) the figures, and a consistent style of brushwork (11) is used for the writing and drawing. Flat areas of colour (13) are bound by firm brush (11) contours that contrast vibrantly (8) with the rich texture (27) of the hieroglyphic writing (18).
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Illustrations: 1. Uncial the book hand of the 5th 8th centuries, 2. Book of Hours. Utrecht, c.1470. Vellum, 3. Jean Miélot (? 1472) a European author and scribe in his scriptorium working on the Miracles of Our Lady. 4. Papyrus page from the Book of the Dead, 18th dynasty; in the Egyptian Museum, Turin, Italy. Egyptian Museum, Torino, Italy
VOCABULARY NOTES
VERBS & COMBINATIONS WITH VERBS
1. to echo in smth ['ɪkəʊ] , , -
2. to father smth ['fɑ:ðə] -
syn. to generate smth, give birth to smth, to give rise to smth
COMBINATIONS WITH ADJECTIVES
3. cohesive whole [kəʊ'hi:sɪv 'həʊl]
4. to be responsible for smth ( ) -
NOUNS & COMBINATIONS WITH THEIR ATTRIBUTES
5. advent ['ædvənt] , ,
syn. arrival, emergence
6. time-consuming production ['taɪm kən'sju:mɪŋ prə'dʌkʃən]
ADVERBS
7. fairly ['feəlɪ] , ,
syn. quite, rather, somewhat, (.) pretty
8. vibrantly (to contrast with smth) ['vaɪbrəntlɪ] , , ( -)
SET PHRASES
9. as early as (some time) [əz ':lɪ əz] (- )
10. both and [bəʊθ ənd] (correlative conj. ) , ; ,
PROFESSIONAL TERMS
11. brush [brʌʃ] ; (.) ( brushwork )
12. to brush [brʌʃ]
13. flat colour ['flæt 'kʌlə] ,
N.B.: Mind the word-order change in the translation of the combination:
flat areas of colour
14. illuminated manuscript [ɪˌl(j)u:mɪ'neɪtɪd 'mænjuskrɪpt] ( , , )
15. illuminator [ɪˌl(j)u:mɪ'neɪtə] - ( )
16. initial [ɪ'nɪʃ(ə)l] (letter) ()
syn. capital letter , ()
17. ink [ɪŋk]
18. hieroglyphic writing [ˌhaɪ(ə)rə'glɪfɪk 'raɪtɪŋ]
19. to lay out a page ['leɪ 'aʊt ə 'peɪdʒ] ,
20. letterer ['letərə]
21. marginalia [ˌmɑ:dʒɪ'neɪljə] ( ) , , (), ()
22. nib [nɪb] () ( ), ( )
23. papyrus [pə'paɪ(ə)rəs]
24. parchment ['pɑ:tʃmənt]
25. stroke [strəʊk]
26. substrate ['sʌbstreɪt] ,
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syn. substratum (pl ta)
27. texture ['tekstʃə] , ,
28. vellum ['veləm] () , (), , ,
CULTUROLOGICAL & HISTORICAL TERMS
29. aphabet ['ælfəbɪt] , . :
30. Cyrillic a. [sɪ'rɪlɪk] , , (, )
31. Etruscan a. [ɪ'trʌskən] . , .. - , , .
32. Greek a. [ɡri:k] ()
33. Latin a. ['lætɪn]
34. Phoenician a. [fɪ'nɪ∫(ə)n] . , XIII . . , .
35. city-state [ˌsɪtɪ'steɪt] (- )
36. codex (pl. odices) ['kəʊdeks] (, , )
37. copista [kə'pɪstə] ( ) (= English copyist)
syn. v.s. UNIT III: scribe
38. the Egyptian Book of the Dead [ði ɪ'dʒɪp∫(ə)n 'bʊk əv ðə 'ded]
̸
39. monastic scriptorium [mə'næstɪk skrɪp'tɔ:rɪəm]
40. the Roman Empire [ðə 'rəʊmən 'empaɪə]
41. scrittore (pl ri) [skrɪ'tɔ:rə -rɪ] ( ) (= English scribe) , ,
42. scroll [skrəʊl] ( )
syn. roll
43. uncial (writing style) ['ʌnsɪəl] ( ). IIIV . , .
UNIT IV
