128 SHADY CHARACTERS

ÍT Ц

тйігтйікгааГшЛ)«і Jsftgcdfo
mifttigtmu in пШівтгіол nuDiuit
шг. JfipfiDit ratjr ptmbua mnormm
urmrrnr ritrattimi. jtofimmt Drib

ëimrctota Dif ratmtf ronftriÖ Inn
igilauit nigú miquirarii tnracú in
manu riu8:mmmlutt fumi impoli
tt mllo mm. Infirmata f um? ntta:

DtOit tra Diio in maiiuDf qua nò po
ino rurgnx.öfinicrliJftMlulit orato
magmfiroe rame Dfie tr ratDio raru1
uoraiiit aûimfum mr крив: ut tStr
rtrttrtritoeraroe. fornita talrauir
Düs nirgini filit hiùajiim iDrirm t
go piotano tt ombra rat? DtDutmo
aquaenpiia longe failue tftamtriri
folarantmmmra anima mtä. )Fafii
funtfiliimti pDmtquoma inualutt
¡Штайне fepâDittou manna
fiiaonionrtt qui тпШІтіг to. jfHan*
Daub DñaaDunfom iambrin otturi
tu ri? Ipttm ri?. /Fate rii ifi din qfi pii
lutammfltuiainra: rao.imDtli|uftur
rii Dnarquia oo tùia aD iratuuDiam
prauotara.ftuDitt obfccmnniuttfi
fffcï oiDttt ûolomu гаш.щігдшгв
rare ettutimro rari abittütmmptiui
tamiu'ùpi) totani anuma incoan
ipfi Draptmt int.fcntttüotra ntri tt
toro mriin urte mfmnpn fitiirquia
qutftrrih ribü ГіЬі ut rrforillarmr uni
maa fuaoJtcs SfiiDt Durquoniam
mbulomoulat0 ttt omttt іпЛЗшЬ
radimi eft rar rarü m nranmpa : qitt
amantuûmtplma fiira.jjForm ratte*
firit gtaûmo:rt Dorai moro fimîlm i
Vn jmuDimit quia шдпшГга tgo:r
(_ non ttt qui tôfolrtur гаг.Штпге to
rani ran auDiramt mal it ratii : ltrnri
fiitqmtu fmfiiBüûuïifiiûitmfaltri
mntorttfittrtíroratWñii Ingtto
at ommaluraq tora ttrttmmctmta

et

roo finit mnDmimffi mtjpttt omis
mtquitatra tutao. Ittultitumi pi¡,
tua rariitt mr ratü rattra; ) tk pi] •
rf'fe uomoDj pbttfit taliginî ifii®
V./ rt firn Dna film ton. pmitrn
^ tt trio tn mram iHrtitam іГтЬгіліщ
J ttt rrajtùatue Imbelli рйт Гиоц ïDft
* fittone fiiûhci ^rrapirauît onerai
ptptmt oranta tptaola intob:Dtüni
rit in fiirorc firn inumriontB uirgimf
iuDa r Dtirat in mtanumlluit rtgni
n prinripto n? ¿i‘nu![ jtonftrgit m
ira fittone fui onntr tarmi ilraW : t
untít отгогій Dtftttâ firn a fant iaito
n:tt fiiremOitm iamb qfi tgnrflâmt
Dtuorâtie igirofedafi îtttnüit at
tunt fuS quali imraraiotfirmauiito
rtttam fita quafi fiottia :rt omoito
rant qÖpulrairatratmTu.ln tato
nari'n filit ton tffiiDit qfi igra into
gmmmffiiâ Jjec fatfinnotdutm.
ітішв-prraptmuit ilrafe.Prmpita.
uit ontiua mmia mmtDittqmm rara
niriottra tiuo : r rtplmtt in filia iurta
buraîliamm tt humiliate lieu it
DilTipauit quali ottura tmmriü Гиш
DtraolmiB ttt tabtmamlü fuû. ЙЫі<
uionî ttaDiDit ûüa nt ton ftttiuitaïf
tt ГаЬЬаш : t mobprabrm tt în inOi
pattuii fiiroria fui rtgtrn г Гппгіші.
Imi Krpulit Duo altarefmimmltìi-
iitranritfitationirutrttaDiDitinraa
пив inimìri mirara turtiü n’.Ìnrm
DtDtruut m Domo Diii .’finitili Dit fa¬
tami Jicrf) Cogitano Dna Diflipw
murii fife ton : tttmOit fiuiitulü йіп

Ïnon autrrit marni firn apûitmnt.
ujritqi âttmuraltn nratfjamt Oit
fipst? rfficH) 3br&rt ffit f tttra por*
ttn?mtóüttimntmiit urto riueitt-
gnu n? et printipta tuta iti gmnbue.
Jpon ttt fe : ï jplffrt ti? no iiiumtriit

t-AA Figure 7.3 A leaf from Gutenberg’s forty-two-line Bible showing
a ladder of no fewer than eight consecutive hyphens (right-hand column,
lines 16—23). Also visible is another of the contrivances used in the name of
perfect justification: a Tironian et (right-hand column, line 11) is at odds with
the fully spelled-out word “et” at the start of the line immediately below it.

THE HYPHEN 129

With it, he sparked a revolution in the storage and transmission of

information.

Revolutionary though Gutenberg’s movable type was, the hand¬
some forty-two-line Bibles that he printed in the mid-i450s presented
anything but a novel aspect. So called because of the number of lines
per page,* each copy was set in the ubiquitous, densely spaced black-
letter script of the time, employed familiar scribal abbreviations such
as the Tironian et (1), and was sprinkled with comforting, rubricated
capital letters to guide the eye to new books and chapters.24 (Guten¬
berg tried printing capitals in red but found that this slowed the pro¬
duction process. After a few attempts, he reverted to the usual practice
of leaving empty spaces for a rubricator to later fill in.)25 Aside from the
pomp and ceremony of these litterae notabiliores and the steadfastly
traditional presentation, the most arresting quality of Gutenberg’s
Bible is the sheer uniformity of the text. Each line is perfectly justi¬
fied, the letters are closely and regularly packed, and word spaces are
all of equal length. The regularity of the text still amazes modern
typographers, as explained by Hermann Zapf, one of the doyens of
twentieth-century typography:

What we [want is] the perfect grey type area without the
rivers and holes of too-wide word spacing. The general
concept was not new at all. Our old hero Johannes
Gutenberg in nearby Mainz also wanted the perfect line,
to compete with the calligraphers of the fifteenth century.

[...] How could Gutenberg get those even grey areas in
his two columns without disturbingly wide holes between
the words?26

* Gutenberg began printing his Bibles with forty lines, increasing to forty-one when he real¬
ized that he would otherwise run out of space, and further increased to forty-two lines for the
bulk of the book.2^