 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture One of the more interesting aspects of the change in printing was, from my viewpoint, the evaporation of galley proofs. Now we only see page proofs. Camera ready copy is another interesting development. At least one of my publishers finally gave up on expecting camera ready copy from authors. They were getting copy they had to reset anyway. Tom Izbicki Christopher Crockett wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > From: Tom Izbicki <[log in to unmask]> > > >> The look is one of Word Processor. That sets my teeth on edge. Not >> > that all "good" presses are free from sin. Princeton once called a set > up: IBM Selectric Gothic. It looked fresh from the typewriter. > > > i think i know what you mean, Tom, and if that "look" only affects your teeth, > you are lucky. > > it frequently gives me Distress in my lower intestinal track. > > > i seem to recall that the Pits --typographically speaking-- were achieved in > the late '60s to mid-'70s, when we started to have the Worst of Both Worlds: > > just enough Technology to come into play to oust the experienced (and > unionized) Lineotype typographers who had the skill (and sensibility) to lay > out an attractive page, in an attractive font, with suchlike exotic "features" > as justified borders and well laid-out footnotes (both of which had been > hallmarks of scholarly books since the late 16th c., btw); > > but a computer technology which was still in its infancy, with very limited > (and universally ugly) fonts, no ability to justfy margins or format footnotes > within the page, etc. > > the results were books which had the appearance (and appeal) of undergrad term > papers. > > > and, as you say, many of the UPs jumped on this Dreadful, Brain Dead Band > Wagon (at the same time --coincidenally-- that the Bean Counters took over the > Front Offices at the UPs and prices really began to rise sharply). > > exceptionally, a few (U. of California Press comes to mind), swam against the > Flush and continued to produce quite attractive books, culminating, at the end > of the '70s in one of the most beautiful trade books (much less scholarly > books) ever published: > > Walter Horn, et al. _The plan of St. Gall : a study of the architecture & > economy of, & life in a paradigmatic Carolingian monastery._ Berkeley: > University of California Press, 1979. 3 vols. > > > the quality of most UC books has fallen off just a bit from that high point, > but not by much. > > and even PUP seems to have come to its senses, with an appropriately sumptuous > edition of a brilliant book: > > Madeline Harrison Caviness, _Sumptuous arts at the royal abbeys in Reims and > Braine: ornatus elegantiae, varietate stupendes._ Princeton University Press, > 1990. > > > >> Most libraries use approval vendors like Blackwell. We tend to set Mellen >> > at Forms [you get information but are not sent the book] or No [no word at > all]. > > > as was mentioned on this thread, not *every*thing which Mellen publishes is > worthless, no matter how it might appear physically. > > that sounds like a good setting for them, to me. > > c > > ********************************************************************** > To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME > to: [log in to unmask] > To send a message to the list, address it to: > [log in to unmask] > To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion > to: [log in to unmask] > In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: > [log in to unmask] > For further information, visit our web site: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html