Rebekah raised a point about Gutenberg as rhetor and typography as a kind of visual rhetoric.
Gutenberg's influential technological advance, the Gutenberg press,
largely came out of an demand. This demand stemmed from the idea that
the public was becoming more literate and more interested in owning
manuscripts... As EWM
majors maybe it's easier to understand this through the lens of
rhetoric. If we view Gutenberg as a rhetorician and the lack of an
efficient way to produce books for a growing literacy as the exigience,
then this all makes perfect sense.
For example, a liturgy would have a different type of style than
a humanist text would. What was the purpose of the styles? Did it serve
as a form of visual rhetoric?
Extending that thinking, how might we understand Gutenberg's decision to print a Bible in Latin as a rhetorical choice to promote his invention?
Held at a higher esteem, because it's a religious document. Latin was also the sacred language. Maybe he was trying to preserve tradition? He was trying to tap into a common thread by tapping into a common language. Likewise, if vernacular was not the familiar printing technology at the time, Latin appealed to our sensibilities. Maybe he could sell more copies in Latin, because it is a common language. It was conventional (at the time) for Latin to be used in printing religious texts; tapping into convention. In short, it was a safe choice. Latin appealed to the people who had buying power for these texts. -- Adrian, Alex, Sheree, Katharine
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