The literary quality of these block books was slight and the mechanical execution of the printing contemptible. The multiplication of single sheets on which the block illustrations and text appeared could, moreover, serve only a temporary purpose, and thereby constitute but the steppingstone, as it were, to the invention of movable types, which are the very essence of typography. The first person, then, to whom the idea came that the text or legends of the engraved blocks might be composed from separate engraved letters capable of rearrangement after each use for other texts or legends, fixed the principles of the new art about to be born. From the successful execution of a few words or lines, it was easy to extend the principle to whole pages, and except for the solving of mechanical details the invention itself was accomplished. But even yet the world was hardly ready for the invention, as the expense of printing a small number of books was too great and the readers too few, although already too many for the scribes to supply quickly.
Printing is cheap only when produced in quantity.
For a time, handwritten and illuminated books were even cheaper than those printed from wood blocks. This electronic version of Goudy's Typologia is reproduced by permission of the University of California Press. TypeArt Foundry Inc. All Rights Reserved.