Rubricating
The rubrication (from Latin rubricare "to color red, to add rubrics ") is the system of colored structuring, order and simple decorative elements, which was entered as a very extensive process in the production of medieval manuscripts (see also layout ). This practice already existed in ancient Egypt , of which the Ebers papyrus is a well-known example.
In the manuscripts, special sections of the text were highlighted using the rubrications. These were, for example, initial letters, paragraph markings with small characters ( alinea characters ), final formulations , headings or simple decorative initials . It was up to the illuminators to incorporate very decorative initials in the manuscripts and early prints . For this categorization used mainly an ink consisting of red lead or grated cinnabar ( minium was prepared) in water with the addition of egg white or egg yolk. This red pigment was obtained either from natural sources or in a manufacturing process (first mentioned in the Mappae Clavicula ).
The scribe who wrote the rubrications, the rubricator, not only took over the insertion of red text elements into the handwriting that had already been written, but also corrected the sections of text that the scriptors had made before him if necessary .
The rubricators also made distinctions with blue ( lazurium ) and green pigments. Red and blue initial letters have appeared more frequently since the 13th century.
After initial success with the printing of red typesetting elements, the tradition of colored rubrics disappeared because they were too expensive in terms of printing technology. Rubrications inserted by hand were still common in early prints. Within a transient period worked typesetter , printer , scriptores , rubricators and illuminators in common to the manufacture of printing units, such as 1470 in the Offizin by Anton Koberger .
literature
- Joachim Elias Zender: Lexicon book printing paper . Haupt Verlag, Bern / Stuttgart / Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-258-07370-5 , p. 233-234 .
- Gerhard Strauss, Harald Olbrich (ed.): Lexicon of Art. Volume 6 R – Stad . 1st edition. EA Seemann Kunstverlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig 1994, ISBN 3-363-00049-9 , p. 278 .
- Helmut Schweppe: Handbook of natural dyes . Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 1993, ISBN 3-933203-46-5 , p. 546-547 .
- Jürgen Helbig: On the history of book printing - from Gutenberg to the industrial revolution . Oranienbaum 1982, p. 23 .
- Emil Ernst Ploß: A book of old colors. Technology of textile colors in the Middle Ages with an outlook on solid colors. 6th edition. Munich 1989, ISBN 978-3-89164-060-9 , pp. 55, 104-106, 126 and 150.
Individual evidence
- ^ Wilhelm Wattenbach: The writing system in the Middle Ages . Leipzig 1896, pp. 247-248