The Triumph of Calligraphy over Typography: Commercial Book Production in Early Modern Japan. Dr. Ellis Tinios, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto

In this lecture, Ellis Tinios will consider the conjunction of linguistic, technological, and economic factors that led to the adoption of xylography over typography for book production in early modern Japan (1600–1868). He will then examine the impact of that choice on book design. Particular attention will be paid to the cultivation of the aesthetics of script in print and to the integration of text and image. The lecture is addressed to all who are interested in the history of the book, book production, book design, and the book as art.

Cosponsored by the USC Dornsife Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

Tuesday, February 19

5:00–6.30 p.m.

Doheny Memorial Library, Feuchtwanger Library (Room 206)

Image: 狂歌一人 十首 (Kyōka ichinin jisshu). Illustrated poetry anthology from 1813.

Ebi Collection, courtesy Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University