From the Good Mountain: How Gutenberg Changed the World

From the Good Mountain: How Gutenberg Changed the World
by James Rumford
Roaring Book Press, 2012. Unpaged. Non-Fiction

Rumford's interactive text and gorgeous illustrations tell the story of Johannes Gutenberg, "John from the Good Mountain," who takes paper made from rag and bone, the tanned hides of goats, gold leaf from Africa, ink made from flaxseed oil and pitch, and runs everything through his moveable type press to revolutionize the making of books. The brightly-colored centerpiece pictures are illuminated by medieval designs with extra information rampant. The hard work of bookmaking in the fifteenth century gives way at the end of the book to the digital age when books "written" in invisible ink fly through the air to appear on a screen. A lovely book showing where the idea and the actuality of books for everyone began, and where it is now. What next?

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