Fotoreproductie van de eerste pagina van de Catholicon before 1872

This is a photographic reproduction by B. Erdmann of the first page of the Catholicon, an important medieval dictionary. The original Catholicon was an early example of incunabula, books printed – rather than handwritten – before 1500. Consider what a revolution the printing press was. Before its invention, knowledge was carefully controlled by the Church and the aristocracy, because it was so difficult and expensive to produce books. The elaborate initial letters on this page draw from the older tradition of illuminated manuscripts, but the printing press meant that this knowledge could be disseminated in a much broader way. For the historian, this image opens up questions about the relationship between technology, knowledge, and power. What were the social effects of increased access to information? How did older institutions react to these new technologies? These are some of the questions that can be explored through the study of works such as this, using resources such as libraries, archives, and digital databases.