Author Archives: Jessica Johnson

Universal Symbolisidentities

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What is interesting about books is that they show how few people understand the true power of the human imagination. The concept of a passport was established over three thousand years ago as a means of permitting Ancient Egyptian citizens to leave port. Since its birth, the passport has been a document that symbolizes how power structures take shape as something as simple as a booklet—a mere artifact of our imagination. In contemporary societies, passports are necessary to identify citizens who travel beyond the man-made borders of foreign countries. This official government booklet can be considered one of the furthest ideas of art, yet it exemplifies how easy it is for people to define one’s imagination of identity, nationality, rights, and restrictions. As one example, the United States passport is a booklet that serves as a symbol of great power and freedom, giving foreign immunity and national protection to its holders. Like any other book, it has a history of social, political, and economic affairs and, without human influence, would otherwise cease to exist. However, this booklet has also served as a symbol of restriction and control, limiting who has access to foreign travel and which countries one may visit. 

When reading about artist books and how they serve to deconstruct various power structures in society, the idea to create an artistic and avant garde passport came to mind. Taking inspiration from Johanna Drucker’s explanation of artist books as experimental means of discussing art and politics, I wanted to highlight the creativity passports behold in concept and make concrete in content. Dr. Jessica Pressman’s Bookishness: Loving Books in a Digital Age, which orients readers into the mindset of how books represent and produce identities, complements an analysis of passport booklets as identity documents that create power imbalances. Having a passport in any country comes with its privileges as well as disadvantages, which is what makes this a book worthy of close reading and re-interpretation through an artistic lens.

For thousands of years, versions of passports have been used in civilizations across the world. They took many forms including tablets, letters and identity papers. According to Dave Roos, “the world’s oldest passport is part of the Amarna tablets dating to the 14th century B.C.” issued by King Tushratta of the Mitanni Empire. Many years later, the Roman Empire used tractoria which were issued by the emperor, granting the traveler assistance from the government, not unlike today. In 1215, the Magna Carta “specified that anyone (except criminals) could leave [England] freely,” until 1540 when the Crown began issuing passports once again. When travel to the Americas soared, France and England used identity documents to describe the holders. However, “after Great Britain executed a German spy who had used a British passport while engaged in wartime espionage in 1914, US Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan ordered that all American passports bear photographs of their bearers” (Neumann). In many nations, the wars of the twentieth century—especially, the First World War—made passports a requirement for foreign travel, “in an attempt to curtail the operation of enemy spies” (Freedom: A brief history of the passport). In a different manner, the Russian Civil War sparked the use of Nansen passports that were meant to assist Russian and Armenian refugees. By 1926, Russian and Armenian refugees who could “afford five gold francs” were given a renewable and “valid form of identity,” which could be used to travel beyond borders. That same year, the United States established a standard design, described as “a stiff, dark red cover enclosing a booklet” (Neumann). It was not until 1976 that the cover was a dark blue to celebrate the United States bicentennial year (Roos). Also in 1976, “the Egyptian authorities issued a modern Egyptian passport to Pharaoh Ramses II the Great, the third ruler of the 19th Dynasty,” due to a necessary procedure only available in France to prevent the risk of fungus. The document contains an image of the pharaoh with an unknown date and place of birth. The modern passport looks much like the ones established in the late twentieth century, containing components that both define itself and the bearer.

While each nation has a different passport history, the documents themselves contain customary components that recognize the bearer’s identity as well as freedoms and restrictions. Passports are updated regularly to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the document itself. I’ve already mentioned how the U.S. passport took the form of a booklet in 1926, but it is worth considering what this book contained. Rather than what today’s passports look like, this booklet opened to a formal letter written from the Department of State, along with signatures and descriptions of the holder. Although these attributes prevail in today’s booklets in most countries across the world, there have been new incorporations to strengthen the passport’s potential. The cover of a passport has a gold or silver embossed design with the title of the document (Passport), national symbol, and name of the country. The inside covers address legal and governmental information on rights, regulations, restrictions, and use of a passport document. Incorrectly following guidelines and laws of the country issuing a passport results in serious consequences, which will be discussed later on. A typical passport identity page has the holder’s full name, date and place of birth, as well as the country that issued the document. Modern passports have photos of the bearer to decrease identity theft and wartime espionage. Finally, the bearer’s signature confirms their identity and status in the nation where they received the document. The United States’ Next Generation passport issued since 2021 has improved security to protect the individual’s identity and mitigate counterfeit. Some key components include a “laser engraved black and white photo image […] optically variable feature […] new perforated alphanumeric passport book number throughout [and] multi-layered plastic data page.” Finally, the last few pages are dedicated to travel stamps that identify the date the individual entered and left the named foreign country. Having a passport is crucial for foreign travel as it represents a person’s identity and the country to which they belong. Without a passport, the process of re-entering the country that issued the document is extensive. The freedoms and restrictions of modern passports are what make these books such powerful devices for myriad reasons.

Bearing a passport is a privilege that comes with rights and regulations in regard to the country that issued the document. Perhaps it is easiest to first discuss the freedoms associated with obtaining a passport. Although legalities have changed over the course of several millenia, passports allow citizens to legally travel between different countries. Passports are official identity documents, so they may be used for any form of identity verification. Thus, when having a passport, one is free to travel to specific countries the document and country allows. In addition to this freedom, a traveler has certain foreign immunities. One of the oldest forms of travel protection dates back to “Ancient Greek and Roman governments [which] accorded special status to envoys, and the basic concept has evolved and endured until the present.” Such immunities have been granted to most passport bearers, demonstrating the power of the nation granting them as well as the importance of the individual. The value of a person feeds into their individual identity, which will be discussed further on, and influences certain beliefs that might be fed by lack of education on their rights. With that being said, countries like the United States use their global powers to protect its citizens while abroad. If one were to be imprisoned, it is within the President’s right to demand explanation and determine if the imprisonment is unreasonable. From then on, “the President shall forthwith demand the release of such citizen” by any means within law. Similar processes are conducted when citizens are wrongfully detained or taken hostage in foreign nations, resulting in the safe release of U.S. citizens. Having a passport first enables citizens to travel abroad but also acts as an official government document that verifies the identity of a national. This analysis of passports alone would lead one to believe this book would be one of the most powerful in the world with extensive benefits and protections, but that is not the case. This booklet is a symbol of power as well as the power structures that perpetuate marginalization and capitalization of human lives.

One important question is, who even has the power to decide who receives a passport? Since 1856, it has been the Department of State’s “sole authority to issue passports” to American citizens. Each country has a specific department—whether it be the ICA in Singapore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China, or DCIC in Uganda—that controls who has access to foreign travel. The history of passports proves that this booklet has been used “as much to restrict the movement of [a country’s] citizens as to police who can enter.” Many nations have abused their powers to restrict foreign and domestic travel of not only foreigners but their own citizens. One reason why governments would want to restrict their own citizens from foreign travel is when a foreign nation’s economy prospers and ideas such as “The American Dream” appeal to those struggling in their own country. Certain countries might not provide as much assistance to professionals of a certain field, enticing citizens to emigrate to where their expertise can thrive. Some countries have or had “restrictions on their people leaving the country” to prevent citizens from moving, taking valuable information and skillsets to other countries. It is not just an issue for those without passports but also those with one since they understand it as an object that symbolizes a version of freedom. Passports are not booklets perceived to cause harm with government control or restriction. Rather, they have a reputation of the government putting power into the hands of its citizens. This power and freedom to travel abroad is not given to just anyone either, it is a privilege to be earned. If one does not meet the requisite criteria to be deemed worthy of this government book, they are not granted freedom or protection in foreign travel. 

The people with the privilege to travel beyond national borders have changed throughout history. Similar to how the form of a passport has not remained stagnant, the people with the right to transcend invisible borders have varied. At least in the United States, “before World War I, only single women in the United States could apply for their own passports” since married women ‘belonged’ to their husbands. The same went for children who, rather than having their own passport, their identity and ability to travel was determined by their father’s status.  The United States is not the only country that has had restrictions on women and children. In fact, countries in North Africa and West Asia still restrict women from traveling long distances, even within their own country, without a male chaperone. The control of women’s freedom of movement with the use of government policies and documents in many countries demonstrates the prevalent sexism of patriarchal societies. However, sexism is not the only issue. Racism has also been a factor in determining a person’s freedom to travel. Even African Americans, with natural-born citizenship, were denied the right to passports. Before the American Civil War, “Frederick Douglass, the famed abolitionist, was refused a U.S. passport in 1859” as a demonstration of the persistent racism (Roos). Despite reformation programs working to build foundations for former slaves, African Americans were at a severe disadvantage in the social and political discourse. By not having a say in decisions for many years, their ability to partake in political decisions and gain human rights evolved slowly. The lack of autonomy in marginalized groups induced by patriarchal societies is present in passport history. The booklet perpetuates ownership of other beings and ownership of belief systems and values. With a passport comes its history and power, which is traditionally only seen as a form of freedom, but it is much more than that. 

The freedoms and restrictions of a person are to suggest their identity. Even though a passport has a page outlining the descriptions of the bearer as their physical identity, its implications also outline the person’s conceptual identity. A similar idea to conceptual identity through passports is bookishness. Dr. Jessica Pressman, in her Bookishness: Loving Books in a Digital Age, expands the topic of developing a relationship with books through a person’s identification with them. She details the definition of each part of this term, discovering that the “’- ishness’ is about identification, even nationalism. It is about subject formation through relationality, about locating and identifying a community of subjects in physical and spatial contexts” (10). Like a work of literature or a digital device, humans connect themselves to bookish objects to create a sense of identity. The exact same process occurs with passports; albeit, the process is more closely tied to the implications of the booklet. A person’s connection with a passport varies depending on the power it holds, similar to how someone appreciates the physical over the digital. A passport from one country holds a different power from the next, just like how a physical book’s presence is more certain than flickers on a screen. For some, a book signifies survival. In Hadas Yaron’s piece, “‘Your Papers or Your Life’: The Significance of Documents in the Life Experiences of African Refugees in Israel,” there is the emphasis that travel documents are sometimes the only way for people to escape carnage. Yaron explains how “the passport can ‘supercede’ the person; be more important and valuable than the human being it represents.” Thus a person’s value to life has less merit than a document permitting them to seek refuge. Not only do passports permit them to leave a particular country or region, but they also “enable and define the refugee’s most basic needs and define their status, legal and social identity in the country.” Every aspect of a person’s survival depends on the legal documents they bear. Every form of conceptual identity is defined by a single booklet. Passports contribute “in building a ‘wall of papers’ against migrants and refugees” (Yaron) who deserve human rights such as the freedom of movement beyond boundaries and basic necessities. Obtaining a passport provides survival for these people, allowing them to emigrate to safer countries that value them as human beings. However, the only reason they are not already valued for their sole humanness is because of the construct of passports. 

People place their faith in the strength of a passport as a travel and identifying document, especially from developed nations. Because certain passports, like the ones issued by the United States, are difficult to obtain and have many limitations, it implies they hold more power. The Legal Information Institute on “22 U.S. Code § 212 – Persons entitled to passport” specifies that “No passport shall be granted or issued to or verified for any other persons than citizens of the United States,” which limits this booklet to around 350 million people, only a rough 4.5% of the world’s population. With such limited access, it might appear that the United States passport would be the most valuable in the world, especially given how many immunities the embassy provides. Nonetheless, judging a passport on its accessibility and immunities is not how the Official Passport Index Ranking determines the power of a nation’s international travel document. The Henley Passport Index assesses a passport’s strength by how many countries the bearer can visit with it. For instance, Singapore is the highest ranking country since their passport has valid travel to 193 countries without a visa. That is every country not including Palestine and Vatican City. South Korea is next with 190 countries and Japan with 189. The United States is ranked 11th, permitting citizens to travel to 180 countries without a visa. This official ranking reveals the values of such a book based on the freedom of travel. In other words, the more powerful a passport, the more deconstructed borders become for travelers. 

While it seems that a passport is far from creative, it is in fact a work of creativity to convince people to believe in absurd human constructs like borders and a book that determines who can and cannot cross them. The passport in essence is a rule book, specified to one particular bearer. Unlike most modern books, the passport booklet is not printed for commodification purposes. Therefore, there is rarely a case of having two of the same passport. A person may have two valid passports at one time but neither one will be exactly alike considering how often security measures are updated. With that being said, these booklets are set apart from the majority of books printed since industrialization. Bigger industries create bigger audiences create more money with supply and demand. Upon no coincidence, just when passports became requisite travel documents in certain countries, modernists were on the rise with twentieth century art movements. Many artists across the world were pushing against capitalism, creating revolutions and change in political climates, with art alone. One way to combat the commodification of print was to create one-of-a-kind artist books. In her Century for Artist Books, Johanna Drucker understands that the more people attempt to define artist books, the more questions arise. She says the easy definition is to say the artist book “is created as an original work of art, rather than a reproduction of a preexisting work [or, that it] integrates the formal means of its realization and production with its thematic or aesthetic issues” (Drucker 2). But artist books, like passports, do much more than what they’re easily defined as. Along with artist books, post-war art movements “mainstream artworld concern with multiculturalism and identity politics” (Drucker 8). The point of artist books was for creation of order and disorder, and to play with the entanglement of ownership. Is it the person who owns a book or does the book own a person? I found this question interesting in relation to passports. Although we think of people ‘bearing’ or ‘holding’ passports, it is uncommon to consider how the passport ‘holds’ us. With every law, regulation, restriction, freedom, immunity, and identity in passports, how does any of this give control to the bearer? The answer is that the control the bearer has lies in the cumulative power of the passport as it becomes a relationship built in capitalism. Since books, including passports, are a symbol and mechanism of power, destruction, empiricism, and genocide, I wanted to strip away the control a passport has over its bearer.

To combat the power structures, I chose to make a replica passport, not much different from the United States passport, that gives all the power to its bearer. This is paradoxical, however, which is what made this project difficult to accomplish. My goal was to create a passport that focused more on the universality of humankind, rather than the individuality. With the research I have done, it appears that the more we individualize people, the more we dehumanize them. Books have been the main source of dehumanizing people when objects like passports hold more value than a human. This booklet is meant to symbolize how every person has similar attributes that constitute them as a human being, and therefore deserve every natural born right, no matter where they are from, when they were born, and what they look like. 

The creative process of building this booklet introduced me to the intricacies of printing presses before industrialization. The first step I took was to use Adobe Illustrator to design the Vitruvian man in a simple geographic grid globe design. I believe this design encapsulates the idea of universal humanity. This design was then transferred to the Design Space platform for Cricut, where I also used a similar passport font to write “UNIVERSAL SYMBOLISIDENTITY,” reflected backwards. After understanding the etymology of the word “passport,” I discovered that the word comes entirely from a combination of the French “passer” (to pass) and “port” (dock). The best way for me to transform this word was to combine the French words “symboliser” (to symbolize) and “identité” (identity), but modernized into “symbolisidentity.” With this design, I used a Cricut machine to cut the outline onto gold vinyl which was heat-pressed onto the navy leather I used for the cover of the booklet. The inside pages consist of relevant quotes, an identity page, and stamp pages. On the inside cover page, there is a brief explanation of the booklet and how it works, requesting: “Treat this document like a body of flesh or textile, one bound and filled by organs of history and life. The book has a heartbeat, and it’s your own.” With this quote, I wanted to refer to how similar humans are to their creations. In tiny booklets, we represent ourselves in many ways demanding our connectedness as humans to books. A quote that traditionally outlines the purpose of a passport is how I wished to convey the idea of bookishness in my artist passport. Beneath this request is a replacement of the information that describes the protections, freedoms, and limitations of a traditional passport. Instead, I have adjusted the topics of these points to fit within bestowing freedom to the bearer. For example, there is no limit to the protections provided to a single individual as every individual holds the same value, despite the booklet they have. Another point relates to taxation of an individual, suggesting the exploitative nature of the government remains separate from the human body. 

The next page contains the symbol of the Vitruvian man, who represents the universality of mankind. The Vitruvian man, sketched by Leonardo Da Vinci, proves that all humans fit into a mathematical framework, creating unity between mankind and nature. Above the sketch is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, and below is the framework for the Universal Simbolisidentities that acknowledges a separation between humans and laws. Although it is faint, the background of this page is Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, a 1937 anti-war painting depicting the suffering of man and animals alike during World War II. As one of the renowned artists of the twentieth century, Picasso used his craft to make political statements against power regimes, and restore empathy among readers of all genres. His art suggests that out of all the media we consume, reading each other is something we must strive for. Following this introduction is the identity page, which can pertain to anyone in particular. The image is just a mirror reflection to register the particular reader. However, as they read more than what the mirror tells them, they see how, within one another, is the same person—with a brain, native to our mothers, born during the Anthropocene, of the “humanus” race, residing on Earth. This document never expires because neither does any person’s human identity. In fact, the page to the right pulls a quote from Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, proclaiming that “the body has its rights; and, it will have them: they cannot be trampled on without peril.” By abiding by the rights of our own bodies, we respect ourselves and all creatures. Beyond this page are the stamp/visa pages that lead to a final quote by Johannes Gutenberg that highlights the rebirth of faith and knowledge through the production of books. As the founder of the printing press, Gutenberg understands the power of books as the spread of knowledge, to rid people of ignorance. Yet, it is astonishing to find ourselves nearly six hundred years later, treating humans as less than objects.

Passports are one of the many books of great power. Not only are they a symbol of freedom, but they enable freedoms. Needless to say, they come with consequences such as governmental control over the bearer. Passports are books of a unique kind as they are individual and outline the characteristics of its reader rather than itself. The reader does not necessarily seek new knowledge from a passport but seeks the direct power they provide through ownership. The question of ownership feeds into the cyclical relationship of the bearer and the booklet, otherwise considered bookishness. The booklet defines its bearer’s physical identity and contributes to their conceptual identity as well, strengthening that bookish bond. The creativity at play is the ability for these booklets, plain as they might appear, to convince systems and peoples of their fabricated powers. Through my artist book, I wanted to emphasize the irony of the passport and understand more about how art desempowers structure, routine, and government. My artist book, like many others, is a political statement and a call to action. It demands its readers to reconsider the connection we have to material objects and to evaluate just how similar we are to the person next to us. It is an effort to reframe the way we think of one another; it is no longer about what makes us different but what makes us the same.

Final Project Proposal

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Proposal Thought Process:

For my final project, I was interested in analyzing and making a creative version of a passport. My original thought was to look into how passports might be representative of identity, but they also are much more than that. Yes, passports are Identity Documents, but they are symbols of power, freedom, and much more. In order to discover more about passports, I came up with several questions I would look into.

How do passports serve as both modes of freedom and limitations? What changed these perspectives based on the accessibility of passports and the rights and restrictions of foreign travel, specifically in the United States? Why do passports represent these juxtaposing principles?

How does the passport serve to free its holders? 

How does the passport serve to restrict its holders?

What historical events have caused/influenced the accessibility of passports?
Who has the right to a passport and how has that changed over time?

Thesis: The United States passport is a booklet that serves as a symbol of great power and freedom, giving foreign immunity and national protection to its holders. Like any other book, it has a history of social, political, and economic affairs and, without human influence, would otherwise cease to exist. However, this booklet has also served as a symbol of restriction and control, limiting who has access to foreign travel and which countries one may visit. Having a passport in any country comes with its privileges as well as disadvantages, which is what makes this a book worthy of close-reading.

Creative Project:

Make a “universal passport.”

Examine components and how they pertain to the holders, nation of origin, and their implications. I will be using similar materials to create my own version of a universal passport that tries to challenge the implications of the U.S. passport.

Just Remember…

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We have talked about books and what they mean and signify through bibliography. We have analyzed the physicality of books from the material of the cover and pages to the font styles. We have learned how to appreciate what we see AS a book rather than IN a book. However, how does all of this information from this media transition to our technological age? Remediation! Remediation is the answer to the Web, Facebook, Google, Kindle, and even the format of website designs. Everything originates from the remediation of books because, I don’t know if you know this but, books were a hit back in the day.

Yet, “bookishness” proves that they still matter. It is a form of preservation, expression, and identity. Being bookish is to identify with books in one way or another in an aesthetic sense. However, rather than recognizing books as media of knowledge, they are simply a way to express one’s interest or general aesthetic appeal with books. Therefore, someone could have a shelf of books and have never read a word on any page. Perhaps, these books provide a comfort and fill the empty spaces.

This form of identity powers change. As Dr. Pressman explains in her Bookishness, “Bookishness registers a sense of loss and promotes remembrance” (22). It is a history, a form of record-keeping, as bibliographers. Bookishness contributes to acknowledging lost history like a memorial. While most writers’ imprints on book history (and history in general, for that matter) has been lost or undocumented since we’ve began writing on stone, bookishness is another way to appreciate what we still don’t know. Whatever it may be, a scroll of paper or a scroll through one’s phone, it led us to the concept bookishness. While, yes, bookishness does contribute to the over-commodification of works of art and might take away from the uniqueness of originality, it also brings appreciation for that sense of originality in a digital age.

We are already moving on from simple technologies, which sparks fear in the humanities and society. The other day, I attended a Living Writers event here at SDSU and the author brought up the question of AI. She was not afraid of AI taking over her job because, however ‘intelligent’ AI might be, it has never lived through human experiences. It does not know the feeling of losing someone, it does not know how to brush its teeth (because it doesn’t have any!), it does not know what it means to be human. That is why, even in the face of a digital world, books are still here. Books are still important. Books are human history.

Living Writers Event with María Dolores Águila

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At the most recent Living Writers event in the Love Library, I was able to listen to María Dolores Águila, a San Diego native, tell her story. She has published three books so far in children’ s literature and middle grade. During this event, she gave a back story to why she wrote her keynote novel, A Sea of Lemon Trees, and how it was centered on the Lemon Grove incident in San Diego. This was when a local school board tried to send Mexican students to a separate school in the 1930s. While this incident occurred almost 100 years ago, tensions still remain today in everyday life, especially with the rise in ICE arrests and deportations. While this issue has always been something society needs to fix, it has been increasingly relevant to address. In her novel in verse, Águila shares the life of Mexican American children who face the reality of segregation first-hand.

Águila gives some of her own story about how she was raised in a Mexican household with two parents who never went to college. They wanted Águila to have an education, to graduate high school and to find a job, but Águila struggled. As a child, she was passionate about writing, so much so that after reading The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, she copied every book by Cisneros from the library by hand. Her family didn’t have enough money to buy the books, so she rewrote them for herself. However, writing her own story was enough of a challenge, especially without a mentor to guide her. Soon enough she gave up her passion for writing, only for it to be reawakened after having children and graduating college with an Associates degree.

She wanted her children to follow their passions, but she recognized that, in order for them to feel encouraged to do so, she had to follow her own. Therefore, she picked up writing again, finding a community through online platforms like Twitter. There, she received feedback from other writers, attended critiques, and also found classes for workshopping. However, publishing was another obstacle to tackle. In 5 years, she received more than 60 rejections on her first book. Águila did not give up, and eventually got an agent who helped her to publish. She explains that, even after writing and publishing your first book, starting the process over again is not any easier. Each time is a new start, which makes you constantly have to learn processes for writing a story. 

I found Águila’s story really moving since I am an aspiring author myself. Sometimes, I have days when I am filled with creativity. Other days, I have nothing to write at all. During this event, Águila provided answers to overcoming such issues as a writer. Oftentimes, writers set themselves with long term goals rather than short term goals. As a solution, Águila suggests writers should set up a system of writing that works for them, where they at least write one thing each day. Whether it be a word, sentence, or chapter, writing is the only way to truly progress.

Lost History in Lost Archives

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The way that D.F. Makenzie describes the limits that we place as humans are representative by the bound covers in books is quite metaphorical. Yet, it is true that the more we restrict ourselves and others, the less we learn and the more ignorant we become. Mackenzie is a bibliographer who was able to see books’ worth for more than just their content. And, truly, when scholars (or anybody, for that matter) research and observe the details of old or special texts, they aren’t only looking at the words on the page, but the stains, tears, and materials. Studying archives is not only about studying what an original document or story said, but also studying the life of the book. To put it in simpler terms, if we were just to study the dialogue of humans, it would be an unfair and incomplete history of our existence. There is no reason why we shouldn’t study every aspect of an archive because even the slightest detail could reveal its unique history.

Reading about the different types of archival reading methods shed light on otherwise hidden obstacles. While researching archival materials, it is important to keep in mind the qualitative and quantitative, also accounting for newly digitized archives. Some aspects of qualitative research involve the correspondence between people, linking historically relevant figures through books and archives. For example, letters, messages, and legal documents can present connections between people. The reason this is so important is because if it weren’t for these documents, we would simply be guessing relationships between certain people. These archives are important because it takes away the ‘guessing’ or hypothesizing of history, and creates meaningful connections that we can use. One thing I discovered while researching for my biography of a book was how the printer worked in Venice just before and possibly during Aldus Manutius came and made the Aldine Press. I was also able to find the previous owner of the text as well as other scholars who might’ve made contact with the book during their studies. It felt like I was piecing together a puzzle made of people and how they connected in their society. While we have gotten much better about how we save archives, we still have much progress to make in order to accurately account for the quantitative method of archival history. The author brings up how “historical data is often ‘patchy…much more has been lost than survives’” (The History of the Book). I think this raises an important question about the accuracy of how we interpret and engage with history. Clearly, our records might be incorrectly kept or reported, in addition to the fact that most of what survives is from perspective. Therefore, it is hard to determine truthful versions of history when both data and perspectives prevent researchers from finding accuracy. I think about how people in the future are going to research us now and what they might interpret from our digital presence. It’s hard to account for something we aren’t sure will care about us and our records. Perhaps that is why we lose more history than what remains.

Digital Literature is Cool!

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The first time I ever heard about digital literature was when I received an email from the College of Arts and Letters, calling for art submissions. In my head, digital literature didn’t make sense because I had only ever thought of literature on a physical page in a book. I thought: How can literature be digital (besides me typing a story or poem on my computer)? It confused me as to how anyone could go beyond that, even though I had already seen versions of digital literature without knowing. 

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact museum I went to, but I do remember the art piece. I was in a dark room with a video playing on one screen. In the video, a woman sat in a kitchen and picked items up one at a time, naming them. You couldn’t really predict what she would show you next and, quite frankly, it was hard to discern any true rhyme or reason to which objects she would choose. That was so until she had listed perhaps 16 items and I had realized she was listing them all in alphabetical order. There was something quite eerie about the recording considering there was no ‘typical’ story besides the one you imagined. Not only did this story of sorts force me to listen in a very specific way but it also encouraged me to view these words with a specific emotion attached to them. Where “apron” might just be any other word, it was the beginning of her story.

The electronic literature displayed in Professor Pressman’s lecture reminded me a lot of this experience. I found that by watching and reading these pieces, I was experiencing something far more profound than a book. While both literature in books and digital literature are art, they convey different messages because of the medium they are attached to. I recognize that there are limitations to art based on what message should be presented to the audiences. The digital literature artists could not have performed these stories without the technology they used. It’s quite simple when you think about it, as a painter can’t make a painting with paints and a canvas. Otherwise, it would be an entirely new art medium. These digital writers are using digital technologies to play with audiences’ reception of the art, to change the way readers consume, to redefine what it means to read words in a specific order and speed.

With the alphabet story, I believe I felt uncomfortable listening to it, not only because of her listing objects without explaining a motive, but because of the pace she chose to read them at. It was a slow process, getting through the alphabet in roughly five minutes. It demanded my attention yet also forced me to listen and think. In the silence, she gave me time to consider the story between the lines. Similar to “Pry” that engages readers by having them actively pry out more information from between the lines, this video encouraged me to make my own story from the omission of filler words.

Biography of Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia

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Physical Biography:

Interpretation of Most Intriguing Feature:

After spending two hours examining the physicality of Pliny The Elder’s Naturalis Historia, the most mysterious feature were the final two pages completely stuck together, with unintelligible penmanship bleeding through. It would seem that this handwritten note was sealed away from readers on purpose by a former owner of this copy as a mode of censorship. By sealing this secrecy between the two pages, future readers are forced to grapple with pushing past the words on the page, and to appreciate the book as a concept rather than the book as content. While it is unclear the true reason why this intriguing attribute exists, the reason why it is important is because these final pages contradict the book itself; it is an encyclopedia of natural history, yet neglects to inform readers of everything within its pages. This written detail is an inaccessible part of the book’s history. Whoever owned this book before San Diego State became its home knew the power of words on a page, and knew how to leave readers hanging by a thread.

Upon my final few minutes with Naturalis Historia, an incunable book, I discovered truly the most intriguing aspect, which was barely noticeable writing bleeding through a concealed page. When I noticed this hidden handwritten note, I immediately knew that this was what I wanted to talk about. I want to talk about something I can’t even see. In fact, it is so difficult to recognize that I was stuck trying to interpret Jacobus Goellius’ signature literally the page directly next to it without even assuming more penmanship would appear. Typically, when I see a signature, I generalize that it is the end of something, whether it be a legal document or a letter. In this case, when I saw “Jacob Goellius” impressively signed at the end of the hand-pressed text, I figured it was the conclusion to the book as a whole. 

However, one has to remember everyone involved in the bookmaking process in fifteenth century Venice. At this particular print shop, the printer, Rainald di Nouimagius Alamanni, had this edition decreed during the reign of Giovanni Mocenigo. Just in his name alone, we can see the importance of the birthplace of bookmaking skills in relation to Germany, and how Italians used “Alamanni” to identify German descent and craftsmen. In one way or another, this title demonstrates a level of respect for the people who engage with books, making scientific knowledge and power more accessible to others. Similarly, by mentioning whose reign Nouimagius printed this book under, there is a political message identifying the overarching power of the government at this time. It is clear that politicians were well-respected and elevated on the hierarchy of power, dominating even printing presses distributing books. 

That is why when we think of book history, we must consider the sociology of the people during the time as well. There are lines of overlap with people in power and people not in power, building tensions between the relations made from one single book. For example, Aldus Manutius’ career with the Aldine Press overlapped with Nouimagius’ which creates an intricate network of people who collaborate and dedicate their lives toward this industry. While I am unaware of Nouimagius and Manutius’ relationship, I know that when I try to research more about Nouimagius, Manutius’ name appears instead. Even though Nouimagius contributed greatly to book history, gifting San Diego State Pliny the Elder’s incunable book, it is nearly impossible to find detailed information on him without learning about Manutius simultaneously. This goes to show the power structures of successful people five centuries ago still remain today based on how much one made an impact on a particular industry. Among hundreds of other printing houses during their time, Manutius is the most popular, not Nouimagius.

Given that we know of how Noumagius could’ve worked with other craftsmen on Pliny the Elder’s reimagined Natural History, one of these craftsmen might’ve left this handwritten message in the back of the book. However, if it were either Noumagius himself or other craftsmen, I doubt they were writing some personal letter or coded note to a future reader. Rather, I am leaning more toward the argument that their note would be more closely related to the general printing, possibly regarding page numbers and orientation. Similar to how there are signatures indicating the end of specific sections—like “d i”—to aid the bookbinding process, I would imagine this message was a possible guide for Nouimagius and his team. Therefore, it would make sense for them to seal these papers together since they might not deem this writing necessary for scholars of content. Of course, when they are printing the books, they do not consider how people like me, five hundred years later, would try to uncover what this writing might mean to the history of this book.

The main indicator as to why I believe it was neither Nouimagius nor others is the page just before with Jacobus Goellius’ notable signature. With such a flamboyant and attractive name, one might not stop to consider the censorship just above his name, covering another person’s signature or handwriting. With a censored signature above and Goellius below, it leads to consideration that Jacobus Goellius might’ve covered this person’s name because they were a previous owner. Without being able to read the writing below this covering, it is nearly impossible to discern if it is even the name of a previous owner. And, even if it was a name, retrieving who might’ve had ownership of this text is equally, if not more, difficult to find. After researching who and when Jacobus Goellius is, on Pantheon.world, he made notable contributions to Mathematics and Latin and Arabic studies in the early to mid-seventeenth century, more than one hundred years after this book was printed. It is possible he studied aspects of this book pertaining to these specializations, but that does not explain why he would write his name in the book, or decide to use Naturalis Historia for that matter. Considering its size and decorative elements, it is most likely that, at the time of its printing and for several years after, Naturalis Historia belonged to a church or university in Venice, Italy. Therefore, only people with power and scholars of these institutions had access to such knowledge since public libraries and portable books were yet to become popularized. 

A more important question, therefore, might be: why does Jacobus Goellius, a man from the Netherlands, care about what is in a book in Venice? Thomas Erpenius was Goellius’ teacher at Leiden University, who instructed him in West Asian language studies including Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. During Erpenius’ career, he traveled to myriad places, finding time to stop in Venice, Italy to perfect certain languages. It was there that Erpenius might have made contact with Pliny’s Naturalis Historia printed in 1483. I have tried many times over to find where the copy of this book truly resided, but have failed to find its exact and original home. Even though Erpenius studied at Venice of Jewish Instruction, there is no written record that Nouimagius’ 1483 print was held there. In spite of this, I still consider it reasonable to hypothesize that Erpenius encountered the text here or, quite possibly, became an owner of it. During the years between Nouimagius’ printed copy of Pliny the Elder’s manuscript and Erpenius’ visit to Venice, personally owned books were made popular by the Aldine Press. Somewhere lost in history, this text could’ve been owned by more individuals besides the obvious Jacobus Goellius. Since Erpenius was succeeded by Goellius as the chair of Arabic and Hebrew studies at Leiden University, Erpenius could have passed Naturalis Historia down to Goellius, thus reasoning why his name is signed in this copy. Then, we could conclude that the name or writing covered above Goellius’ signature was Erpenius.

If Goellius was willing to cover his predecessor’s signature, it would not be unreasonable to consider the fact that he might also censor writing in the back of the book. Perhaps he didn’t have any malintentions, but it would seem this act was performed purposefully. From my observations, these pages were nearly seamlessly adhered together, making it close to impossible for this to be any accident. Once again, if Goellius were to have sealed these pages together, it was most likely under the impression that whatever was written on these pages was unimportant to other scholars. Maybe he was even concealing personal details or notes Erpenius might’ve left before he died at just forty-years-old. Whether he was hiding secretive notes or censoring unnecessary annotations, Goellius understood these words would change the book’s history. Whoever wrote in this text, left their mark, no matter how hard Goellius tried to cover it. 

After all of this research on Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia printed in 1483 by Nouimagius, we have hardly discussed what was actually written in this book. That is because books are not only important by the information they provide but also by the information yet to be discovered. One might stop to consider the importance of every page in a given book glued together with intent, and question not the words on the pages but why they were concealed. We have not learned about the significance Naturalis Historia has in relation to Pliny’s ceaseless research, but in relation to the sociology and censorship of knowledge. When Nouimagius printed Naturalis Historia, the book likely ended up in a funded institution, exclusive to people in power. After many years, more scholars accessed the information in this text until, bit by bit, relevant documentation was made permanently inaccessible. After New York’s Bern Dibner Library Bern Dibner Library (where this book was collected along with other incunables) permanently closed, it traveled to the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California before finally ending up at San Diego State University’s Special Collections. While this particular copy is not held at a public library, you can still access free translations and versions both online and at public institutions. However, since Nouimagius’ incunable version holds more value in its age and history, it is kept in a more conserved location in Special Collections. The life of this Naturalis Historia is just one demonstration of how the power of a particular book doesn’t just pertain to the content but also the overall concept of it. Nouimagius’ book is not worth hundreds of thousands of dollars because of its content, it is more valuable because of its concept; the life it has lived is longer and more historical than anyone observing it. It is an ancient artifact of human sociology, politics, and culture. That is why it doesn’t necessarily matter what writing the pages hide, but why the pages hide this writing in the first place. In order to make an educated guess as to why, it is necessary to dive into almost every aspect of this book’s life to discern something that could otherwise be easily answered if there wasn’t five-hundred years of history to this book. 

Learning about Rainald di Nouimagius Alamanni’s printed version of Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia was no easy task. However, as I encountered multiple challenges such as its age and even that it was typed in Latin, I also learned to appreciate this book for its physicality. Because I’ve only known and read mass-produced books, I’ve only ever learned to read the words on the page rather than the pages, materiality, and history. By taking on a challenge to identify historical and sociological relevance of San Diego State’s Naturalis Historia, I gained experience in interdisciplinary research and scholarship. I also gained a new perspective on reading books not in what they contain but how they reveal themselves to their readers.

Works Cited

De Bruijn, J. T. P. “Golius, Jacobus.” Encyclopedia Iranica, Iranica Online Vol. XI, Fasc. 1, p. 96, 3 June 2013. GOLIUS, JACOBUS – Encyclopaedia Iranica

Encyclopedia.com. “Erpenius (van Erpe), Thomas.” Erpenius (van Erpe), Thomas° | Encyclopedia.com

“Erpenius, Thomas.” 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 9. 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Erpenius, Thomas – Wikisource, the free online library 

Mark, Joshua J. “Alemanni.” World History Encyclopedia, 10 September 2014. Alemanni – World History Encyclopedia 

Massachusetts Institution of Technology. “The Burndy Library has moved and the Dibner Institute has closed.” Burndy Library | Dibner Institute

Pantheon. “Jacobus Golius.” Jacobus Golius Biography | Pantheon

Smith, Dr. Lorenza. “Aldo Manuzio (Aldus Manutius): inventor of the modern book.” Smarthistory, 28 March 2019. Smarthistory – Aldo Manuzio (Aldus Manutius): inventor of the modern book Smithsonian Institution Libraries Publications, Incunabula Collections. Incunabula From the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology

Turning Commodification Into an Art

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Rather than turning art into a commodity, Fiona Banner does quite the opposite. When we start from the beginning, books were never meant to be a commodity. But as soon as the printing press made books mass market media, supply and demand exploded, and books became a worldwide necessity. What I was surprised to learn about was that even though books had been widely printed—and even more so since the Industrial Revolution—it wasn’t until 1967 that “the ISBN was initiated in the United States” (Borsuk 242). Truthfully, I did not know how much information the ISBN held, such as the sale, distribution, origin, publisher, title, and edition. I understood the number was used to indicate the specific book, but I never paid any mind to how much it actually documented.

To know that the ISBN is simply a method to track the commodification of a book, it is almost like the dehumanization of a book. Like a book has been imprisoned, assigned a number, and that’s what it’s better known for by sellers. Our demand for these items through the fetishization of books has created the book as a simple, predictable object that we purchase at a moment’s notice. In our world of consumerism, at least there are still unique producers like Fiona Banner, virtually turning herself into a commodified book by “tattooing ‘ISBN 0-9548366-7-7’ on her lower back” (243). While this number signifies lack of individuality (suggesting that there are more people just like her—different versions of herself), it also shows a sense of ownership of self. This act is a form of art and revolution, destroying the concept of predictability. Just to test it out, I copied this ISBN into Google and discovered I could not buy it. Fiona Banner has created a break in the system of commodification. It’s not possible to buy her ISBN, she already owns herself.

As much as we like to fulfill supply and demand, forever and ever, it is simply a man-made concept. It makes complete sense for us to create something that virtually dismantles the idea of art and beauty only for us to deconstruct that idea with art and beauty.

Is novelty physical or psychological?

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After this week’s readings and viewing the artist books during our lab on Tuesday, I began to realize that nothing I was seeing or reading about was exceptionally unique. No, I am not trying to discredit the artists of these wonderful pieces. I am, however, challenging their concepts and originality. Surely, the artists were inspired by something, encouraging them to implement varying devices into their art. However, I would have to argue that diversity, more than anything, is what creates “novel” ideas.

As we have read, most of the artists “inventing” art forms such as cubism, proun, and dada didn’t come up with these movements out of nowhere. There was a context in which they were constructed, whether it be from the industrial revolution or wars or other art. For instance, when futurist painters described their purpose, they said it was to “totally invalidate all kinds of imitation.… Elevate all attempts at originality,” yet in the very same quote, they explain they will only “support and glory in our day-to-day world, a world which is going to be continually and splendidly transformed by victorious Science” (“The Influence of Modern Art”). In essence, these artists are looking toward something, supporting it and glorifying it as some sort of model. Rather than invalidating imitation entirely, it seems to me they are, in one way or another, imitating the art and beauty of science.

Art is a revolution. While we use art in our day-to-day lives to inspire more creativity, it is also a medium of political and social expression. Art is more than the visual component, and becomes more of a concept. What I am trying to say is that we have not invented art but only put a name to it. It becomes significant to us in the contexts in which it arises and succeeds. Art is all around us, in everything we do, see, and experience; it is only when we find its relevance that we truly recognize it for a “novel” idea, even though it’s always been there. Perhaps, rather than saying the art is novel, it is more accurate to say the way we think about the art is novel. That is how we begin transforming our mindsets to appreciate a version of something that has been here all along.

Art to Book to Art Again

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Books have not always been a form of art. When they were first created, they were meant for easier compilation of contents. There were massive folio books in churches containing handwritten iterations of scriptures. Books weren’t portable for owners until mass-production made materials more accessible to the public. Public libraries and mechanical inventions contributed to the popularity, accessibility, and standardization of books. Therefore, it wasn’t until very recently that people began making a new art out of books.

Because certain books have a conventional structure to them from their font, font size, and formatting, there is a lack of creativity, and increase in experimentation for book creators. Ulises Carrion took this ordinary marketable object as an inspiration to step outside the covers that bind together the archetype of a book. He wanted to play with expectations and oppose the industry that promoted sameness. His bookstore, Other Books and So, introduced me to an array of anti-book ideas like “non books, anti books, pseudo books, quasi books, concrete books, visual books, conceptual books, structural books, project books, statement books, [and] instruction books” (Borsuk 141). Carrion, among other authors and artists, wanted to promote books that challenged the norms of what society expects based on marketability.

One thing that was mentioned that I think I could understand the best was how books are spatiotemporal and, in that way, an animated medium. We like to think of books as static: when a book is published, we expect to see the same version of that book everywhere. There is no variation, no unique features that differentiate one book from another of the same book. We talked this past week about how Percival Everett’s Telephone is an example of a novel that dismantles the idea of sameness. As an author myself, I would also like to experiment with fiction writing and participate in the avant-garde forms of literature and books.

When understanding books as a film of information and ideas taking up time and space, we begin to use our imagination more creatively. For instance, in a novel, the words make the story and force readers (more or less) to only picture what’s in front of them. We have been trained as readers to consume the words as what they mean, rather than what they might mean. We have not learned how to make use of the empty space on the pages, of which we now have abundance. We have not learned to care for how the font or the punctuation matters in every aspect. We simply read to consume information rather than to actually think about how it even matters. After all, what is the point of reading if you can’t even grasp why it’s important?