One of the biggest themes we have discussed in class is that the “new” will always imitate the “old” aesthetically and stylistically to make the consumer more comfortable and familiar with the product. A great example of this occurs on page 92 of “The Book” by Amaranth Borsuk: “The first Italian printers based their types on this humanist hand, producing ‘roman’ letterforms named for their purported connection to ancient Rome. (Borsuk, 92)” It is fascinating that the “Roman” font comes from the Roman humanist hand. It’s endearing that the Italians decided to base their font on the human hand, thus giving it a human quality, and making it more familiar to its readers. This is just one of the many examples of this occurring. Another example of this is the fact that Kindles perfectly replicate a book’s form by having a cover and the exact pages inside. A Kindle could have taken any shape and had more exciting features, but it decided to exactly replicate a book. This is because the inventors of the Kindle wanted it to be recognizable and relatable to book lovers. Im excited to learn more about this phenomenon and dive deeper into this book.
BOOKS!!
ECL 596. Fall 2025. Professor Jessica Pressman with Anna Culbertson
Hi Trinity, you bring up a good point and an excellent quote about how important familiarization has been especially during times of technological transition. I had no idea that the Roman font was based on the human hand which in all honesty is almost like an incredibly extra thing to do even if its for familiarity’s sake, its such such a small detail that I thought would be indistinguishable, but it does make sense. It’s so interesting to see just how we imitate things from the past in order to make ourselves more comfortable and familiar with something new like the example of the kindle in your post. Weird how new things are based on old.