Printing

[Roundels] [Almanac and Prognostycacyon] [Dickon's Lament] [Broadsheets] [Book Production] [Crown Paens]

Given that I deal with words all day, and have been a publisher, in both electronic and print formats, for much of my mundane professional life, it's perhaps surprising that it took me so long to think about combining these skills with some of my SCA interests.

It wasn't until Alys de Wilton was to be elevated to the Order of the Laurel that I thought about putting an item we had worked on together into printed broadsheet form (Dickon's Lament). Up to that point, I'd made lots of things like feast menus and certificates, but this was my first foray into producing something that could have come off a printing press in period. And that was so much fun, I kept finding other excuses to produce printed materials.

One of the things which has really inspired me was the discovery of a great period-style font developed by . He based his JSL Ancient font on the font used in A compendious view of the late tumults & troubles in this kingdom by way of annals for seven years, by James Wright, printed by Edward Jones, 1685; and Ars Pictoria, or an Academy treating of Drawing, Painting, Limning and Etching, by Alexander Browne, printed by J. Redmayne, 1668. While these are outside the official SCA period, the fonts are very close to period printed examples. Even better, Jeff Lee has a great downloadable converter which lets you paste text in to convert it into the appropriate ligatures in his JSL Ancient and JSL Blackletter fonts.

I've got an old book press which has proven handy in producing book covers and small bound books. The next steps are to produce some woodcuts to go with the printed material, possibly via linocut; to experiment with real ink, instead of laser printer; to learn more about period bindings. The Words of Canterbury Faire is going to prove a major project before that.

There are more printed material examples and discussions in my section on maps, as I'm using many of the techniques and tools across both areas.

Roundels

I've been intrigued by the Elizabethan roundels, thin wooden (sometimes just varnished paper) placemats. The examples I've seen have poems or verses with an illustration. They were typically handed out in box sets, very much like the cork placemats elderly aunts today invariably give as wedding gifts. I like the idea of producing a set for personal use, as well as possibly producing a set for a feast, with the menu on one side and songs on the other. I'm still in the experimental stage with these, looking for suitable artwork or artwork styles. I think they'd be very handy as an encouragement to singing for the hundreds of songs we know the chorus to but can only stumble through the verses. (The example shown here has the verses for Greensleeves.

Roundel from DK Shakespeare.

My prototype roundel

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Almanac and Prognostycacyon AS38

I wanted to produce something that could act as a souvenir for Canterbury Faire and be interesting at the same time. Long years as an astronomy writer, and as a sometime astrological chartmaker, suggested a possible tack, and thus the Almanac was born.

The research was a great deal of fun, in deciding what manner of predictions to include, how to modify the horoscope casting for period use and so forth. The most awkward thing was that I didn't have any extensive period facsimiles to work from, just the odd page referenced here and there. I'll have to see what I can find for any future edition to produce something more closely resembling what was printed in the late 1500s.

Here's the documentation for the current edition:

My Almanac cover

Telling the time and predicting the future have always been important aspects of civilisation. Roger Bacon (Opus Majus, 1267) was the first to use the Arabic-derived term Almanac to describe his set of tables of the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies. Early almanacs also used the term prognostications, supplementing astronomical and calendrical information with discussions of the influence of the heavenly bodies on earthly topics such as weather, health, romance, and national and international relations.

This 16th-century almanac starts with the Common Notes, being a list of obscure terms and data used typically to calculate moveable feasts, such as Easter. The dominical letter of the Gregorian calendar year is the letter label of the Sundays in the year; leap years receive two dominical letters. The golden number is a 19-year cycle related to the Metonic lunar cycle, and called such because it was written in gold in early church calendars. It is used in computing the epact, which relates the lunar and solar calendar. The Constantine indication is a 15-year cycle introduced by Constantine for tax reasons which, according to Madore, is "part of the computus but of no interest whatsoever except to decorate calendars". And The Answer is, of course, the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything - there's got to be an anachronism in everything to avoid perfection and the potential for hubris, after all.

Almanacs traditionally had a section for the "Zodiac Man", which depicted the parts of the body which corresponded to astrological influences, providing medical and romantic advice (Lawrence, 1898). The text used in this section has been adapted from an almanac in use in 1571, with some material from William Lilly's Christian Astrology (1647) and William Ramesey's Astrologia Restaurata (1653).

Cerniglia notes that:
...many almanacs proved they were not too exalted for dull or uninspiring doggerel verse, even if the poetry appertained to medical advice. Likewise, some almanacs demonstrated sensationalism was not beneath their authors. Far-fetched prophesies, baseless political speculation and acidic social commentary could be found even in the most profitable publications.

This sort of information has, of course, been included in this version, with prognostications covering the weather, general predictions and astrological aspects.

The weather predictions are based on the NZ MetService summary for early February in Canterbury, with a suitably uninformative approach comparable to many found in almanacs throughout the 1s (or in modern forecasts for that matter!).

The general predictions are based on the 1591 satirical almanac A Wonderfull Astrologicall Prognostication, in ridicule of the almanac-makers, allegedly penned by Adam Fouleweather, and commonly attributed to Thomas Nashe. Also included are a couple from Rabelais's Pantagruelian Prognostications (Chapter 25 of the Third Book of Pantagruel; 1532) and a line from Merlinus Anonymous.

The astrological aspects come from an event horoscope drawn up for the time of Canterbury Faire's opening court, using the interpretations provided by the Astrolabe astrological service, as well as relevant material from Lilly and Ramesey relating to the planets, signs and placements.

Almanacs also listed information about saints, often deliberately including fake ones and some decidedly unsaintly listings or datings. This almanac's saints (all real) were selected from the list maintained by the Catholic Forum; the datings (not all real) were developed based on those contained within period almanacs. I wrote the closing poem based on the famous opening lines from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Almanacs were extremely popular works, and consequently were early to print; the first printed almanac known was by Purbach (compiled 1); the first English almanac is dated 1500, printed by William Parron, who was attached to Henry VII's court. The general approach is known to have stayed static for almost 200 years, so I have assumed it reasonable to use some post-period examples in deciding on the text and layout.

Almanacs were often produced as small booklets for ease of carrying and reference. The typeface used is JSL Ancient, developed by Jeff Lee based on the transitional typefaces used by English printers Edward Jones and J. Redmayne in the late 1600s; the text has been run through Lees' JSL Font Converter to produce ligatures. The cover image is adapted from the Prognostication printed in Lyon for Michel Nostradamus in 1555.

Almanac Text

Here is the text ot the almanac. If I didn't do everything in Ventura, it would be a lot easier to extract material in a suitable format for presenting.

ALMANACK and PRONOSTYCACYON for Anno Societatis XXXVIII
Being the Year of the Reign of our most gracious
Sovereign Majesties AEdward and Yolande
By katherine kerr of the Hermitage,
astronomer and printer

Comprehending the dayes of Canterbury Faire
From Opening to Closing Court
Calculated for the Meridian of the Barony of Southron Gaard
Lat. 43 Deg. 33 Min. South.
And Wherein is contained the Sun and Moon's Rising and Setting,
Judgment of the Weather, Saints Days, Astronomicall Bodies, etc

Common Notes for AS XXXVIII

The Anatomy of Man's Body as govern'd by the Twelve Constellations

No part of man's body ought to be touched with the Chirurgicall instruments, or cauterie actuall or potencial, when the Sunne or Moone, or the Lord of the Ascendent, is in the same signe that ruleth that part of man's body. At this time look for the Kings Evil, sore Throats, Wens, Fluxes of Rheumes falling into the Throat, Quinzies. And with the Moone in Cancer, check for Whelks, Pimples in the Face, small Pocks, hare Lips, Polypus, (noli me tangere) Ring-worms, Falling-sicknesse, Apoplexies, Megrims, Tooth-ach, Head-ach and Baldnesse. If the same be for the Pestilence, the Phrensie, the Pluresie, the Squincie, or for a Continuall headach, proceeding of choler or bloud; or for any burning Ague, or extreme paine of partes, a man may not so carefully stay for a chosen day by the Almanack: for that in the meane tyme the pacient perhaps may dye. For which cause let the skilfull Chirurgeon open a veine, unless he finde the pacient verie weake, or that the Moone be in the Same Syne that governeth that part of man's body.

Seekest thou a Chirugeon for your ills, a water-bearer for your thirst.

5th Day of February

ASTRONOMICALL NOTES

PRONOSTYCACYON
The windes will be NE or SW, or S and NW. It will be hotte when not colde. The blind will not see much, the deaf will hear rather poorly, mutes will not talk much. Court opens when the rising sign is in Aries, a Masculine, Diurnall Sign, moveable, Cardinall, Equinoctiall; in nature fiery, hot and dry, cholerick, bestial, luxurious, intemperate and violent. The Sunne in Aquarius brings new ideas, and the Moon in Cancer, its onely house, is Watry, Moyst, Flegmatick, Feminine, Nocturnal.

SAINTE: Agatha
Agatha, a most pious Sicilian lady, was of such beauty that Govenor Quintian made many attempts upon her chastity without success. In order to gratify his passions with the greater conveniency, he put the virtuous lady into the hands of a brothel-keeper, but the lady's chastity was impregnable. Quintian, foiled in his designs, changed lust for resentment and on her confessing to being Christian, he ordered her to be scourged, burnt with red-hot irons, and torn with sharp hooks. Having borne these torments with admirable fortitude, she was next laid naked upon live coals, intermingled with glass, and expired on February 5, 251. Her veil, carried in holy procession, averted eruptions of Mount Etna and her intercession saved Malta from Turkish invasion in 1551. Patron of bell-founders, breast diseases, earthquakes, eruptions of Mount Etna

6th Day of February

ASTRONOMICALL NOTES

PRONOSTYCACYON
The windes will be SW or S and colde, or NE and NW and hotte. Manye shall goe soberer into Tavernes than they shall come out. The rich will be a little better off than the poor, and the healthy will stay better than the sick. For all these times herein this place, the stars say that you and your peers aspire to change your society with new goals, but these must be grounded on this Earthe in order to be accepted by the peoples. Venus is in Pisces so beware lest your privvy fantasies appeal more than things of the earthe, and be certes that those you assist are worthy of your devotion. In this signe is one prone to Venery, delighting in Baths, and all honest merry meetings, a Company-keeper.

SAINTE: Amand of France
When he took the cowl at 20, Amand's family were incensed and attempted a kidnap. Committed to a life as a mendicant preacher, Armand was assaulted by the ungodly in France, Flanders, Carinthia, Gascony and Germany, where his wanderings in beer and wine-making provinces saw him associate with brewers and vintners to his harm. He passed to heaven in Elnone in 679. Patron of brewers, innkeepers, wine merchants, vintners.

7th Day of February

ASTRONOMICALL NOTES

PRONOSTYCACYON
The windes will be hotte when NW, windy when NE, colde when SW or S. Of wheats, wines, fruits, and vegetables never have this many been seen, if the wishes of poor folk are heard. Mercury in Capricorn shows the need for much planning and direction, with earthiness of humour. Saturn in the sign of the Crabbe says that self-control will rule your days. The north node in Taurus shows that you wish the company of your peers, but let not mere self-service be your motivation. As for Travell, and whether such a Country, City or Kingdom will be healthfull or prosperous unto you, know that Venus in the Ascendant means you may safely travell or sojourn hereunto the place of Canterbury Fayre.

SAINTE: Thomas Sherwood
A draper's assistant, born of Catholic parents in Protestant England, Thomas was condemned to the Tower of London for his faith, and tortured to obtain the place from whence he had attended Mass, and while therein he ministered to other prisoners. He averred that Queen Elizabeth was excommunicate and denied her supremacy over the Church. He was martyred 7 February 1578 by dragging, hanging, drawing, beheading and quartering.

8th Day of February

ASTRONOMICALL NOTES

PRONOSTYCACYON
The windes will be windy when from the NW, NE and SW, and strong when in the S. Butter shall melt with the extreme heat of Summer; and those that are hanged shall never live to be drowned. Possessions have great import with Mars is in Taurus; jalousie may be raised between lord and lady. Look for one who is big in Face; large, strong Shoulders; great mouth, and thick Lips; grosse Hands; black rugged Hair. Jupiter in Virgo marks the sign of the Pelican, with dutie and responsibility justly rewarded. In shape and forme is found a small shrill voyce, all members inclining to brevity; a witty discreet soul, judicious and excellently well spoken, studious and given to History, whether Man or Woman.

SAINTE: Ciwg
This sister of Saint Congar lived a life of quiet sanctity and private vows. Once when she visited her brother in his hermit's cell he refused to see her, fearing that even the sight of his sister would prove a distraction. To prove her holiness, she summoned a wild boar, and miraculously caused him to obey her like a pet. He accepted it as a sign.

The Canterbury Pilgrims

And on the final page, a hopeful plea...

When in February the hot dayes do falle
And Skeiron blows his steady breath on alle
Sweeping the countrys roads north and west to bring
Lords and ladies, knightte, laurel, pelican and kingge
Hastening to Canterbury from far-off playces
To make new friendships and greete with joie familiar faces.

Predicting how all may goe is no easy task
Though stars and planettes tell those who aske
Oft-times their vaunted counsell is not right
Mixing boy babe for girl, victor and loser in the fight
The fault lies not in the stars, or so the Bard doth saye
But in ourselues; be certain then of this, come what may
Howe're your mien, spread joie and walke with grayce
And you will be thought well come into this place

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Dickon's Lament - a printed 16th-century broadsheet

You can read about the song itself and its background here. This section deals with the actual production side of the song as a broadsheet.

Printed music, in the form of single-page woodcuts, came into being in the latter part of the 1400s. The development of movable type made it viable. By the 1520s, music fonts were created with each piece of type having a note, or other musical symbol, along with a section of the stave (Gaskell, 1972: 138-39).

Close examination of such music (eg Ravenscroft's Pammelia, 1609; the Sibley Music Library collection) shows this approach in use. The reversal of the beams ("tails") of the notes also suggests that, in order to save on the number of different slugs required, printers simply inverted notes to double their usage.

While metal-based type allowed for much greater resolution, leading to thinner, smoother staff lines than possible with the earlier woodcuts, lining up the type proved to be a problem, as Pammelia and other examples clearly demonstrate. Honea notes, in discussing the Antwerp publication of Souter Liedekens by Symon Cock (1613):

The compositer used so-called "vertical" type, in which single notes founded on complete sections of staff are compiled together with other blank sections of the staff in various widths to form a single impression. In this example each piece of type does not always align neatly with its neighbor, resulting in a visually "jerky" flow of the musical line.

This effect has been reproduced in Dickon's Lament by hand-drawing the note types, scanning them and then assembling them electronically as individual slugs. The general layout is comparable to that of Pammelia, without exactly reproducing Ravenscroft's format - the initial capital, for example, has been made somewhat larger, and without left justification; this was purely a design decision. The symbology within the capital has been selected for its references to the lament (bow and arrows; the Hermitage tower; Scots thistle and acorn), rather than simply reproducing a period capital.

An extract from Ravenscroft's Pammelia> printed in 1609.

An extract from Dickon's Lament. If you'd like to print the full page, save this version.

The music itself is in white mensural notation, a precursor to modern musical notation with some distinct differences, most obviously in the diamond-shaped heads of the notes. The "railway line" clef mark at the start of each line indicates the position of C. At the end of each line, the "tick" indicates the pitch of the note at the start of the next line; a convenient assistance for the sight reader.

Except for the title, which is in Buccaneer (a Scriptorium font), the typeface for the lyrics is in JSL Ancient, as developed by Jeff Lee based on the transitional typefaces used by English printers Edward Jones and J. Redmayne in the latter part of the 1600s. While outside the SCA period, they are very close in style to the typeface used in Pammelia and in earlier print examples.

The text has been run through Lees' JSL Font Convertor to produce the ligatures and special characters used at the time. The period spelling and Scots usage (eg quhar for where) has been based on original source material such as ballads and letters from the latter half of the 16th century.

The paper is a high-rag content paper cut to 15" x 10" (375 x 250mm), the size which formed the typical standard folio sheet or broadside. Gregory Blount of Isenfir (Greg Lindahl) refers to this size with regard to a printed broadsheet reproduced by Holbein. It also makes a good presentation size for gift purposes on the occasion of Alys de Wilton's elevation to the Order of the Laurel.

Postcript
Drat! Dame Alys noticed the fact that the staff doesn't left-justify alongside the leading edge of the block capital. I've been looking for other examples of printed music in period which do what I have done. The nearest so far is an example from Playford, but that is 1680 or thereabouts. If you know of any, please, please

The other error is an incorrect note in the final stave. I could redo the whole thing or accept it as an example of "the Matty Groves effect" (ie tunes and lyrics changing over time through errors of written and oral transmission). I've tried singing it the "new" way and it sounds acceptable, so I'll leave it for the moment. Perhaps I'll do that when I put it into modern notation, which I'd like to do, adding the bass drone part where my harp gets to imitate a bag-pipe (what a cruel and unusual punishment for such a nice instrument!).

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Broadsheets

As part of the Bardic Auction in AS38, I helped bulk out the patron prize pool with a number of promissory notes for broadsheets:

Let it be known that the holder of this note, in recognition of their furthering of the arts and entertainment at Canterbury Faire through their patronage of the Bardic Auction, is entitled to the following:
A rendition of the Patron's Bardic item, or other such ballad, poem or prose of their choosing to be fashioned at their command in the form of a printed Elizabethan broadsheet suitable for display.

I ended up doing three broadsheets for bardic patrons, adding suitable embellishments:

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