Ingenious Impressions

• Accompanies a major exhibition exploring the invention of the printed book
• The University of Glasgow holds one of the UK’s most important collections of ‘incunabula’, or those books published over the fifty years from the invention of printing in the mid-fifteenth century

The University of Glasgow’s library contains an outstanding collection of over a thousand fifteenth-century printed books (‘incunabula’), built up since the university’s foundation in 1451 and recently catalogued in detail.

The invention of printing using mechanical movable type revolutionised bookmaking in Europe and was instrumental in the emergence of the Renaissance and the spread of learning across the continent. This beautifully illustrated book accompanies an exhibition highlighting a small selection of these fascinating works. It charts the development of early printed books in Europe, exploring the transition from manuscript to print culture and its impact on late medieval society.

Julie Gardham has been a Rare Book Librarian in Special Collections at the University of Glasgow Library since 1997. She has a particular interest in fifteenth-century books. In 2004 she curated the World of Chaucer exhibition held at the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.