FEATURES OF THE TYPOGRAPHY OF THE KNJIŽICE OD ŽITIJA RIMSKIH ARHIJEREJOV I CESAROV

Abstract

n this work only one aspect of the typographical design of the Knjižice od žitija rimskih arhijerejov i cesarov [Book of the Lives of Roman Archpriests and Emperors] is discussed, the harmonisation of surfaces in the book and the function of the body of the type in the layout of the page.
The typographic idea of the layout of the Knjižica od žitija is based on the trinity idea, that is, on the Pythagoras rectangle of 3 : 4 (the quarterion) and his sesquialteran match in the 2 : 3 format (the quinton). The reconstruction of Zanetti's printing procedure for the generation of all book sizes from the basic format, the harmonisation of full and empty surfaces in the folio shows that the method of folding the quarterion at that time was a common routine among professional printers.
Analysis of the measurements of the specimen of the book that is kept in Croatian Academy library (call number R 698) shows that the Zagreb specimen (compared with that in Wrocław of which a facsimile edition has been made) preserved the original typographic measures.
The size of the type body of Kožičić's Glagolitic lead letter was 4,4558 mm (height of column divided by number of lines). All the sizes in the book can be with no remainder measured by this unit, a kind of cicero. The Rijeka cicero is only 0,046 mm greater than Didot's (4,512 mm) accepted since 1879 as the standard international typometric unit.