17th century church missal (1631)
This printed book is an excellent example of early two-color printing.
The printer would have to run the book through the printing press two times. Each time he did so, he would have to line the moveable type up perfectly, first to position the black text, then second to accommodate the red text. As you can imagine, this was a painstakingly slow process which required great attention to detail, something the early printers were well know for.
This book contains liturgy for mass in Catholic Church that was conducted in Latin. It was printed at the famed Plantin Press in Antwerp, Belgium, which was a center of fine printing during the 16th century. Christophe Plantin, of the Plantin Press, was friend of Peter Paul Rubens, a Flemish Baroque painter, who did illustrations for many of his books.
Front cover of missal, bound in black leather with gold detailing.
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This image shows the title page of the Missale Romanum from 1631. Note the two-color text (red and black) and the lovely illustration on this page.
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Because this book was a missal, it also contained music and words for people to sing along with. Note the precision with which the black notes line up on the red bars of music.
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