Barthes’ book-length essay Le plaisir du text is scribed and casebound into a single edition. The formal intentions derive from the history of bookmaking practices, intersecting medieval scribal traditions with contemporary digital workflows. The Van de Graaf canon is used to construct page layout proportions, but then page layout software is used to create a template for a battery-operated lightbox. Further embracing the anachronistic contradictions, the source text is referenced on a digital e-book reader.
The project also considers various factors that might influence scribal interference with a text, ranging from fundamental design considerations to a scribe’s urge to insert commentary.
Le plaisir du texte, scribed edition, 160mm x 230mm, 48 pages, August 2019
Source: Barthes (1973). Le plaisir du texte. Paris: Éditions du Seuil
BOOK HISTORY / SCRIBAL TRADITION / BOOK DESIGN / AUTHORSHIP / READERSHIP
