Imprinted Handwriting

Concepts & Methods Unit 5

The concept of ‘written artefact’ has opened up a space for integrating the study of hitherto discrete classes of handwritten objects, such as codices, scrolls, leporellos, tablets, stelae and graffiti walls. UWA II leverages this potential for further integration: CMU 5 will rethink established dichotomies between handwritten and printed artefacts, exploring how the practices of handwriting and its mechanical reproduction – ‘imprinting’ – evolved in a continuous interplay of mutual influence, shaping and transforming one another.

The aim is to highlight that most tools for mechanical reproduction of writing were created through handwriting practices, and that what has been produced through imprinting is decidedly part of exploring the world of handwritten artefacts. Our approach is not limited to carving woodblocks or preparing moulds for casting inscriptions – imprinting encompasses a wide range of materials (e.g., clay, wax, metal, stone, papyrus, paper, parchment) and media (seal matrices, coin dies, moulds, punches, types, woodblocks, lithographic stones, copperplates etc.) from all regions and periods of human history.

CMU 5 aims to develop concepts and methods that enable a systematic study of how the practices and functions of handwriting and imprinting are intertwined and embedded in one another. This comprises two axes: 1) reconceptualising imprinted artefacts as witnesses to handwriting practices; 2) understanding the interconnections in the design, production and consumption processes of handwritten and imprinted artefacts.