Emilian Corneanu, Gravuri în cărţile diaconului Coresi
Engravings in Coresi`s printed books
As printing became widely popular, wood engraving turned into a major graphic art, the most expressive mean of decorating books in the 16th century. The paper “Engravings in Coresi`s printed books” evidentiates the innovations brought in this domain in Coresi`s typography from Brasov. The first books printed by Romanians display engravings sporadically, but Coresi imposes the full-page engraving through a set of 12 illustrations of Christ`s life and passions in the “Pentecostar Triodion” (1558). Two decades later wood engravings are used again in the “Sbornik” from Sas-Sebes, their art benefiting of a new Renaissance trend. Another coresian gain is to use in “Homily II” (1580-1581), first time in Romanian printing, the title page of the type “book`s gate”, a purely western motif. Coresi masterly uses illustration to enhance the written message, on one hand, and to support the commercial success of the book, on the other hand, the ways opened by him in this field, too, being followed by the Romanian typographers of 17th and 18th centuries.
Keywords: 16th century Braşov, old printed books, Coresi, wood engraving, book illustration.
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