By Carl Graham

The type nerd in me can die now: *pause* I’ve seen Giambattista Bodoni’s Manuale Tipografico. As far as I can see, there’s not much else that can bring a typophile much joy after that. Or is there?

Such supplemental joy might be found in the beauty of ancient etchings and the intricacy of old illuminated manuscripts, both of which are viewable at the Biblioteca Angelica in unbelievably good condition. What was amazing was that the manuscripts and printed books we had since then only discussed and seen digitally in class were finally made real in our brains by actual physical contact with some of the books.

Actual manuscripts done in gothic and humanistic styles in their ink-and-gold-foil-on-vellum glory, etchings in their perfect imperfection, and type in its earliest forms—in its most beautiful forms—before my very eyes and beneath my very fingers.