LEGIBILITY YTILIBIGEL LEBGILITIY

Hey all.

Make sure to take some time out and have a look at these.

Illuminated manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia and New Zealand

28 March - 15 June 2008
State Library of Victoria

This spectacular free exhibition of medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts celebrates the art of the hand-written book or manuscript. Around half the works are from Cambridge University and its colleges, which together hold one of the greatest collections of medieval manuscripts in the western world. The remainder are from distinguished public collections in Australia and New Zealand, including works from the State Library of Victoria's own collection.

Over 90 manuscripts are on display. Dating from the 8th to the 16th centuries, they include examples of deluxe book production from Byzantium, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Works on display include sacred traditional texts as well as works of music, law, history, science and literature. These exquisite manuscripts offer a wealth of information on art and learning, and provide fascinating insights into the life and times of the medieval and Renaissance periods.

The exhibition is presented in five thematic sections:

• The Bible: Illuminating the Word
• The Book and Church Services: Liturgy and Ritual
• The Personal Prayer Book: Psalters and Books of Hours
• The Book and Knowledge: Science, Law, Literature and History
• The Book and the Renaissance: The Humanist Book.

Also worth a look.

Orbit Oblique – a typography exhibition and book.

17 April - 17 May
Craft Victoria, 31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Orbit Oblique is a typographic tribute to the animals lost in space. During the period 1949-1990 the space race between the USA and Russia saw dozens of animals being launched into space in the name of scientific research. These unwilling participants included not just monkeys and dogs but also cats, rats, frogs, worms, spiders, fish and even fruit flies. Many were never seen again.

The exhibition, composed of a series of backlit typographic billboards, also features the public release of Bisque, a typeface that made history by being the first to have its international rights auctioned on e-bay in 2007.

The accompanying publication, Orbit Oblique, is a hand-bound limited edition of 500 and features a letterpress-printed cover. It is one of a very few type samplers produced in Australia for the past several decades.

Talk to you soon.