Description

Gold leaf often was used to enhance the value of medieval manuscripts. In scriptoria and painters’ workshops, highly specialized techniques had been developed to write in golden letters—often on a colored background—or to decorate initials and miniatures with gold. These methods continued to be employed in the manual decoration of printed books. However, the development of a corresponding technique for printing gold on parchment or paper proved to be much more difficult. The first printer to successfully implement this technique was Erhard Ratdolt, a native of Augsburg who ...