Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Download textbook Data Analytics Paving The Way To Sustainable Urban Mobility Proceedings Of 4Th Conference On Sustainable Urban Mobility Csum2018 24 25 May Skiathos Island Greece Eftihia G Nathanail ebook all chapter pdf
Download textbook Data Analytics Paving The Way To Sustainable Urban Mobility Proceedings Of 4Th Conference On Sustainable Urban Mobility Csum2018 24 25 May Skiathos Island Greece Eftihia G Nathanail ebook all chapter pdf
https://textbookfull.com/product/challenges-of-urban-mobility-
transport-companies-and-systems-2018-transopot-conference-michal-
suchanek/
https://textbookfull.com/product/smart-urban-mobility-law-
regulation-and-policy-michele-finck/
https://textbookfull.com/product/green-technologies-and-
infrastructure-to-enhance-urban-ecosystem-services-proceedings-
of-the-smart-and-sustainable-cities-conference-2018-viacheslav-
vasenev/
https://textbookfull.com/product/why-isn-t-urban-development-
sustainable-an-institutional-approach-to-the-case-of-athens-
greece-1st-edition-msc-antonios-tsiligiannis/
https://textbookfull.com/product/sustainable-approaches-to-urban-
transport-1st-edition-dinesh-mohan/
Eftihia G. Nathanail
Ioannis D. Karakikes Editors
Volume 879
Series editor
Janusz Kacprzyk, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: kacprzyk@ibspan.waw.pl
The series “Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing” contains publications on theory,
applications, and design methods of Intelligent Systems and Intelligent Computing. Virtually all
disciplines such as engineering, natural sciences, computer and information science, ICT, economics,
business, e-commerce, environment, healthcare, life science are covered. The list of topics spans all the
areas of modern intelligent systems and computing such as: computational intelligence, soft computing
including neural networks, fuzzy systems, evolutionary computing and the fusion of these paradigms,
social intelligence, ambient intelligence, computational neuroscience, artificial life, virtual worlds and
society, cognitive science and systems, Perception and Vision, DNA and immune based systems,
self-organizing and adaptive systems, e-Learning and teaching, human-centered and human-centric
computing, recommender systems, intelligent control, robotics and mechatronics including
human-machine teaming, knowledge-based paradigms, learning paradigms, machine ethics, intelligent
data analysis, knowledge management, intelligent agents, intelligent decision making and support,
intelligent network security, trust management, interactive entertainment, Web intelligence and multimedia.
The publications within “Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing” are primarily proceedings
of important conferences, symposia and congresses. They cover significant recent developments in the
field, both of a foundational and applicable character. An important characteristic feature of the series is
the short publication time and world-wide distribution. This permits a rapid and broad dissemination of
research results.
Advisory Board
Chairman
Nikhil R. Pal, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India
e-mail: nikhil@isical.ac.in
Members
Rafael Bello Perez, Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, Santa Clara, Cuba
e-mail: rbellop@uclv.edu.cu
Emilio S. Corchado, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
e-mail: escorchado@usal.es
Hani Hagras, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
e-mail: hani@essex.ac.uk
László T. Kóczy, Széchenyi István University, Győr, Hungary
e-mail: koczy@sze.hu
Vladik Kreinovich, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, USA
e-mail: vladik@utep.edu
Chin-Teng Lin, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
e-mail: ctlin@mail.nctu.edu.tw
Jie Lu, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
e-mail: Jie.Lu@uts.edu.au
Patricia Melin, Tijuana Institute of Technology, Tijuana, Mexico
e-mail: epmelin@hafsamx.org
Nadia Nedjah, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
e-mail: nadia@eng.uerj.br
Ngoc Thanh Nguyen, Wroclaw University of Technology, Wroclaw, Poland
e-mail: Ngoc-Thanh.Nguyen@pwr.edu.pl
Jun Wang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
e-mail: jwang@mae.cuhk.edu.hk
Editors
123
Editors
Eftihia G. Nathanail Ioannis D. Karakikes
Department of Civil Engineering Traffic, Department of Civil Engineering Traffic,
Transportation and Logistics Laboratory Transportation and Logistics Laboratory
(TTLog) (TTLog)
University of Thessaly University of Thessaly
Volos, Greece Volos, Greece
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
This issue contains papers presented at the 4th Conference on Sustainable Urban
Mobility (CSUM2018), which was held on May 24–25, 2018, in Skiathos Island,
Greece. The conference focused on Data Analytics: Paving the Way to Sustainable
Urban Mobility, as a sequence on the themes of the previous three events on green
modes of transport, the impact of ITS in transit services and behavior, and the
anthropocentric approach in urban mobility planning. The increasing and demanding
needs for transport services, alleviating at the same time the consequences on the
sustainability of the urban agglomeration and environment, place the emerging
technologies as the top priority of the involved stakeholders. In the era of big data and
digitization, the interest is set to meet the challenge of providing high-level mobility
services by exploring the new capabilities opened to the domain. Data mining, data
analytics, and machine learning techniques are in play. GPS and smart personal
appliances, point detectors, and social media are indicative sources providing ample
information, which when handled properly are transformed to vital knowledge for
better planning and achieving sustainable mobility.
The above topics and many more were the content of CSUM2018. Delegates
from 28 countries shared their interests, findings, and experience. Following at least
a three-round open review process, 103 papers of 268 authors were selected out
of the 168 submitted and were presented at the conference, with the addition of
three keynotes and two stakeholders’ presentations.
The geospatial perspective of big data is discussed in some researchers’ work,
which focuses on social networking and the usage of crowdsourcing in affecting
mobility planning and travelers’ behavior. Urban space plays an important role in
the livable city and its preservation is associated with eco-friendly travel activities
and transportation infrastructure design, and some conference papers demonstrate
that. Controlling CO2 emissions is the main concern of policymakers, who promote
and favor mobility as a service and collaborative and cooperative transportation
systems. Relevant topics are covered by researchers, in various applications.
Incident detection, demand and traffic management, trip planning, shared infras-
tructure, shared, connected and autonomous vehicles constitute some of the areas of
research involving big data, depicted in another group of papers. Their applicability
v
vi Preface
raises cybersecurity issues, and the associated legal aspects, which are still under
investigation, are addressed.
We believe that this book will provide the reader with an up-to-date review
of the most representative research on data management techniques for enabling
sustainable urban mobility. We also hope that the presented work will trigger a
dialog for more efficient and effective ways of exploiting emerging technologies
and facilitate the development and operation of collaborative schemes, which are
considered crucial for achieving sustainable mobility. Special thanks to the pre-
senters, authors, and reviewers who contributed to the high quality of the contents,
and we wish you a pleasant reading.
Organizing Committee
vii
viii Organization
ix
x Contents
Making Big Data Real in Upcoming Future: The Dynamic Toll Prices
in the Portuguese Highways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
André Ramos, Alexandra Rodrigues, Sónia Machado, Filipa Antunes,
Pedro Ventura, Artur Martins, and Akrivi Vivian Kiousi
Assessment of Dynamic Geo-Positioning Using Multi-constellation
GNSS in Challenging Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 681
Stella Strataki, David Bétaille, and Urs Hugentobler
A Thorough Review and Analysis of Journey Planners . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
Dimitrios Sourlas and Eftihia Nathanail
Investigating Multiple Areas of Mobility Using Mobile Phone Data
(SmartCare) in Chile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
Romain Deschamps and Paul Elliott
The Contribution of Open Big Data Sources and Analytics Tools
to Sustainable Urban Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706
Samaras-Kamilarakis Stavros, Vogiatzakis Petros-Angelos,
Eftihia Nathanail, and Lambros Mitropoulos
Beyond Travel Time Savings: Conceptualizing and Modelling
the Individual Value Proposition of Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
Giuseppe Lugano, Zuzana Kurillova, Martin Hudák,
and Ghadir Pourhashem
Future Technologies in the EU Transport Sector and Beyond:
An Outlook of 2020–2035 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
Alkiviadis Tromaras, Aggelos Aggelakakis, Merja Hoppe,
Thomas Trachsel, and Eleni Anoyrkati
Spatial Heterogeneity, Scale, Data Character, and Sustainable
Transport in the Big Data Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
Bin Jiang
Transport Interchanges
Integrating Logistics and Transportation Simulation Tools
for Long-Term Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 807
Ioannis Karakikes, Wladimir Hofmann, Lambros Mitropoulos,
and Mihails Savrasovs
Development and Simulation of Priority Based Control Strategies
of Ground Vehicles Movements on the Aerodrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
David Weigert, Alina Rettmann, Iyad Alomar, and Juri Tolujew
Design and Prototyping of IoD Shared Service for Small
and Medium Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
Aleksandrs Avdekins and Mihails Savrasovs
Comparing the Customer Use and Satisfaction in Two Latvian
Transport Interchanges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
Irina Yatskiv (Jackiva) and Vaira Gromule
Investigating the Accessibility Level in Riga’s International Coach
Terminal: A Comparative Analysis with European Interchanges . . . . . . 839
Evelina Budilovich (Budiloviča), Vissarion Magginas, Giannis Adamos,
Irina Yatskiv (Jackiva), and Maria Tsami
Contents xix
1 Introduction
activities. The reduction in walking has economic implications for both the society (i.e.
less shopping) and specific individuals. In order to improve the situation of the walking
environment, to help current pedestrians and attract new ones, the walking environment
should be improved. These improvements should be done with respect to real safety as
well as the feeling on safety, security, aesthetics, traffic noise, emissions, severance
(barrier) effects and infrastructure which is provided for the facilitation of pedestrian
trips.
Worldwide, pedestrians account for roughly half of all motor-vehicle related
fatalities. Although this percentage is lower in developed countries, there is still need to
accommodate pedestrians in a safe way. Responsible authorities should provide suf-
ficiently wide areas for pedestrian movements, segregated paths and safe environment
of paths; besides, they should “design and maintain paths to a high enough standard to
attract the vulnerable road users away from the smooth road surface open to motor-
vehicle traffic, ideally by providing a sealed surface”. Finally, they should provide
signs and information systems for the safest and most accessible walking trips [1]. In
addition, a series of measures should be taken into account in order to improve
pedestrians’ safety and accessibility and change their daily habits and movements [2].
Therefore, the quality of mobility and safety of pedestrians, whether they walk for
pleasure or to access services and facilities – for example, to use public transport, or
walk to and from a parking lot - must be a major focus of any road safety strategy or
policy.
In this context the information technologies play a key role. Disproportionally little
of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) research has been dedicated towards
pedestrian safety so far. Information technology (IT) was defined by the Information
Technology Association of America (ITAA) as: “the study, design, development,
implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems,
particularly software applications and computer hard-ware.” IT deals with the use of
electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, trans-
mit, and securely retrieve information.
The consideration of IT in the transportation sector originates in the development of
what is called “Intelligent Transportation Systems” (ITS); it is an expression that refers
to the application of information and communication technologies to the transport
infrastructure, vehicles and drivers, in order to improve their efficiency and safety.
Especially in the context of this paper, ITS are considered in relation to pedestrians’
quality needs. ITS applications can play an important role towards satisfying pedestrian
and drivers’ quality needs. Intelligent signal-controlled crossings for pedestrians should
automatically detect pedestrians, as well as prioritizing and adapting green phases.
Especially child pedestrians need such features. Probably, ITS connected to motor
vehicles is the most efficient measure to secure a safe and flexible movement for
pedestrians. This includes controlling speeds whenever pedestrians are nearby; see e.g.
[3]. However, if a pedestrian or bicyclist is hit by a truck or bus, the fatality risk is high
at any vehicle speed. Therefore, ITS measures like Advanced Driver Assistance Sys-
tems (ADAS), are needed in order to provide a safe environment to the pedestrians.
Pedestrian detection method based on machine vision was developed by combining
AdaBoost algorithm and the support vector machine [4]. A vision based pedestrian
detection approach is presented in another study which was carried out by Gaikwada
Have Information Technologies Forgotten Pedestrians? 5
and Lokhande [5]. ITS systems should also give priority to the needs of the elderly
people because of the difficulties these citizens face in the road environment [6].
A selection of ITS measures aiming at the improvement of safety level for the
pedestrians is presented in a study concerning signalized intersections in Greater Beirut
Area [7]. In addition, the creation of cooperative ITS will enhance safety for all the
users of the road transport system with emphasis on pedestrians and cyclists [8].
This paper is based on a literature review. The most important developments are
described with links to their websites in which one can gather more information. The
originally studied ITS systems are related to the following eleven functional pedes-
trians’ needs (and in some cases the vehicle drivers’ need to interact with pedestrians).
It must be mentioned at this point that the paper focuses on the first three functional
needs:
1. For getting contact with and/or being localized
2. For guidance (leading or navigating)
3. For alerting or informing of a danger
4. For adapting the environment to pedestrian conditions
5. For promoting confidence and/or security (avoiding victimization)
6. For counting and controlling flows
7. For simulating (flows, accidents, evaluating consequences etc.)
8. For compensating people with special needs and/or handicaps
9. For redesigning (vehicles, urban spaces, street furniture, etc.) to reduce the injuries
from an accident
10. For checking and measuring the efficacy of developed solutions
11. For encouraging leaving home and walking
2 Overview
to provide “walk/don’t walk” information [19] using one or any combination of the
following ways: tones, speech messages, vibrating surfaces and/or messages to receiver
hardware (pedestrian-head-mounted, pushbutton-integrated, vibrotactile-only and
receiver-based). In addition, there are gadgets mounted in the same vehicle, as the
fisheye cameras, to detect and inform the driver about the close presence of pedestrians,
specially proved to be useful, e.g., in parking areas of commercial centers, where
customers should walk among the cars.
An inventory of most of these solutions and their application tests is PedSmart
[20–22], a website (www.walkinginfo.org/pedsmart) developed by the University of
North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center for the USA Federal Highway
Administration, with the objective of describing the technologies in use and providing
links to manufacturers and other resources.
The main research lines in this field are “Automatic pedestrian detection at Inter-
sections”, “Variable (or Changeable or Dynamic) Message Signs (VMS/CMS/DMS)”,
and methods for identifying human figures in target settings (pedestrian detection)
under different and variable stimulus conditions (sunny/shadowy, day/night etc.).
3 Conclusions
Acknowledgments. This work has been developed within the framework of the PQN (Pedes-
trian Quality Needs) project (2006–2010) under auspices of the European Science Foundation
(ESF), COST Action 358, EU RTD Framework Programme [23].
References
1. CaSE project, Vulnerable Road Users CaSE Highway Design Note 3/01: International
Division of Transport Research Laboratory. Berkshire, UK. http://www.grsproadsafety.org/
themes/default/pdfs/Vulnerable%20Road%20Users.pdf. Accessed 26 Mar 2009
2. Elvik, R., Vaa, T.: The Handbook of Road Safety Measures. Elsevier Science Ltd. baserad
på Elvik, R., Mysen, A.B., Vaa, T., 1997 Transportøkonomisk institutt., Oslo (2004)
3. Gårder, P.: The impact of speed and other variables on pedestrian safety in maine. Accid.
Anal. Prev. 36(4), 533–542 (2004)
4. Guo, L., Ge, P.-S., Zhang, M.-H., Li, L.-H., Zhao, Y.-B.: Pedestrian detection for intelligent
transportation systems combining AdaBoost algorithm and support vector machine. Expert
Syst. Appl. 39, 4274–4286 (2012)
5. Gaikwada, V., Lokhandea, S.: Vision based pedestrian detection for advanced driver
assistance. Procedia Comput. Sci. 46, 321–328 (2015)
6. Schmeidler, K., Fencl, I.: Intelligent transportation systems for Czech ageing generation.
Perspect. Sci. 7, 304–311 (2016)
7. Wehbe, R., Massaad, Z., Otayek, E.: Using intelligent transportation systems to enhance
pedestrian safety at Beirut signalized intersection. In: 5th IEEE International Conference on
Models and Technologies for Intelligent Transportation Systems (MT-ITS), Naples, Italy
(2017)
8. Solodkiy, A., Yenokayev, V.: Cooperative ITS—a strategic way to ensure road safety.
Transp. Res. Procedia 20, 630–634 (2017)
9. Virtanen, N., Schirokoff, A., Luom, J.: Impacts of an automatic emergency call system on
accident consequences. 18th ICTCT Workshop: Transport Telematics and Safety, Helsinki
(2005). E publication in: http://www.ictct.org/dlObject.php?document_nr=43&/S6_
Virtanen.pdf
10. Moreno-Ribas, D., Monterde-i-Bort, H.: The ordinary mobile telephone as an enhancing
factor for senior citizens’ mobility. In: 18th ICTCT Workshop: Transport Telematics and
Safety, Helsinki (2005). E-publication in: http://www.ictct.org/dlObject.php?document_nr=
30&/S3_Monterde.pdf
11. Zakowska, L., Monterde-i-Bort, H.: Results of focus-groups interviews and in-depth
interviews with senior citizens and experts. Size Deliverable D5 and D6. SIZE EU Project,
5th Framework Programme (2003)
12. Monterde-i-Bort, H., Moreno-Ribas, D.: The Mobility Conditions of the Elderly in Spain
from the Point of View of the Affected Citizens and Experts: Qualitative Analysis. EU
Project SIZE – University of Valencia (2003)
13. SIZE Consortium, Life Quality of Senior Citizens in Relation to Mobility Conditions (SIZE):
Project number QLK6-CT-2002-02399. European Commission - Fifth Framework Pro-
gramme. “Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources”, Key action 6: “The
Ageing of Population and Disabilities”, 2003–2006. Website: http://www.size-project.at/
14. Monterde-i-Bort, H.: Factorial structure of recklessness: to what extent are older drivers
different? J. Saf. Res. 35, 329–335 (2004)
10 H. Monterde-i-Bort et al.
15. Ito, M.: Introduction: personal, portable, pedestrian. In: Ito, M., Okabe, D., Matsuda, M.
(eds.) Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life. MIT Press,
Cambridge (2005)
16. Ito, M., Okabe, D.: Mobile phones, Japanese youth, and the re-placement of social contact.
Paper presented at the Front Stage – Back Stage: Mobile Communication and the
Renegotiation of the Public Sphere, Grimstad, Norway (2003)
17. Hile, H., Vedantham, R., Cuellar, G., Liu, A., Gelfand, N., Grzeszczuk, R., Borriello, G.:
Landmark-based pedestrian navigation from collections of geotagged photos. In: MUM
2008 Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous
Multimedia, pp. 145–152. ACM, New York (2008)
18. Lambrianidou, P., Basbas, S., Politis, I.: Can pedestrians’ crossing countdown signal timers
promote green and safe mobility? Sustain. Cities Soc. 6(1), 33–39 (2013)
19. Hughes, R., et al.: ITS and pedestrian safety at signalized inter-sections. ITS Quaterly 7(2)
(1999). http://www.itscosts.its.dot.gov/its/benecost.nsf/ID/7078FF2298C3E1528525696100
51E26C. Accessed 19 Feb 2009
20. US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, PedSmart: ITS
Applications for Pedestrians. Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (2000). http://
www.walkinginfo.org/pedsmart/home.htm. Accessed 24 Feb 2009
21. Ulster County Transportation Council. Ulster County Non-Motorized Transportation Plan
(2007). http://www.co.ulster.ny.us/planning/bikeped.html. Accessed 24 Feb 2009
22. WALKINGINFO org., Effect of APS features on Street Crossings. Accesible Pedestrian
Signals, Synthesis and Guide to Best Practice. Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center.
http://www.walkinginfo.org/aps/2-9.cfm. Accessed 24 Feb 2009
23. Methorst, R., Monterde i Bort, H., Risser, R., Sauter, D., Tight, M., Walker, J., (eds.):
Pedestrian Quality Needs (PQN), Final report of the COST Project 358. Cheltenham: Walk-
21 (2010)
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
GUTENBERG BIBLE
This book was illuminated, bound, and
completed for Henry Cremer, Vicar of
Saint Stephens, of Mayence, in the year
of our Lord, one thousand four
hundred and fifty-six, on the feast of
the Ascension of the Glorious Virgin
Mary. Thanks be to God. Alleluia.
Rubricator’s Mark at End of Second Volume of a Defective Copy in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris
The copy I love best to pore over is that bound in four volumes of red
morocco, stamped with the arms of Louis XVI, in the Bibliothèque Nationale.
This perhaps is not so historical as the one De Bure discovered in the library
of Cardinal Mazarin in Paris in 1763,—three hundred years after it was
printed, and until then unknown; but the dignity of those beautifully printed
types on the smooth, ivory surface of the vellum possesses a magnificence
beyond that of any other copy I have seen. Also at the Bibliothèque Nationale
is a defective paper copy in two volumes in which appear rubricator’s notes
marking the completion of the work as August 15, 1456. Think how important
this is in placing this marvel of typography; for the project of printing the Bible
could not have been undertaken earlier than August, 1451, when Gutenberg
formed his partnership with Fust and Schoeffer in Mayence.
GUTENBERG, FUST, COSTER, ALDUS, FROBEN
From Engraving by Jacob Houbraken (1698–1780)
From the very beginning the printed book had to be a work of art. The
patronage of kings and princes had developed the hand-lettered volumes to
the highest point of perfection, and, on account of this keen competition with
the scribes and their patrons, no printer could afford to devote to any volume
less than his utmost artistic taste and mechanical ingenuity. Thus today, if a
reader examines the Gutenberg Bible with a critical eye, he will be amazed by the
extraordinary evenness in the printing, and the surprisingly accurate alignment
of the letters. The glossy blackness of the ink still remains, and the sharpness
of the impression is equal to that secured upon a modern cylinder press.
It has been estimated that no less than six hand presses were employed in
printing the 641 leaves, composed in double column without numerals, catch
words, or signatures. What binder today would undertake to collate such a
volume in proper sequence! After the first two divisions had come off the
press it was decided to change the original scheme of the pages from 40 to 42
lines. In order to get these two extra lines on the page it was necessary to set
all the lines closer together. To accomplish this, some of the type was recast,
with minimum shoulder, and the rest of it was actually cut down in height to
such an extent that a portion of the curved dots of the i’s was clipped off.
Monographs have been written to explain the variation in the size of the
type used in different sections of this book, but what more natural explanation
could there be than that the change was involuntary and due to natural causes?
In those days the molds which the printer used for casting his types were made
sometimes of lead, but more often of wood. As he kept pouring the molten
metal into these matrices, the very heat would by degrees enlarge the mold
itself, and thus produce lead type of slightly larger size. From time to time,
also, the wooden matrices wore out, and the duplicates would not exactly
correspond with those they replaced.
In printing these volumes, the precedent was established of leaving blank
spaces for the initial letters, which were later filled in by hand. Some of these
are plain and some elaborate, serving to make the resemblance to the hand-
lettered book even more exact; but the glory of the Gutenberg Bible lies in its
typography and presswork rather than in its illuminated letters.
Jenson was a printer who not only took pride in his art but also in the
country of his birth! He was a Frenchman, who was sent to Mayence by King
Charles VII of France to find out what sort of thing this new art of printing
was, and if of value to France to learn it and to bring it home. Jenson had been
an expert engraver, so was well adapted to this assignment. At Mayence he
quickly mastered the art, and was prepared to transport it to Paris; but by this
time Charles VII had died, and Jenson knew that Louis XI, the new monarch,
would have little interest in recognizing his father’s mandate. The Frenchman
then set himself up in Venice, where he contributed largely to the prestige
gained by this city as a center for printing as an art, and for scholarly
publications.
Jenson had no monopoly on extolling himself in the explicits of his books.
The cost of paper in those days was so high that a title page was considered an
unnecessary extravagance, so this was the printer’s only opportunity to record
his imprint. In modern times we printers are more modest, and leave it to the
publishers to sound our praises, but we do like to place our signatures on well-
made books!
The explicit in the hand-written book also offered a favorite opportunity
for gaining immortality for the scribe. I once saw in an Italian monastery a
manuscript volume containing some 600 pages, in which was recorded the fact
that on such and such a day Brother So-and-So had completed the transcribing
of the text; and inasmuch as he had been promised absolution, one sin for
each letter, he thanked God that the sum total of the letters exceeded the sum
total of his sins, even though by but a single unit!
Among Jenson’s most important contributions were his type designs,
based upon the best hand lettering of the day. Other designers had slavishly
copied the hand-written letter, but Jenson, wise in his acquired knowledge,
eliminated the variations and produced letters not as they appeared upon the
hand-written page, but standardized to the design which the artist-scribe had
in mind and which his hand failed accurately to reproduce. The Jenson Roman
(page 22) and his Gothic (page 205) types have, through all these centuries,
stood as the basic patterns of subsequent type designers.
Jenson died in 1480, and the foremost rival to his fame is Aldus Manutius,
who came to Venice from Carpi and established himself there in 1494. I have
often conjectured what would have happened had this Frenchman printed his
volumes in France and thus brought them into competition with the later
product of the Aldine Press. The supremacy of Italy might have suffered,—
but could Jenson have cut his types or printed his books in the France of the
fifteenth century? As it was, the glories of the Aldi so closely followed Jenson’s
superb work that Italy’s supreme position in the history of typography can
never be challenged.
For his printer’s mark Aldus adopted the famous combination of the
Dolphin and Anchor, the dolphin signifying speed in execution and the anchor
firmness in deliberation. As a slogan he used the words Festina lente, of which
perhaps the most famous translation is that by Sir Thomas Browne, “Celerity
contempered with Cunctation.” Jenson’s printer’s mark (page 203), by the way,
has suffered the indignity of being adopted as the trademark of a popular
brand of biscuits!
The printing office of Aldus stood near the Church of Saint Augustus, in
Venice. Here he instituted a complete revolution in the existing methods of
publishing. The clumsy and costly folios and quartos, which had constituted
the standard forms, were now replaced by crown octavo volumes, convenient
both to the hand and to the purse.
“I have resolved,” Aldus wrote in 1490, “to devote my life to the cause of
scholarship. I have chosen, in place of a life of ease and freedom, an anxious
and toilsome career. A man has higher responsibilities than the seeking of his
own enjoyment; he should devote himself to honorable labor. Living that is a
mere existence can be left to men who are content to be animals. Cato
compared human existence to iron. When nothing is done with it, it rusts; it is
only through constant activity that polish or brilliancy is secured.”
GROLIER IN THE PRINTING OFFICE OF ALDUS
After Painting by François Flameng
Courtesy The Grolier Club, New York City
You will care with all diligence, he writes, O most beloved Francesco, that this
work, when it leaves your printing shop to pass into the hands of learned men, may be
as correct as it is possible to render it. I heartily beg and beseech this of you. The book,
too, should be decent and elegant; and to this will contribute the choice of the paper, the
excellence of the type, which should have been but little used, and the width of the
margins. To speak more exactly, I should wish it were set up with the same type with
which you printed your Poliziano. And if this decency and elegance shall increase your
expenses, I will refund you entirely. Lastly, I should wish that nothing be added to the
original or taken from it.
What better conception of a book, or of the responsibility to be assumed
toward that book, both by the printer and by the publisher, could be expressed
today!
The early sixteenth century marked a crisis in the world in which the book
played a vital part. When Luther, at Wittenberg, burned the papal bull and
started the Reformation, an overwhelming demand on the part of the people
was created for information and instruction. For the first time the world
realized that the printing press was a weapon placed in the hands of the masses
for defence against oppression by Church or State. François I was King of
France; Charles V, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; and Henry VIII,
King of England. Italy had something to think about beyond magnificently
decorated volumes, and printing as an art was for the time forgotten in
supplying the people with books at low cost.
François I, undismayed by the downfall of the Italian patrons, believed that
he could gain for himself and for France the prestige which had been Italy’s
through the patronage of learning and culture. What a pity that he had not
been King of France when Jenson returned from Mayence! He was confident
that he could become the Mæcenas of the arts and the father of letters, and
still control the insistence of the people, which increased steadily with their
growing familiarity with their new-found weapon. He determined to have his
own printer, and was eager to eclipse even the high Standard the Italian
master-printers had established.
ROBERT ÉTIENNE, 1503–1559
Royal Printer to François I
From Engraving by Étienne Johandier Desrochers (c. 1661–1741)