Anthropodermic biblioplegy: The process of binding a book using human skin.
Atelier: A secular workshop devoted to the production of manuscripts or other fine arts.
Blind tooling: The process of creating impressions in leather using heated tools.
Block book: A text printed using xylographic techniques.
Board: The rigid protective cover found around the text block of a codex.
Codex (Codices): A book-like structure featuring a substrate bound between boards or a flexible cover.
Cylinder press: A style of press featuring flat blocks of type on a rotating cylinder.
Girdle book: Book bound with a loose length of leather that could be knotted and tucked into a belt as an accessory. Worn by medeival monks, scholars, and aristocrats.
Gold tooling: The process of applying gold leaf to a leather book cover using heated tools.
Ideogram: A symbol representing an item or idea without providing indication of pronunciation of the term describing that item or idea.
Illuminated manuscript: A handwritten text illustrated with drops caps or miniatures, generally involving the use of silver or gold.
Incunable (Incunabula): A book printed before 1501.
Initial (Drop cap): A decorative letter appearing at the beginning of a text, chapter, verse, or paragraph.
Intaglio: A design carved or etched below the surface of a material, thereby creating an impression.
Linotype: A machine capable of producing unique blocks of type from input by an operator.
Lithography: The process of producing an image on paper using a smooth, inked surface.
Marbled paper: Paper to which a unique dying process has been applied giving it a swirled or "marbled" appearance.
Men's adventure fiction: A genre of literature characterized by sex, violence, and outlandish plots marketed toward adult males. Popular in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Miniature: A decorative illustration in an illuminated manuscript.
Moveable type: Individually-cast type that can be arranged according to the typesetter’s design.
Muckraker: A journalist focused on exposing criminal or immoral activities and conduct in the public sphere.
Paperback: A book with a flexible paper cover.
Parchment: A pre-cursor to paper made from treated animal skin.
Phototypesetting: The process of projecting light through a film negative onto photopaper for use in offset printing.
Printing press: A machine used to transfer ink to a substrate to form a desired pattern.
Pugillares membranei: Latin term for a style of folded parchment notebook popular among Romans during the 1st century CE.
Pulp fiction (Pulp magazine): Low-quality literature written for entertainment value only and marketed to a popular audience. Typically printed using inexpensive materials.
Pulp paper: Inexpensive paper created from pulp fibrous matter, typically wood.
Rag paper: Paper produced from processed rag cloth.
Scriptorium: A monastic workshop devoted to the reproduction of manuscript texts.
Slug: A block of type produced by a linotype machine.
Substrate: A printing term used to refer to the base material upon which an image will be printed.
Text block: The bound block of paper found in a codex.
Typeface (Font): The surface of a block of type; the appearance or style of a block of type.
Typography: Printing using moveable type.
Vellum: A high-quality type of parchment typically made from lamb, kid, or calfskin.
Web: A roll of paper used to continually feed a printing press.
Xylography (Block printing): Printing using a block of wood carved with the desired design.
Yellow journalism: Sensationalist journalism popular in the late 19th and 20th centuries.