Isaac Newton's Woodblocks - Objectivity 178

[@ChandrasegaranNarasimhan]

It is clever of them to have slots in the wood block to fill in characters. As a person from eastern world, looking at the effort made to keep the library and books is amazing and awe inspiring.

[@Sean_Coyne]

Nice one Brady. :-) As Plato had inscribed above the entrance to his Academy in Athens, "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter". The diagrams in my facsimile of the Principia have always delighted me and do indeed aid one, struggling with Newton's mathematical descriptions...not to mention my schoolboy Latin.

[@keeperofthegood]

Interesting perspective on history. Many people focus on the manuscripts message, not a lot of love for the scribes. The people who did the image carving, who were they, how did they learn their trade, were they a trade of their own hired by the printer or was this just a sub skill the trade of printmaters were expected to have? Questions I am sure have been answered but I have not thought to ask before. Thank you.

[@Vardagaladhiel]

Such an interesting project! I also loved seeing the woodblocks because I’m slowly getting into making prints myself, so seeing these was cool!

[@charlesdorval394]

This just keeps better and better! :) It amazes me what jewels of history you pull out even without the gloves of destiny ;) I was wondering, was there something "special" about pear tree wood explaining why they used it for that purpose, or does it just happens to be what they had on hand?

[@TheJALOBE]

I know that many nicer wooden recorder instruments are made from pearwood as it is fairly durable and does not rot and decay as much as other woods and is more available than ebony. Most inks are mostly water so maybe this could be why. (Just my guess)

[@qwertyTRiG]

Charles Thatisall You'd need a very fine grain to take those thin lines. I don't know much about the properties of pearwood, but I do know that you couldn't do it with pine, for example.

[@deanroddey2881]

If you want to learn more about woodblock printing, look for David Bull's channel. He does Japanese woodblock printing and has a lot of information about the and the process.

[@joserramarcaidalopez2858]

Very good video - well done! Early modern woodblocks are great objects for research and teaching purposes!

[@lzeph]

Ahhh. Opening whole new areas of interest for me. Thanks!

[@CinemaRockPizza]

"But we're not gonna do it today!" at that moment my heart dropped

[@milamber319]

I am currently reading Terry Pratchett's The Truth. I was wondering how real the wood blocks they were replacing looked.

[@wierdalien1]

milamber319 great book.

[@4trym]

Awesome vid!

[@juliusreiner5733]

Can't wait to hit 200. I first discovered this channel due to the special #1 episode.

[@ObjectivityVideos]

Thanks for sticking with us.

[@bryander]

Were color images back then individually inked/painted, or were layers of primary color ink applied in such a way to combine to form the final color sought after? (akin to CMYK as used in more modern printing, i.e. 1900s)

[@bryander]

John Dee thanks, John 😃

[@lasksi]

Good vid my friend. Katie is interesting. But by the end I was missing Keith. So thank you for putting a recording of him there. Big ups Brady

[@miekekuppen9275]

More awesome women on the channel! Much as I love Keith, I love how you always find new and equally interesting guests.

[@munjee2]

Mieke Kuppen Keith is no guest

[@Quincy_Morris]

Mieke Kuppen that’s my cousin! :-D She’s great and fun and absurdly smart btw.

[@miekekuppen9275]

It shows :-)

[@jgabrysch03]

David Bull is a Wood Block Print maker, I think he would find this video interesting, Brady you should check out his channel maybe y'all could collaborate on something.

[@ΧρῆστοςΚωστελίδης-γ3φ]

yoooo I watch David as well!

[@XiaosChannel]

Also, is this why we still use dotted/dashed lines -- because it's easy to carve?

[@PhilBoswell]

So these days you could 3d-print a block from an image which could then be used for ink transfer: maybe for kids to learn about the process. Maybe you could make more than one block for a multi-colour image, one block per colour? Now I want a 3d printer so I can try it ;-)

[@miekekuppen9275]

Or you could give them big halved potatoes, patted dry carefully, let them draw a design on them and cut it out before using them for stamps.

[@miekekuppen9275]

O, we did that as well! Good fun, but I don´t think parents these days like their kids to play with sharp implements. Potatoes are easier to cut.

[@Attoparsec]

I've experimented very slightly with 3D printed blocks for printing. Getting the model made for something about as complex as the blocks in this video was a serious hassle, but there are better tools than Blender. The big problem was ink adhesion to the printed plastic. I'm far from a printing expert, but I couldn't get an even result using them.

[@jmalmsten]

I scroll down in the subscription list and right beneath this one is a video from an english speaking japanese wood carver named David Bull (he's an american, I think but he specializes in japanese techniques). If you want to see these masters in action making these woodblocks for printing, check out his channel!

[@daveotuwa5596]

There's a street close to where I currently reside named after the physicist. It's where my brother's elementary school is. He's now in high school becoming a juniour next month.

[@daveotuwa5596]

Of strict administration is the private elementary school.

[@j0nthegreat]

the dotted lines are the best part. that's some silled carving

[@BGraves]

Origin of "blocks" used in CAD software?

[@sam08g16]

This channels is really into Newton's wood

[@jeremiahkennedy1683]

I wouldn't mind having a read of this book, very interesting.

[@MrPictor]

The last figure looked like it illustrated a point about pendulums (pendula?)..

[@blakedurrant9399]

Keiths choice! Keiths choice! Keiths choice!

[@EleanorCharlotte8855]

Desirable for all students !

[@vonantero9458]

Two woodblock videos right next to each other on my subscription page :P Check out David Bull's channel for some cool Japanese woodblock printing.

[@salmjak]

Why do they pronounce principia with a k-sound when principle isn’t?

[@subjectline]

Because "principia" is Latin, but "principle" is English.

[@H34L5]

Does "worms" mean termites?

[@RolandHutchinson]

No, woodworm. They are beetle larvae. They are attracted by dampness and were therefor more prone to be a problem in centuries gone by when damp buildings were numerous. Woodworm damage is frequently found in antique furniture and they also got into musical instruments such as violins.

[@XiaosChannel]

Why would they want to replace the letters in the diagram?

[@PastPresented]

As they already had lots of letters made for printing text, it saved a lot of time and effort just slotting pre-made letters into place within the illustrations rather than carving new ones.

[@XiaosChannel]

oh that's interesting! how did you learned things like this?

[@PastPresented]

My father had a very small printing press to make his own business cards etc.

[@RonJohn63]

If a new diagram has been added to the second edition, then all the subsequent diagrams need to be "re-lettered".

[@PinkChucky15]

So that’s how they did it, cool!

[@EladLerner]

I kinda want to take one of these old blocks, put some ink on them, and make new old prints.

[@ObjectivityVideos]

We might not get permission for that.

[@EladLerner]

Objectivity Sometimes it's easier to ask forgiveness...

[@ΧρῆστοςΚωστελίδης-γ3φ]

What happened to Keith?

[@ListentoGallegos]

cool roger cotes discovered ix = log(cos x + i sin x).

[@Googs5]

4:31 damn man you didn't have to insult her

[@RonJohn63]

What?

[@gazzaboo8461]

I would have thought clay blocks would have been both easier to work and more durable for printing. Even carving the original diagram into wax, then make a clay negative from the wax impression, losing the wax on firing. I'm certainly no expert on any of this, so I guess they must have had good reasons to use wood.

[@garyzod8818]

Where's Keith has he retired?.

[@EleanorCharlotte8855]

Woww, the block was used in the first volume of Newton's Principia. Then that woodblock must have been designed and engraved under the supervision of Edmund Halley who encouraged and directed the publication of Isaac Newton's theories, which he kept to himself! 🙃

[@b9r0m85]

used for PRINCIPIA NATURALIS MATHEMATICA!? I've read it, I saw it...

[@TheHollowBodiesBand]

B'9 R0M PHILOSOPHIÆ NATURALIS PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA

[@MarioRossi-sh4uk]

300 years ago: woodblocks Today: computers and Latex.

[@michaelgonzalez9058]

Their seed and grow an object

[@charlesinsandiego2537]

Sapient pearwood, perhaps?

[@EleanorCharlotte8855]

I thought it was walnut wood

[@JimFortune]

Keithless episode!

[@Goomersind]

2:02 "We think this is pearwood." Don't you mean _sapient_ pearwood? :P

[@Czeckie]

"how are these called?" -"these are woodblocks" any other questions, Brady? :D

[@charlescox290]

So, they are stamps.

[@EGarrett01]

...wait a second, why doesn't the librarian have a British accent?

[@ViniOnTheRocks]

She's most likely a robot.

[@xGaLoSx]

Where the FFFFFFFFFFFF is Keith? UNACCEPTABLE.

[@ObjectivityVideos]

Much like Indiana Jones, Keith sometimes leaves the confines of the building and explores hidden caves for lost treasures.

[@xGaLoSx]

I'll accept that! :D