A matter of the heart

A day or so ago I was working in the reading room when a reader turned to me to say hello. I know him from afar, I know his name and the approximate subject of his doctorate (the history of Messianic Jews in Israel, I think) and I am never sure whether he knows who I am. Anyway, he knows me well enough to say hello when he comes in and ask me how I am and what I am doing. I am fine, and, I am writing a doctorate, were the appropiate answers (though with the 'writing' I always feel like I'm cheating). 'Ah', he asked with interest. 'In what subject?'. I answered: 'about the beginning of Hebrew printing', because I find that by getting into details too quickly I usually get a blank look. 'Oh', was the reply. It was clear the subject didn't appeal to him at all, and I suspected him of thinking a subject like that is not one a believing Christian should be bothering with. But that may well be my own doubt about my own subject.
Still with mixed feelings about the subject of my doctorate I was sitting in a bus that same afternoon. We were trapped in a traffic jam and somehow a conversation developed between me and the woman I was sitting next to, also a reader I met in the reading room lately.
After talking about her interests - she is a retired teacher and now studies for an MA in Hebrew literature - the inevitable question popped up again: and you, what are you doing? 'I am writing a doctorate about the beginning of Hebrew printing', was my answer. What can one do. It is the truth, except the 'writing' part. She immediately became interested. 'You know', she said, 'typography is so important. Somebody researched the influence of typography on the reading of children in Israel. Nobody took his research seriously. But I believe it is true.'
I know from experience it is true. If the typography of a book, and the lay-out, gives one a comfortable feeling (whatever the prerogatives for the comfortable feeling), one is much more likely to read it. Especially if it is not the alphabeth one was raised in. But I dare say for me it is true even for a Dutch or English book, albeit less so. I am actually surprised anyone could deny this. Maybe it is more true for children and lazy types like me than for other people? Now one of the aspects of manuscripts that most appeal to me, I mused on, is the lay-out/typographical aspect. I know, not every manuscript has the same aesthetical value. Material was expensive, and fashion dictated 'black blocks of text' at times. Still, it would be interesting to see how this aspect translates in the first prints, too.
Whereby it was once again proved to me: anything can be interesting to the interested, nothing will be interesting to the non-interested. It's all a matter of the heart.
:)