MACHIAS – Dotcoms come and go, and e-mail flies fast and furious, but in Bernie Vinzani’s heart there will always be room for “The Printed Page.” That’s the title of an exhibit the director of the University of Maine at Machias Art Gallery has mounted in Powers Hall.

Professor Vinzani has put together a varied group of pieces spanning several centuries, most of them from his own collection.

An unusual offering is the illuminated chant gradual – decorated, handprinted music from the Roman Catholic Church. Painstakingly inscribed on vellum – animal skin – the chant dates to 1350, probably from Italy.

The diamond-shape notes are in the rotunda style, which helps historians date the item, Vinzani explained. Music from northern European countries, in contrast, used a more gothic style of writing.

“The exhibit is not a story of printing, but more of looking at a page, what the aesthetics are,” Vinzani said.

The varied pieces illustrate his point, from palm leaves block-printed and stamped in Thailand to a patachitra orrissa from southeastern India – an illustration of gods made on what looks like a tiny Venetian blind.

There’s a block-printed Japanese book of the 1800s, using ink brushed on wood to create the stamp. Nearby is a page from the Koran, the Islamic holy book, done in the 1800s.

A slightly incongruous touch is a laptop computer, perched among the aged offerings.

“The computer, of course, is a new kind of page,” Vinzani said. He doesn’t discount the value of technology, but does wonder about the fragility of treasures entrusted to the blink of a hard drive.

And, he points out, there is a certain intrinsic value to browsing through books on a shelf.

“A person goes in the library and looks at books near the book,” further broadening one’s horizon, he points out.

The conversion to printing with movable typeface, originating with Johann Gutenberg in the 15th century, is represented by pages printed by students of Gutenberg, including the 1510 “Catalogus Sanctorum” by Venetian Petrus Natilibus.

Another item, a very small book in the exhibit, was intended as such, Vinzani said.

Called “Cassius’ Lives of the Roman Emperors,” the little volume was printed in the 1500s, with the thought that small books could be “held closer to the heart,” he said.

In the most colorful category is an illuminated page from a version of the 1476 Urbino Bible, commissioned by the Duke of Urbino in Italy. The original is owned by the Vatican, where Vinzani often takes students during annual trips to Italy.

The page on display in Machias shows a depiction of the flight of the children into Israel.

Also on exhibit is a page from the second edition of the popular King James Bible, this page done in 1613.

Even after printing came into wide use, Vinzani said, hand-done books remained popular.

“Some libraries owned by the wealthy wouldn’t accept printed books,” he said, but would have them redone by a scribe.

The professor called the 1600s “the golden age of printing,” and a time when publishing houses made great efforts to get people to read.

Students are often interested to find out that computer typefaces such as Garamond and Janson are not new printing forms, but were created ?back during the Renaissance period,? Vinzani said.

Broadsides and newspapers show how people got out the word during colonial times.

Letters to former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton occupied the front page of The Time Piece, a New York newspaper published on May 21, 1798.

William Keteltas wrote: “Never was there a period which called more importantly for the undisguised sentiment of the people of America, of men, and the measures they are pursuing, both in our state and general government, than the present.”

A tiny advertisement on another page called for “two or three journeymen papermakers who are compleatly masters of their business, and whole characters are good.” Yet another ad sought “clean linens and cotton rags” for purchase.

Journals of the time were printed on cloth, not paper, Vanzini pointed out. The Time Piece sold for 6 cents per issue, or “four dollars per annum.”

An 1863 page from Harper’s Weekly offers an illustration of a Civil War bombardment.

“It was kind of a breakthrough. They sent artists in the field,” Vinzani explained. The pictures were sent back to the magazine by courier, then transferred through wood engravings.

Newer offerings on display include the 1986 edition of Shakespeare’s “The Tragedie of King Lear.” Bound in decorated birch boards in a limited edition of 160, it was designed by Claire Van Vliet and Nancy Southworth, with setting and presswork by Michael Alpert at Theodore Press in Bangor.

“The Printed Page” is on exhibit through March with the faculty show.

The gallery has expanded in recent years, and has seen its permanent collection grow since the 1972 gift of works by John Marin, William Zorach, William Kienbusch and other artists from the John C. and Norma B. Marin Foundation.

The college offers a unique degree in interdisciplinary fine arts, Vinzani said, allowing students to specialize in art, music, writing or theater.

“The Printed Page” will be on display at Powers Hall, the University of Maine at Machias, through March 30. Hours are 1-4 p.m. and by appointment. For information, call 255-1279.