The History of the Book in English Speaking World: An Overview
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Clarissa Lee Ai Ling UCSI University Read to Write Campaign, March 13, 2015
Transcript of The History of the Book in English Speaking World: An Overview
Clarissa Lee Ai Ling UCSI University
Read to Write Campaign, March 13, 2015
What is Book History • Catalogues and bibliographic studies, provenance, library histories (including histories of available collecIons) and literary history – establishment of bibliographic socieIes;
• RepresentaIve of changing aMtudes towards the materiality of the book;
• Book history and histories of books-‐ contest of the posiIvist and the subjecIve;
• AQer WW 2, as bibliographic studies become professionalized;
• CollaIng the provenances of the book .
Methodology of Book History QualitaIve Studies
Bibliographic studies
Literary and textual studies
Paleography
Typography and IlluminaIon IllustraIons (scienIfic and otherwise)
Bookbinding and paper
Authorship, copyright, censorship Book Trade, Book CollecIng
Publishing and PrinIng
Literacies and Histories of Reading
Archives
QuanItaIve Studies
Book Trade, PublicaIon and Print-‐Run Libraries and CirculaIon Figures Labor, prinIng presses, types, paper (Warehousing) Literacies and demographics of readership
Where can you find book history • Cultural histories – this is where one is indebted to aZenIon paid in
the cultural histories of conInental Europe to intellectual histories of religious pracIces, codificaIon of laws, scienIfic developments, art, music, and labor.
• Media archaeology – the ecology of textual producIon and ways of reinterpreIng those producIon
• Textual studies – this includes print-‐making, informaIon studies in non-‐book forms, ephemera studies
• History of Science – whether instrumental or textual, much of book technology has developed to represent scienIfic knowledge
• Library studies, though this is not always obvious, as those who are more likely to deal with books are those who specialize in that area ie rare books, manuscripts, special collecIons libraries etc
Types of books in the Western World
Tablets Rolls Codex – became
respectable from the 4th century AD
Bibliographic studies
• EnumeraIve • DescripIve • AnalyIc • Textual/Literary • Historical
Paleography
• HandwriIng studies –derived from studies into Renaissance and Medieval manuscripts.
• By the 10th Cent AD, variants of handwriZen scripts have been eliminated to develop constancy
Typography
Bookbinding, Illust. From Diderot’S Encyclopédie’s Entry
Copyright, Authorship, Censorship
• First modern idea of copyright, not before 1710.
• RegistraIon of pre-‐published book with the StaIoner’s Company.
• RecogniIon of prior claim – and the repudiaIon of piracy – easier said than done –piracy allows the circulaIon of banned books –authors encourage piracy to circumvent publisher/booksellers control/monopoly.
Register of the StaIoners Company
Book Trade: Incunable (before 1500) and Post-‐Incunable (1501-‐40), and thereaQer
• PublicaIon of vernacular and religious literature. • 17th century London: broad yet narrow, inward looking and
eliIst.
IllustraIons: An Example from Galileo’s Sidereus Nuncius
Example of a Handpress at U of Virginia, CharloZesville
Coming of Age of the English Book
• Full impact on the manufacture and use of books felt aQer 11th Cent A.D.
• Growing internaIonalism, including more interacIon with universiIes and book manufacture in the conInent from the 12th century.
• Vernacular versus ‘elite’ languages of knowledge (LaIn, French)
Some Examples of Books in Popular Culture
Vellum, The FloaIng Book, 84 Charing Cross Road, Books Do Furnish a Room, New Grub Street, Laugher in the Next Room, The Book Thief, Possession (by A.S. ByaZ), This Book is Overdue etc
Library Wars; UnItled: New York Review of Books; The Secret of Kells; 84 Charing Cross (movie adaptaIon); The Book Thief (movie adapdaIon), Wonder Boys; Possession (movie adaptaIon)
BOOKS
Films
