A COMPANION TO THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK A COMPANION TO
THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK
Edited by Simon Eliot and Jonathan Rose
"As a stimulating overview of the multidimensional present state of the field, the Companion has no peer." Choice
"If you want to understand how cultures come into being, endure, and change, then you need to come to terms with the rich and often surprising history Of the book ... Eliot and Rose have done a fine job. Their volume can be heartily recommended. "
Adrian Johns, Technology and Culture
From the early Sumerian clay tablet through to the emergence of the electronic text, this Companion provides a continuous and coherent account of the history of the book. A team of expert contributors draws on the latest research in order to offer a cogent, transcontinental narrative. Many of them use illustrative examples and case studies of well-known texts, conveying the excitement surrounding this rapidly developing field.
The Companion is organized around four distinct approaches to the history of the book. First, it introduces the variety of methods used by book historians and allied specialists, from the long-established discipline of bibliography to newer IT-based approaches. Next, it provides a broad chronological survey of the forms and content of texts. The third section situates the book in the context of text culture as a whole, while the final section addresses broader issues, such as literacy, copyright, and the future of the book.
Contributors to this volume:
Michael Albin, Martin Andrews, Rob Banham, Megan L Benton, Michelle P. Brown, Marie-Frangoise Cachin, Hortensia Calvo, Charles Chadwyck-Healey, M. T. Clanchy, Stephen Colclough, Patricia Crain, J. S. Edgren, Simon Eliot, John Feather, David Finkelstein, David Greetham, Robert A. Gross, Deana Heath, Lotte Hellinga, T. H. Howard-Hill, Peter Kornicki, Beth Luey, Paul Luna, Russell L. Martin Ill, Jean-Yves Mollier, Angus Phillips, Eleanor Robson, Cornelia Roemer, Jonathan Rose, Emile G. L Schrijver, David J. Shaw, Graham Shaw, Claire Squires, Rietje van Vliet, James Wald, Rowan Watson, Alexis Weedon, Adriaan van der Weel, Wayne A. Wiegand, Eva Hemmungs Wirtén.
List of Illustrations viii
Notes on Contributors x
Introduction 1
Simon Eliot and Jonathan Rose
Part I Methods and Approaches 7
1 Why Bibliography Matters 9
T. H. Howard-Hill
2 What is Textual Scholarship? 21
David Greetham
3 The Uses of Quantifi cation 33
Alexis Weedon
4 Readers: Books and Biography 50
Stephen Colclough
Part II The History of the Material Text 63
The World before the Codex 65
5 The Clay Tablet Book in Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia 67
Eleanor Robson
6 The Papyrus Roll in Egypt, Greece, and Rome 84
Cornelia Roemer
The Book beyond the West 95
7 China 97
J. S. Edgren
8 Japan, Korea, and Vietnam 111
Peter Kornicki
9 South Asia 126
Graham Shaw
10 Latin America 138
Hortensia Calvo
11 The Hebraic Book 153
Emile G. L. Schrijver
12 The Islamic Book 165
Michael Albin
The Codex in the West 400-2000 177
13 The Triumph of the Codex: The Manuscript Book before 1100 179
Michelle P. Brown
14 Parchment and Paper: Manuscript Culture 1100-1500 194
M. T. Clanchy
15 The Gutenberg Revolutions 207
Lotte Hellinga
16 The Book Trade Comes of Age: The Sixteenth Century 220
David J. Shaw
17 The British Book Market 1600-1800 232
John Feather
18 Print and Public in Europe 1600-1800 247
Rietje van Vliet
19 North America and Transatlantic Book Culture to 1800 259
Russell L. Martin III
20 The Industrialization of the Book 1800-1970 273
Rob Banham
21 From Few and Expensive to Many and Cheap: The British Book Market 1800-1890 291
Simon Eliot
22 A Continent of Texts: Europe 1800-1890 303
Jean-Yves Mollier and Marie-Françoise Cachin
23 Building a National Literature: The United States 1800-1890 315
Robert A. Gross
24 The Globalization of the Book 1800-1970 329
David Finkelstein
25 Modernity and Print I: Britain 1890-1970 341
Jonathan Rose
26 Modernity and Print II: Europe 1890-1970 354
Adriaan van der Weel
27 Modernity and Print III: The United States 1890-1970 368
Beth Luey
28 Books and Bits: Texts and Technology 1970-2000 381
Paul Luna
29 The Global Market 1970-2000: Producers 395
Eva Hemmungs Wirten
30 The Global Market 1970-2000: Consumers 406
Claire Squires
Part III Beyond the Book 419
31 Periodicals and Periodicity 421
James Wald
32 The Importance of Ephemera 434
Martin Andrews
33 The New Textual Technologies 451
Charles Chadwyck-Healey
Part IV Issues 465
34 New Histories of Literacy 467
Patricia Crain
35 Some Non-textual Uses of Books 480
Rowan Watson
36 The Book as Art 493
Megan L. Benton
37 Obscenity, Censorship, and Modernity 508
Deana Heath
38 Copyright and the Creation of Literary Property 520
John Feather
39 Libraries and the Invention of Information 531
Wayne A. Wiegand
Coda 545
40 Does the Book Have a Future? 547
Angus Phillips
Index 560
