The Book History Reader (Paperback)

Including more extracts than before and a brand new section on the future of the book in the digital age, this second edition has been updated and expanded to create the essential collection of writings examining different aspects of the history of books and print culture.

Since the invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century, books and print culture have been central to the shaping of culture and society. The Book History Reader was the first comprehensive volume to bring together a variety of work - much of which is now out of print or impossible to access - examining key aspects of book history. This second edition contains a larger number of extracts covering issues of gender, material culture and bibliographical matters and a completely new section on the future of the book in the electronic age.

The Book History Reader is an essential collection of writings examining different aspects of the history of books and print culture: the develoment of the book, the move from spoken word to written texts, the commodification of books and authors and the power and profile of readers. Arranged in thematic sections and featuring a general introduction to the Reader as well as an introduction to each section, the editors illustrate how book history studies have developed a broad approach which incorporates social and cultural considerations governing the production, dissemination and reception of print and texts.

International in scope and interdisciplinary in nature, book history studies is a rapidly growing subject which analyses books and print as cultural artefacts. This pioneering book will be a vital resource for all those involved in publishing studies, library studies, book history and also those studying English literature, cultural studies, sociology and history.

Featuring essays by: Thomas Adams and Nicolas Barker, Richard Altick, Roland Barthes, C.A. Bayly, Pierre Bourdieu, Fredson Bowers, John Brewer, Roger Chartier, Robert Darnton, Paul Duguid, Elisabeth Eisenstein, Kate Flint, Stanley Fish, Michel Foucault, Wolfgang Iser, Adrian Johns, Harold Love, Paula McDowell, Jerome McGann, Elizabeth McHenry, D.F. McKenzie, Jayne Marek, E. Jennifer Monaghan, Jan Dirk Müller, Scott B. Noegel, Geoffrey Nunberg, Walter Ong, Robert L. Patten, Mark Poster, Leah Price, Janice Radway, Jonathan Rose, Mark Rose, John Sutherland, Marcel Thomas, Jane Tompkins, James L.W. West III.

David Finkelstein is Research Professor of Media and Print Culture at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. He is author of The House of Blackwood: Author–Publisher Relations in the Victorian Era and co-author (with Alistair McCleery) of An Introduction to Book History.

Alistair McCleery is Professor of Literature and Culture at Napier University, Edinburgh, and Director of the Scottish Centre for the Book. He is co-editor of The Bibliotheck.

• Books > History > Cultural History
• Books > Languages > English as a Foreign Language > Literacy
• Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism
• Books > Reference > Publishing & Books > Authorship
• Books > Reference > Publishing & Books > Books & Reading
• Books > Reference > Publishing & Books > Literacy
• Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences

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