- Hardcover: 208 pages
- Publisher: British Library Publishing Division (30 Sep 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0712349235
- ISBN-13: 978-0712349239
- Product Dimensions: 25.8 x 19 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 281,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
a joy to read --Jane Wickenden, Rare Books News, 85
Product Description
Books have been hugely important in human civilisation, as instruments for communicating information and ideas. The digital age is challenging their ongoing existence - although the e-book has not yet taken over from print on paper, the landscape is changing all the time, with more and more of the traditional functions of books being performed electronically. People usually think of books in terms of their contents, their texts, with less thought for books as artefacts. In fact books may possess all kinds of potentially interesting qualities beyond their texts, as designed or artistic objects, or because they have unique properties deriving from the ways they have been printed, bound, annotated, beautified or defaced.David Pearson explores these themes and uses many examples of books from the Middle Ages to the present day to show why books may be interesting beyond their texts. As the format of the book becomes history - as texts are increasingly communicated electronically - we can recognise that books are also history in another, significant way. Books can develop their own individual histories, which provide important evidence about the way they were used and regarded in the past, and which make them an indispensable part of the fabric of our cultural heritage. This book will raise awareness of an important aspect of the life of books in the context of the ongoing debate about their future. Extensively illustrated with a wide range of images, it will not only be approachable but also thought-provoking.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In this age of the mass digitization of books, why should we bother to keep the originals, especially when multiple copies of the same text exist? Pearson's argument is utterly convincing: each book is an artefact in its own right and no two copies of the same book will have had the same history. The evidence for the history of a particular book and how its readers used it is right there in the book itself, if you examine it carefully. The style in which a book is bound can relect the status of its owner, or indicate its perceived value. The margins of another copy may be covered with scribbled comments, references to other works, or doodles and pen trials - past generations were not as squeamish about keeping their books pristine, and writing paper was expensive and often in short supply.
The book is lavishly illustrated with superb colour photographs of old (not necessarily rare) books and their bindings. It's worth remembering that until the mid-19th-century, almost everything about a book was handmade, from the paper itself, the handset type and the binding: each book from this "hand-press" period can be regarded as unique product of several skilled crafts.
If you are interested in any aspect of books or history, or if you work for Google (and that's just about everyone), you should read and treasure this lovely book. Don't be put off by the boring-looking cover, it's gorgeous inside.
The book is lavishly illustrated with superb colour photographs of old (not necessarily rare) books and their bindings. It's worth remembering that until the mid-19th-century, almost everything about a book was handmade, from the paper itself, the handset type and the binding: each book from this "hand-press" period can be regarded as unique product of several skilled crafts.
If you are interested in any aspect of books or history, or if you work for Google (and that's just about everyone), you should read and treasure this lovely book. Don't be put off by the boring-looking cover, it's gorgeous inside.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
One of the best books on books Ive read, I read it in one day and came away knowing more about publishing and how books work than I believed possible. the format is an easy read and packed with beautiful illustrations and photographs. A must for book lovers!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Books as artefacts
14 Mar 2010
Format:Hardcover
Pearson's interest is not in books as texts, but in books as artefacts, an attempt to emphasise the historical and cultural interest that books hold in an age that is quick to deem them dispensable once the texts they contain become available digitally. Pearson demonstrates how printing and binding and subsequent use can create a unique artefact, worthy of preservation and study, of even the most common text. Along the way one is treated to (e.g) descriptions of how books were printed manually, and how they were bound in the ages before mass-produced publishers' bindings. Pearson writes well and accessibly (I noticed only one error - it's Edward, not Edmund, Gibbon), but best of all this book is lavishly illustrated, showcasing almost all the quirks of printing, binding, and usage to which he draws attention in the text. The book is, appropriately, well produced, and the margins are very generous: one's suspicion that they are to encourage contemporary readers to make this book into a unique artefact by taking up a pen and writing comments is confirmed at the end of the book!
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