The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing, 1450-1800 / Edition 3

by Lucien Febvre, Henri-Jean Martin

Overview

The emergence of the book was not merely an event of world historical importance, but the dawn of modernity. In this much praised work, Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin mesh together economic and technological history, sociology and anthropology, with the study of consciousness itself to root the development of printing in the changing social relations and ideological struggles of Western Europe. Now that the printed page may become a thing of the past, The Coming of the Book is more pertinent than ever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844676330
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	08/02/2010
Series:	Verso World History Series
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Lucien Febvre, who died in 1956, was cofounder of the influential journal Annales, and is widely recognized as one of the foremost historians of the twentieth century. His other books include A Geographical Introduction to History, The Problem of Unbelief in the Sixteenth Century: The Religion of Rabelais and Life in Renaissance France.

Henri-Jean Martin was a distinguished historian of the development of early printing. His other publications include The French Book: Religion, Absolutism and Readership, 1585–1715 and The History and Power of Writing.

Table of Contents

Foreword Henri-Jean Martin 7

Preface Lucien Febvre 9

Manuscripts Marcel Thomas 15

1 Preliminaries: The Introduction of Paper into Europe 29

1 The Progress of Paper 30

2 Preconditions of the Growth of Paper-Making: Natural and Industrial 33

3 Commercial Factors 37

4 The Coming of Printing and the Development of the Paper Industry 39

2 The Technical Problems and their Solution 45

1 The Wood-Cut, Ancestor of the Book? 45

2 The 'Discovery' of Printing 49

3 The Making of the Type 56

4 Composition and Impression 61

5 Imposition 68

6 The Chinese Precedent 71

3 The Book: Its Visual Appearance 77

1 Type Founts 78

2 Inside the Book: Title Page, Colophon and Printer's Mark 83

3 The Text and Format of the Book 87

4 Illustration 90

5 Clothing the Book: The Binding 104

4 The Book as a Commodity 109

1 Costs 109

2 The Problem of Finance 115

5 The Little World of the Book 128

1 The Journeymen 129

2 The Masters 136

3 From the Humanist Printer to the Bookseller of the Enlightenment 143

4 Authors and their Rights 159

6 The Geography of the Book 167

1 The Journeys of Printers 167

2 Place to Set Up Business 170

3 Geography and Publishing 180

4 Printing Conquers the World 198

A The Slav Countries 198

Bohemia and Moravia 198

Poland 200

The Southern Slavs 203

Russia 205

B The New World 207

C The Far East 212

7 The Book Trade 216

1 Some Basic Data: Sizes of Editions 216

2 Some Problems for the Trade 222

3 Business Methods at the Time of the Book-Fairs 224

4 Towards New Business Methods 234

5 Privilege and Piracy 239

6 Censorship and Banned Books 244

8 The Book as a Force for Change 248

1 From Manuscript to Printed Book 248

2 Humanism and the Book 262

3 The Book and the Reformation 287

4 Printing and Language 319

Notes 333

Index 355

Editorial Reviews

It is one of the most exciting scholarly books ever written on printing ... This book is serious work—marvelously rich and stimulating.”—Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Times

“It ranks easily among the most consequential works of recent French scholarship.”—Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

It is one of the most exciting scholarly books ever written on printing ... This book is serious work—marvelously rich and stimulating.

Sunday Times

It ranks easily among the most consequential works of recent French scholarship.

Times Literary Supplement