Reading Matters: Five Centuries of Discovering Books

An entertaining journey through five centuries of acquiring, reading, and enjoying books in Britain and America

It is easy to forget in our own day of cheap paperbacks and mega—bookstores that, until very recently, books were luxury items. Those who could not afford to buy had to borrow, share, obtain secondhand, inherit, or listen to others reading. This book examines how people acquired and read books from the sixteenth century to the present, focusing on the personal relationships betwee...