EN 360 Book Histories, Book Futures: Books & eBooks

A short guide for studying, editing and translating medieval texts in manuscript form, outlining the technical steps for preparing a medieval manuscript for print: evaluating and describing the manuscript itself (transmission, provenance, and physical description), textual criticism (reconstruction, emendation, authenticity, dating, and authorship), and steps to preparing an edition or translation.

The celebrated text on the history of the book, completely revised, updated and expanded  The revised and updated edition of The Companion to the History of the Book offers a global survey of the book's history, through print and electronic text. Already well established as a standard survey of the historiography of the book, this new, expanded edition draws on a decade of advanced scholarship to present current research on paper, printing, binding, scientific publishing, the history of maps, music and print, the profession of authorship and lexicography. The text explores the many approaches to the book from the early clay tablets of Sumer, Assyria and Babylonia to today's burgeoning electronic devices. The expert contributions delve into such fascinating topics as archives and paperwork, and present new chapters on Arabic script, the Slavic, Canadian, African and Australasian book, new textual technologies, and much more. Containing a wealth of illustrative examples and case studies to dramatize the exciting history of the book, the text is designed for academics, students and anyone interested in the subject.

How did people in early America understand the authority of print and how was this authority sustained and contested? These questions are at the heart of this set of pathbreaking essays in the history of the book by one of America's leading practitioners in this interdisciplinary field. David D. Hall examines the interchange between popular and learned cultures and the practices of reading and writing. His writings deal with change and continuity, exploring the possibility of a reading revolution and arguing for the long duration of a Protestant vernacular tradition. A newly written essay on book culture in the early Chesapeake describes a system of scribal publication. The pieces reflect Hall's belief that the better we understand the production and consumption of books, the closer we come to a social history of culture.

A study of books through history is a study of human history. In The History of the Book in 100 Books, the author explores 100 books that have played a critical role in the creation and expansion of books and all that they bring -- literacy, numeracy, expansion of knowledge, religion, political theory, oppression, liberation, and much more. The book is ordered chronologically and divided thematically. Each of the 100 sections focuses on one book that represents a particular development in the evolution of books and in turn, world history and society. Abundant photographs inform and embellish. Here are some of the themes discussed: In the Beginning -- first human scratches on cave walls, cuneiform tablets, papyrus books, the oldest table of prime numbers Eastern Approaches -- 1,000 years before Europe, the Far East "publishes" books using paper and other writing surfaces in multiple -- in one case 11,000 -- volumes The Great Classics -- the emergence of Aesop's Fables over 2,000 years ago; the first cookbook, by Apicius, reveals the excesses of the Roman empire Medieval Worlds and the Book -- the illuminated Book of Kells survives Viking raids; Ptolemy puts the world on a map; the miraculous beauty of the Prayer Books and Books of Hours Light From the East -- the oldest printed book of all: Diamond Sutra; the first novel, Tale of Genji (written by a woman); the first book of astronomy and the first book of anatomy Wheels of Change -- a period of firsts: Gutenberg invents moveable type; the first blockbuster; the first joke book; the first printing in Africa; printing in Arabic; first printed music Print and Steam -- technology puts photography in books; newspapers publish fiction in installments; enter Baedecker, the archetypical travel guide; celebrity cooking hits the page The Book in the Turbulent 20th Century -- public libraries spark an information explosion; the advent of mechanized copying; revolutionary book design; no topic is off limits; the publishing industry Digitization and the Future of the Book -- e-book publishing intersects with a return to handcrafted books; manga, redefining the book. This book takes a singular approach that will appeal to astute readers. It will have a wide and diverse readership.