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BOOKS AS HISTORY: THE IMPORTANCE OF BOOKS BEYOND THEIR TEXTS.
Pearson, David
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First edition. Books have been hugely important in human civilization 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 constantly changing, 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 artifacts. 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 recognize 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, 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.
David Pearson is Director of the University of London Research Library Services, with extensive experience of managing and working in major research collections. He is also a respected scholar in the field of book history, whose articles and books, including Provenance Research in Book History (Oak Knoll Press and The British Library, 1994) and English Bookbinding Styles, 1450-1800: a Handbook (Oak Knoll Press and The British Library 2005), have focused on various aspects of the ownership and binding of books. Co-published with The British Library.
Sales rights: North and South America; available elsewhere from The British Library.
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Books of related interests - -
> Zboray, Ronald J. and Mary Saracino Zboray, HANDBOOK FOR THE STUDY OF BOOK HISTORY IN THE UNITED STATES.
> THE LITERATURE OF THE BOOK.
> Hinks, John and Catherine Armstrong (editors), PRINTING PLACES: LOCATIONS OF BOOK PRODUCTION & DISTRIBUTION SINCE 1500
> Dahl, Svend, THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK.
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HARRIET AND MARY
by Scott, Walter Sidney (editor)
Number 23. Edition limited to 500 numbered copies, Nos. 1-50 specially bound and contain collotype reproductions from six of the letters. Printed on Arnold's mould-made paper in Perpetua type. Bound by Leighton-Straker, with stamp mark on lower edge of rear interior cover, in gorgeous red Moroccan leather that is very soft to the touch. (Uniform with The Athenians.) Item number 161 in the Press's third Bibliography, Cockalorum. Second volume of Trilogy. Edited and with an introduction by Walter Sidney Scott. Lovely frontispiece portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Print is very crisp and striking. Spine has faded with slight wear, edges and covers lightly stained, lower corners slightly bumped. Edges of free endpapers have tanned. A few pages have light wear to the edges. Slipcase has lightly stained with minor wear to edges.
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