While the technological hype that dominated the 1990s eventually collided with reality and subsided, one of the period's most tenacious ideas has not: the conviction that the future of books is in jeopardy. Yet the promise--or peril--of widespread textual availability on the Internet, along with the economic pressures of globalization, has had the unexpected beneficial effect of sparking interest in the relatively young discipline of the history of the book. The essays collected in Literary Cultures and the Material Book ...
Read More
While the technological hype that dominated the 1990s eventually collided with reality and subsided, one of the period's most tenacious ideas has not: the conviction that the future of books is in jeopardy. Yet the promise--or peril--of widespread textual availability on the Internet, along with the economic pressures of globalization, has had the unexpected beneficial effect of sparking interest in the relatively young discipline of the history of the book. The essays collected in Literary Cultures and the Material Book cast a wide net--from China and Russia to South America and New Zealand--to investigate the vital relationship between actual, physical books and the study of literary cultures. How books are created, sold, and experienced as material objects is a fascinating and little understood element of literary culture, and the contributors to this volume build on the pioneering work of earlier scholars to bring the discipline into the present. As books enter uncharted and uncertain territory in the twenty-first century, understanding their impact on our globalized culture is more important than ever.
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 23.5 x 15.5 cm. 444pp. Illustrations, index. Green cloth in dust jacket. Corners are somewhat bumped. Part of the Series The British Library Studies in the History of the Book. "This book deals with two major subjects in the fast-growing discipline of book history. One, the relationship between literary cultures of all sorts and the material nature of hte book on which those cultures ultimately depend. Two, the international, indeed global, nature of the book and the book trade which supports it. A range of 30 scholars of international standing explore the subject through studies which range in time from the earliest liteary cultures of Egypt, Greece and Rome to the international book market of the twentieth century."
