Read more
This ambitious volume, newly available in paperback, explores the rich history of the book, one of the most efficient, influential and enduring technologies ever invented. For more than 2,500 years, the book, in a wide range of forms, has been used to document, to educate and to entertain. The eminent authority Martyn Lyons charts its worldwide evolution through the centuries, from the cuneiform tablets of ancient Sumer through the development of moveable type and the emergence of the modern information revolution. Among the carefully selected illustrations are Maya codices, Egyptian papyrus scrolls, medieval illuminated manuscripts, masterpieces of early printing from Gutenberg and Aldus Manutius, atlases from the great age of travel and exploration, primers and children''s books, dime novels and Japanese manga, and works of fiction ranging from Don Quixote to Level 26 , the world''s first ''digi-novel'', and beyond.
List of contents
Introduction: The Power and Magic of the Book . 1. Ancient and Medieval World . 2. The New Culture of Print . 3. Enlightenment and the Masses . 4. The Publisher Arrives . 5. Knowledge for All . Conclusion: The New Age of the Book
About the author
Martin Lyons is Professor in the School of History and Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has published widely on the history of books and reading, including Readers and Society in Nineteenth-Century France: Workers, Women, Peasants and Ordinary Writings, Personal Narratives: Writing Practices in 19th- and Early 20th-Century Europe.
