Invention of Rare Books - Private Interest and Public Memory, 16001840

Explores how the idea of rare books was shaped by collectors, traders and libraries from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

List of contents

1. Inventio; 2. Books as objects; 3. Survival and selection; 4. Choosing books in Baroque Europe; 5. External appearances (1); 6. External appearances (2); 7. Printers and readers; 8. A seventeenth-century revolution; 9. Concepts of rarity; 10. Developing measures of rarity; 11. Judging appearances by modern standards; 12. The Harleian sales; 13. Authority and rarity; 14. Rarity established; 15. The French bibliographical revolution; 16. Books in turmoil; 17. Bibliophile traditions; 18. Fresh foundations; 19. Public faces, public responsibilities; 20. Conclusion.

About the author

David McKitterick, FBA, was for many years Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Honorary Professor of Historical Bibliography at Cambridge. His previous publications include the three volume A History of Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 1992–2004), Cambridge University Library: A History, Volume 2: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Cambridge, 1986), Print, Manuscript and the Search for Order, 1450–1830 (Cambridge, 2003), and most recently Old books, New Technologies (Cambridge, 2013). Professor McKitterick is one of the general editors of the Cambridge History of the Book in Britain.

Summary

Explores how the idea of rare books was shaped by collectors, traders and libraries from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Using examples from across Europe, David McKitterick looks at how rare books developed from being desirable objects of largely private interest to become public and even national concerns.

Product details

• Authors: David Mckitterick, David (University of Cambridge) McKitterick, McKitterick David
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.07.2018
• EAN: 9781108428323
• ISBN: 978-1-108-42832-3
• No. of pages: 460
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures; Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, 16th century, c 1500 to c 1599, c 1500 to c 1600, Publishing industry & book trade, Publishing and book trade, Literary studies: c 1400 to c 1600