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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:
This book takes a singular approach that will appeal to astute readers. It will have a wide and diverse readership.
| ISBN-13: | 9780594062387 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Firefly Books, Limited |
| Publication date: | 12/05/2017 |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Sales rank: | 639,864 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.90(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.90(d) |
Sara Ayad has spent a lifetime with books, and all her working life 'in the business': as reader, library assistant, bookseller, editor and latterly picture researcher, integrating her keen interest in both the literary and visual arts.
Foreword Introduction
Chapter 1: In the Beginning1 Cave Paintings: El Castillo Cave2 Earliest Evidence of Mathematical Knowledge: Ishango Bone3 Cuneiform Tablets: Epic of Gilgamesh4 An Andean Mystery: Caral khipu5 Egyptian Books on Papyrus: Book of the Dead of Ani
Chapter 2: Eastern Approaches6 Chinese Developments in Bookmaking: Guodian Chu slips7 Mass Production in Japan: Shutoku's Dharani8 Monumental Korean Undertaking: Tripitaka Koreana9 Indian Palm-leaf manuscript: Nalanda Perfection of Wisdom Sutra10 The Biggest Books Ever Written: Yongle's Dadian11 Bone, Bamboo and Bark: Batak Pustaha12 Burmese Folding Format: Parabaik
Chapter 3: The Great Classics13 Origins of a Children's Classic: Aesop's Fables14 A Timeless Epic: Homer's Iliad15 An Early Masterpiece of Ethiopian Art: Garima Gospels16 The First Cookbooks: Apicius17 A Mathematical Miracle: Archimedes palimpset
Chapter 4: Medieval Worlds and the Book18 Ireland's Greatest Treasure: Book of Kells19 Schism and Discord: Chludov Psalter20 The Foundation of Pharmacology: Dioscorides' De Materia Medica21 A Masterpiece of Armenian Illumination: T'oros Roslin Gospels22 The Father of Mapping: Ptolemy's Geographia23 A Sailor's Guide to Byzantium: Cristoforo's Liber Insularum Archipelagi24 Illumination by the Master of the Prayer Book: Bruges Roman de la Rose25 A Giant Among Giants: Farnese Hours
Chapter 5: Light From the East26 The Oldest Printed Book of All: Dunhuang Diamond Sutra27 A Literary and Artistic Masterpiece: Murasaki's The Tale of Genji28 The "Indian Aesop": Panchatantra29 The Standard Islamic Book of Astronomy: Al-Sufi's Book of Fixed Stars30 A Forgotten Precursor of Leonardo Da Vinci: Al-Jazari's Compendium on the Mechanical Arts31 The First Anatomical "Atlas": Mansur's Anatomy32 An Early Islamic Book Produced in Java: Book van Bonang
Chapter 6: Wheels of Change33 Gutenberg's Revolution: Gutenberg's 42-Line Bible34 A Blockbuster Among Early Printed Books: Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle35 A Book From the First English Printer: Caxton's Chesse Moralysed36 The First Joke Book: Wynkyn's Demaundes Joyous37 The Earliest Scientific Texts: Euclid's Elementa Geometriae38 A Model for Future Book Design: Aldine Virgil39 Printing in Arabic: Gregorio's Book of Hours40 The First Printing in Africa: Sefer Abudarham41 Heavenly Voices: St. Gall Cantatorium 42 A Gutenberg Problem Solved: Constance Gradual43 A Major Work of Biblical Scholarship: Complutensian Polyglot Bible
Chapter 7: A Dangerous Invention 44 Developing the Swedish Language: Erasmus' De ratione conscribendi epistolas45 Practical Censorship at Work: Erasmus' De ratione conscribendi epistolas46 The First Printing in America: Bay Psalm Book47 An Aztec View of Pre-Columbian Life: Codex Mendoza48 Searching for Pepper and Nutmeg: Linschoten's Itinerario49 The First Modern Study of Human Anatomy: Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica50 An Amazing Amateur Astronomer: Brahe's Astronomiae51 A Foundation Stone of Modern Science: Newton's Principia52 Everyman His Own Expert: Markham's Cavelarice53 Fashion in Clothing: Helm's Art and Industry54 An Outstanding British Contribution to Botany: Blackwell's Curious Herball55 A Baroque Dance to the Music of Time: Tomlinson's Art of Dancing
Chapter 8: Printing and the Enlightenment56 Rococo Dress for Classical Drama: Boucher's Moliere57 The Greatest Dictionary of the English Language: Johnson's Dictionary58 A Very Early Book for Children: Newberry's Little Pretty Pocket-book59 The Lodestone for the Enlightenment: Diderot's Encyclopedie60 A Pioneer in Information Retrieval: Linnaeus' Species Plantarum61 Using Graphs to Convey Information: Playfair's Commercial and Political Atlas62 Records of Crime and Punishment: Newgate Calendar63 The Literary Oddity that Entranced Europe: Sterne's Tristram Shandy64 "Mighty Lewd" or Literary Classic?: Cleland's Fanny Hill65 An African-American Work in an Ancient Field: Bannekar's Almanack66 The Master of Black and White: Bewick's British Birds67 Landscape Design at Its Best: Repton's Red Books68 How Tactile Writing Began: Hauy's Education of the Blind
Chapter 9: Print and Steam69 Patently Brilliant Yankee Inventiveness: Perkins' Patent70 The First Book Illustrated Photographically: Atkins' Photographs of British Algae71 Photography Moves to the Third World: Duperly's Daguerian Excursions in Jamaica72 Missionary Printing in Canada: Evans' Syllabic Hymnbook73 The Development of Partpublishing: Dickens' Pickwick Papers74 Pulp Fiction, Victorian Style: Powell's Old Grizzly Adams75 Innovative Books for Young Readers: Aikin's Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable76 Moral Education through Pictures: Hoffman's Struwwelpeter77 From Medieval Mysticism to Paper Engineering: Meggendorfer's Grand Circus78 Have Guidebook, Will Travel: Baedecker's Switzerland79 The First Celebrity Chef: Soyer's Modern Housewife80 Marketing for the Colonies: Browne's Robbery Under Arms
Chapter 10: The Book in the Turbulent 20th Century81 The Blind Seer of Buenos Aires: Borges' Garden of Forking Paths82 A Major Advance in Document Production: Carlson's lab book83 Printing as Performing Art: Cranach-Presse's Hamlet84 A West-coast Interpretation of an American Epic: Whitman's Leaves of Grass85 Tangoing Toward the Revolution: Kamensky's Tango With Cows86 Time-travel Surrealism: Ernst's Une Semaine de Bonte87 Street Literature—The Voice of the People: Nnadozie's Beware of Harlots88 Twentieth-century Solutions to Publishing Needs: Lehmann's Invitations to the Waltz89 Never Surrender! Clandestine Presses in War: Kaminski's Stones for the Rampart90 The Greatest Samizdat Book: Bulgakov's Master and Margarita91 Guidance in the Marital Home: Stopes' Married Love92 The Limits of Political Propaganda: Frank's Diary of a Young Girl
Chapter 11: Digitization and the Future of the Book93 All His Own Work: Hunter's Old Papermaking94 The Last of the Old, the First of the New: RAND's Million Random Digits95 Modernizing Medieval Manuscripts: Electronic Beowulf96 The First E-Book?: Ruiz's Mechanical Encyclopedia97 Multum in Parvo—the Smallest Books: Technion Nano Bible98 Modern Technology and Manga: Koyama-Richard's One Thousand Years of Manga99 Are "Artist's Books" Books?: Prieto's Antibook100 Is it a Book, or is it a Book?: Sulawesi Lontar
Glossary Bibliography Acknowledgments Picture credits Index
In a time when talk about the death of the book is now trite, there are good reasons to look backwards at what books have been in the past, as well as at the many speculations about the future of written communication. Some journalists and librarians as well as computer enthusiasts believe that the coming of the e-book marks a total and complete revolution. They anticipate an imminent future of publishing that will be entirely electronic. Despite the continuing failure of the paperless office (so confidently predicted 20 years ago) to appear, they expect no paper, no printing; all information being accessed from images on a screen.
Perhaps the popularity of e-books is rising; perhaps the printed-paper book will disappear (just as the clay tablets of Babylon and the papyrus scrolls of ancient Egypt have long since dropped out of use). We are by no means persuaded that the future form of the book will be entirely electronic; what is certain is that, over the past 10,000 plus years of humankind's history, we have developed ways of preserving and transmitting information which are deeply embedded in our subconsciousness.
Our emotional connection to physical books will be clear from our selection. We have decided, reluctantly, not to include bookbinding or any consideration of newspapers and magazine publications in this book, important though they are. If we took a chronological approach, it would allow only one picture for every century, so we have had to be very selective in our choice of the books to illustrate. One or two books to represent drama? One for invention? How many for banned books? Choosing our 100 took a lot of thought and debate with people advising us.
We have not attempted to produce a collection of the 100 best books (however best may be defined). Nor the 100 earliest in this or that way. Nor the most famous, the most beautiful, the most influential or the most valuable; though these all have had an effect on our selection. Nor the most obvious, though it was hard to avoid selecting the earliest examples of printing in Asia and in Europe, and some other books.
Our principal in selecting books has been to range widely, with books from every continent except Antarctica. Books that illustrate the huge range of formats and styles, with books of string (khipu), or written on bone, bark or palm leaves as well as the better known clay tablets, papyrus scrolls and vellum or paper more familiar in Europe or North America. We have tried to select books that are characteristic of particular genres, but not necessarily the most obvious choice.
As the pictures in this volume show, we have passed over some books so well known that they needed no further publicity (no King James Bible, no Shakespeare). Instead, we are illustrating several other books equally important or influential in their milieu. Instead of the King James Bible, we include the Gustav Vasa Bible (so important for the spread of Lutheranism in the North, the formation of the modern Swedish language, and the spread of Germanic typography) to stand for all national Bibles.
It has been said that if you want to understand a particular area or period, you should not look only at the Great and the Good: you will learn much more from looking at the less great and the not very good. This volume has a mix of these, which are intended to stimulate readers' interest enough for them to go further.
In a period when more "real" printed books are being published, and it is becoming steadily easier to selfpublish, is the day of the printed book over? Our answer has to be found!
What is certain is that there will be more new developments, sometimes very different from (and better than) the e-books to be published. But even in the 21st century, as our illustrations show, some people are creating new forms of the written or printed book, using methods that may seem deliberately backward-looking and wayward, and ignoring digitization altogether. The traditional book will still be produced for a very long time yet.
Roderick Cave and Sara Ayad
I wrote Ink and Bone (and the subsequent upcoming novels of the Great Library series) because, quite simply, I love books. And maybe I love print books a little more, because they are a living expression of history. They are a beautiful art form of their very own, the product of centuries of knowledge, experience, technology, […]
