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The book : a cover-to-cover exploration of the most powerful object of our time
Houston, Keith, 1977-2025
Book
We may love books, but do we know what lies behind them? In The Book, Keith Houston reveals that the paper, ink, thread, glue and board from which a book is made tell as rich a story as the words on its pages -- of civilisations, empires, human ingenuity and madness. In an invitingly tactile history of this 2,000-year-old medium, Houston follows the development of writing, printing, the art of illustrations, and binding to show how we have moved from cuneiform tablets and papyrus scrolls to the hardcovers and paperbacks of today. Sure to delight book lovers of all stripes with its lush, full-colour illustrations, The Book gives us the momentous and surprising history behind humanity's most important -- and universal -- information technology.
Main title:
Author:
Houston, Keith, 1977-, author
Edition:
First edition.
Imprint:
New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2025.©2016.
Collation:
xvii, 428 pages : illustrations (some colour) ; 21 cm.
Notes:
First published: 2016.Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-401) and index.
Contents:
A clean sheet: The invention of papyrusHidebound: The grisly invention of parchmentPulp fictions: The ambiguous origins of paper in ChinaFrom Silk Road to paper trail: Paper goes globalStroke of genius: The arrival of writingThe prints and the pauper: Johannes Gutenberg and the invention of movable typeOut of sorts: Typesetting meets the Industrial RevolutionSaints and scriveners: The rise of the illuminated manuscriptEx Oriente lux: Woodcut comes to the WestEtching a sketch: Copperplate printing and the RenaissanceBetter imaging through chemistry: Lithography, photography, and modern book printingBooks before the book: Papyrus scrolls and wax tabletsJoining the folds: The invention of the codexTies that bind: Binding the paged bookSize matters: The invention of the modern book.
ISBN:
9781324086352 (paperback)
Dewey class:
002.09
Language:
English
BRN:
2776089