Books: A Living History

by Martyn Lyons

From the first scribbling on papyrus to the emergence of the e-book, this wide-ranging overview of the history of the book provides a fascinating look at one of the most efficient, versatile, and enduring technologies ever developed. The author traces the evolution of the book from the rarefied world of the hand-copied and illuminated volume in ancient and medieval times, through the revolutionary impact of Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press, to the rise of a publishing culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the subsequent impact of new technologies on this culture.  

Many of the great individual titles of the past two millennia are discussed as well as the range of book types and formats that have emerged in the last few hundred years, from serial and dime novels to paperbacks, children’s books, and Japanese manga. The volume ends with a discussion of the digital revolution in book production and distribution and the ramifications for book lovers, who can’t help but wonder whether the book will thrive—or even survive—in a form they recognize. 

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Books About Books, Microhistory, Writing, Art, Library Science

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 11, 2011

About the author

Emeritus Professor of History & European Studies
BA DPhil Oxford FAHA
School of Humanities and Languages

He was born in London, took his D.Phil. at Oxford University and has been at UNSW since 1977. He is a former head of the history school, and was the Faculty’s Associate Dean for Research and Postgraduate Affairs from 2002-7. He is currently Professor of History and European Studies in the School of Humanities. His main research interests are in two distinct fields: French revolutionary and Napoleonic history and the history of books, reading and writing in Europe and Australia. He has produced sixteen books, including 'A History of Reading and Writing in the Western World' (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2010), and more recently 'The Writing Culture of ordinary people in Europe, c. 1860-1920' (Cambridge University Press, 2013).

He is currently working on an ARC-funded project to investigate the writing practices of uneducated and semi-literate peasants in France, Spain and Italy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

He has held visiting positions at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, the University of Alcalá de Henares and the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Niteroi, Brazil. In 1997, he was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy for the Humanities. In 2003, he was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to the Humanities in the study of History. In 2008-20, he was President of the Australian Historical Association. In 2008, he was Campagnia di San Paolo- Bogliasco Foundation Fellow at the Liguria Study Centre in Genoa, and in 2010 he was a Camargo Foundation Fellow in Cassis, France.

Reviews

[Valeriu Gherghel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesantă mai ales pentru iconografia bogată. Oferă și o anecdotică amuzantă. Veți vedea...

În linii mari, Martyn Lyons urmărește cele mai însemnate revoluții ale cărții și lecturii. Prima mutație se referă la formatul cărților. La sfîrșitul secolului I, se trece de la volumen la codex: „Codexul era o carte cu pagini care se întorceau, în locul unui material lung care se derula”. A doua mutație (secolele VI-IX) aduce semnele de punctuație. Grecii și romanii foloseau scriptio continua, fără spații între cuvinte. Călugării irlandezi inventează semnele de punctuație, paragrafele. A treia mutație (secolele IX-XVIII) înseamnă părăsirea lecturii cu voce tare pentru lectura cu ochii: „călugării au început treptat să adopte practica cititului în gînd ca o formă de devoţiune”.

A patra mutație a fost apariția tiparului (secolul XV).

A cincea constă în trecerea de la lectura intensivă la lectura extensivă. Clasicii impuneau o lectură intensivă, lentă, meditativă, slow reading. Cărțile de ficțiune și amuzament (îndeosebi, romanele) implică o lectură rapidă, speed reading. Cititorul e dominat de plăcere și vrea să afle cît mai repede sfîrșitul poveștii. Această revoluție l-a nemulțumit pe poetul englez William Wordsworth (1770 -1850) care afirmă: „Lectura rapidă e pentru cititorii superficiali”. E o crimă să practici speed reading pe Odiseea lui Homer.

De cîteva decenii, asistăm la revoluția adusă de internet, dar nu și la „sfîrșitul cărții”, cum au prezis unii savanți. Ne-am obișnuit să citim atît cărți în format tradițional, cît și cărți electronice...

Cartea a fost folosită, adesea, și în alt scop decît cel al lecturii. Citez: „În Occident, Biblia era înzestrată cu puteri magice şi vindecătoare. În secolul al XVII-lea, în Anglia şi New England, de exemplu, se considera că vindecă hemoragia nazală şi că apără femeile gravide de complicaţii la naştere. În epoca victoriană tîrzie, o englezoaică din Hampshire care suferea de convulsii a mîncat un întreg exemplar din Noul Testament în încercarea de a-şi vindeca boala, punînd fiecare pagină în mijlocul unui sendviș. Biblia a fost de asemenea folosită ca oracol: oamenii o deschideau la întîmplare ca să găsească o soluţie pentru problemele lor”.

Așa a procedat și sfîntul Augustin în secolul al IV-lea: a auzit îndemnul „Tolle, lege!”, a deschis Noul Testament, a citit un verset, i-a priceput mesajul și a decis să se boteze.

Alte informații interesante: în perioada Statelor războinice, în China, s-a scris pe mătase. Biblioteca lui Euripide conținea doar cîteva suluri de papirus. Grecii aveau o memorie mult mai bună decît noi. Țineau minte poeme și cărți întregi. Recitau pe de rost Iliada și Odiseea. În secolul IX, biblioteca mănăstirii Bobbio (în Italia) conținea fix 666 de manuscrise. Eruditul Erasm din Rotterdam (savant olandez, nu german, cum a înțeles traducătorul) a inventat bilețelele cu „errata”, o listă a erorilor de tipar, atașată la finele volumului. S-a practicat și la noi, am mai prins cărți cu „errata” la sfîrșit. În capitolul 62 din Partea a doua a romanului Don Quijote, protagonistul vizitează o tipografie din Barcelona. Primul volum din Don Quijote (1605) s-a tras în 400 de exemplare. „Fiica lui Shakespeare” (care dintre ele?; Shakespeare a avut două: Susanna și Judith) nu știa să se semneze. La sfîrșitul secolului al XVIII-lea, cerneala se prepara „dintr-un amestec de tărîţe de nucă, răşină, sămînţă de in şi terebentină”. Prima ediție a romanului Roșu și negru de Stendhal (1830) a avut un tiraj de 750 de exemplare...

Ca să aflați și alte minunății, citiți, rogu-vă, cartea lui Martyn Lyons.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful journey through the world of books since their appearance - how they appeared, materials used, trends followed. It contains many interesting details about publishers and editors, writers, also about the types of paper and inventions in the field. And the illustrations are wonderful - a delight for eyes. Recommended to all book lovers :)

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who doesn't love a book about books? This thoroughly researched book takes readers through the journey of how books came to be, from the earliest forms of writing to the beginning of publishing and the development of bookstores and book sellers. The many photographs of artifacts and book covers add on to the detail that went into this work. An enjoyable read for any bibliophile.

[Mafi Zis Amețita Aka Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Pt aspect 5⭐, interior/exterior
-Pt info 3⭐, foarte schițat
-Pt repetițiile ușor agasante 2⭐

Și cu toate astea cred că e o carte "bibelou" care-și merită locul în biblioteca mea (mie îmi și plac cărțile aspectuoase 😏). Rămân în urma ei cu 5,6 informații despre istoria cărților și cu-o experiență vizuală bogată 😌.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book about the history of books, printing and publishing - from stone tablets to e-books. Many beautiful photos of ancient books of all kinds. Nothing in depth but a very good overview over many years of books.

[Anthony Blount · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for History of Books and Printing class. Thoroughly readable and complemented with great visuals. Periodization of the history was also nice, and made a point to include some non-European printing and book information.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly the only textbook I've read cover to cover for a class.

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5.

An interesting, easy read about the history of books.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a more or less straight history with very little bias, but the book deserves praise for both its beauty and its sweeping thoroughness. This last bit may sound like an oxymoron, but this is exactly the effect Lyons achieves. He manages to look at book history across time and space, structuring it around several evolutions (scroll to codex, manuscript to print, illiterate/exclusive to literate/accessible, expensive/rare to cheap/ubiquitous, and now print to digital). In each phase he talks about exemplary elements as well as outliers. Finally, the illustrations are lavish and evocative, depicting a print history that (however ironically) is mostly about words. I'm looking forward to adding it to my bookshelf.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you might expect, the design of this book was great and it just felt nice to hold. It was a pretty basic overview of the history of print and books, so if you already know about this it probably wouldn't offer much - but if not, this is good for a quick browse. I found the chapters about the very earliest forms of books the most interesting; I had never really considered how rare and precious books used to be. After reading this I feel true gratitude for the abundance and ease of access to information that we enjoy today. It also makes you think about the implications of that - how does it affect our society and culture that practically anyone can publish just about anything they want to say?

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent review of the history of the book. It included a great cross-cultural review. I was fascinated by the review of the Mayan texts as well as the insight that the location of the printhouses during the age of enlightenment coincided with the development of science and technology. One forgets that knowlege once could be more easily controlled and that ideas travelled only as fast as a book could be carried. I can now look at my 3100 plus book collection (spanning from the mid 1700s on) from a new perspective.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A comprehensive look at books, but it's dryness was its downfall. Maybe I'm spoiled by YA nonfiction that tends to be informational and entertaining, this was just informational and not so much true entertainment.

It contains a lot of interesting in material on a variety of subjects including history but also manga, romance, paperbacks, but feels a bit dated.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the history of books, lavishly illustrated and handsomely designed.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Publishers know their market, so it's not surprising that Books: A Living History is gorgeously illustrated and printed on heavy paper and basically catnip for bibliophiles.

Printed by Getty and written by Martyn Lyons, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales who specializes in the history of the book, Books offers a sweeping, if occasionally surface, look at the history of one of humankind's most revolutionary technologies. Broadly divided into five chronological sections (Ancient and Medieval Worlds, The New Culture of Print, Enlightenment and the Masses, The Publisher Arrives, and Knowledge for All), it follows the book from its Mesopotamian inception to the digital age, discussing the evolution of format and style, with frequent asides thrown in on various topics like illustration, copyright, dime novels, cartography, and pivotal or influential bestsellers. It's a whirl-wind (and mostly Western) tour in 213 pages, so while it provides an excellent overview and loads of potential nerdy cocktail party trivia, you may find yourself wishing Lyons had paused long enough on one specific subject to really dig in.

Lovely and absolutely loaded with fun factoids - the Nazis had a weakness for Gothic fonts! Tycho Brahe specialized in self-publishing! in the 19th century, Verne and Doyle were vastly outsold by a woman who called herself Marie Corelli who liked to ride up and down the Avon on gondolas! - Books is perfectly calibrated to appeal to history fans, trivia fiends, and - of course- book lovers.

[Behrooz Parhami · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume falls in the category of coffee-table books. The five numbered chapters, sandwiched between an introduction (the power and magic of the book) and a conclusion (the new age of the book) are entitled:

- Ancient and Medieval Worlds

- The New Culture of Print

- Enlightenment and the Masses

- The Publisher Arrives

- Knowledge for All

All chapters are richly illustrated with period artwork, key historical figures, and images of book pages.

Books have been used for more than 2500 years to document, educate, and entertain. A wide array of material, formats, and technologies have appeared and, over time, given way to new alternatives. Once limited to use by the political and religious elites, the book has been transformed into affordable and easily accessible hard-copy and electronic formats.

The history of books parallels a steady stream of social & cultural changes, brought about by books and also affecting the development of books. Lyons anticipates a future where print and digital formats coexist, each fulfilling specialized roles.

[Heather Cain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for one of my classes, and my first thought was this is a picture book for book lovers. My course, History of Information Organization and Technologies, I was supposed to read this and discuss what we learned based on the history of books and printing. While it had some beautiful illustrations and photographic images within the pages, I felt it needed a better structure with it's historic value. It was very detailed in explaining each segment and its contents clearly, but it read like an adhd squirrel wrote the book. The history and images were great, but it did not follow a specific structure without almost no transitions.

Overall, I would give this to someone in my family that is curious about my profession and the history of books without having to bore them. My friends would love the colorful art work and examples surrounding books without having to struggle through knowing everything in one night.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting to discover the history of the book, to see how it evolved and what it involves. I learnt many things; this book is kind of an introduction, and raises some questions about history, but also about today's books, and our way to handle the situation. I think I could find books about each little chapter for more explanation, so if you already know the history of the book, maybe it will be boring for you! I didn't know everything, and it was a good résumé.

There were some mistakes in my edition - I felt that it was translated, too bad! But it was still a good way to learn some things.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book provides a concise, nicely illustrated summary of the grand history of books and the significant role they have played throughout human history. It is probably safe to say without the invention of and easy access to this medium of knowledge preservation and sharing, humans' socio-cultural changes, technological developments, and religious evolutions would not have come about so fast. Our present-day lives would look a lot different from now. Therefore, whether you're a book lover or not, this book is very much worth reading.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fascinating look at something I hold so dear, tracing the history of books from scrolls to e-readers and how they and society have evolved and adapted and influenced each other. I was pleasantly surprised at how readable it was - there's a ton of information packed into its pages, but the organization into short snippets made it easy to pick up and put down without losing the overall thread, plus kept it engaging as there was always something new to learn. An abundance of well-captioned pictures adds depth and interest as well.

"book"

[Daniela Valencia · Rating 5 out of 5]

El libro perfecto para los amantes del libro.
Te describe el avance de los libros desde lo rupestre hasta hoy en día, detalles sobre los editores, innovaciones, curiosidades. Me a encantado, en ningún momento es tedioso, la lectura es muy rápida, me costaba mucho dejar de leerlo. Al final me dejó una gran enseñanza "Soy realmente dichosa y muy afortunada de haber sido enseñada a leer a los seis años en la escuela" después de toda la revolución, guerras, acuerdos de paz y conflictos que generó el derecho a la alfabetización.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Z -- BIBLIOGRAPHY. LIBRARY SCIENCE. INFORMATION RESOURCES (GENERAL)

I reached the last letter in my quest to read one book from each letter class of the Library of Congress Classification system. Despite the fact that my branch does not own a lot of books in the Z's, I found several books I wanted to read. I chose this one as it contains wonderful illustrations of books and printing throughout the ages. It was a great overview of the history of books.

[Igor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to know more about the history of the books and this book gave me that. It explains all the bigger millstones in the development of the book from the beginnings to the e-book. There are some great quality pictures to accompany that explanations which is making this book more interesting and informative for me. I would recommend this book.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puts everything on your bookshelf into perspective.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

52 book challenge - a non fiction book

[Lorisha A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful

[Zéro Janvier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un très beau livre au texte passionnant et richement illustré sur l’histoire du livre et de l’édition. Un régal pour les amateurs du livre.

[Lorialivres · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, though-provoking and sometimes very moving read!

[Ambrose Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love books like this. Informative text, great illustrations.

[Carly Forrest]

One of my textbooks this semester, but I’m counting it because I read the whole thing!

[CuriousBob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a wonderful survey of book history from cuneiform to paper to digital. It includes coverage of printers, publishers, and copyright laws. Nice!