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Historia del libro
Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial, ilustrada.
Colección "El Libro de Bolsillo'', 373. Sección Historia.
Traducción del danés por Alberto Adell.
Adiciones españolas de Fernando Huarte Morton.
Colección "El Libro de Bolsillo'', 373. Sección Historia.
Traducción del danés por Alberto Adell.
Adiciones españolas de Fernando Huarte Morton.
- GenresHistory
319 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1927
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60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 16, 2021
Algo árido a momentos, pero bastante completo para el periodo que abarca.
April 7, 2023
Es un buen libro. Aborda en forma amplia aspectos como origenes, materiales, tipografía, encuadernación, bibliofilia, bibliotecas etc.
Menciona muchos nombres, fechas, lugares, lo cual lo vuelve denso en buena parte del mismo.
Algunos aspectos técnicos deberian ser mejor explicados. Mas gráficos y esquemas ayudarían.
Menciona muchos nombres, fechas, lugares, lo cual lo vuelve denso en buena parte del mismo.
Algunos aspectos técnicos deberian ser mejor explicados. Mas gráficos y esquemas ayudarían.
March 25, 2016
Sweet little book about the history of the book, starting from papyrus rolls in ancient Egypt to books in libraries after the first World War. Had a charming number of typos, including in the last sentence. Things I learned included:
1. We have several Egyptian texts because they were recycled into mummy coffins (glued together and covered with a layer of plaster). (10)
2. The oldest books were written and stored on papyrus rolls and “[a] certain special respect has been attached to the roll as the most ancient book form even in our own day, as we see, for instance, in the custom of giving documents a distinctive and formal appearance by making them in rolls –festival speeches, honorary diplomas, etc. In expressions like ‘honor roll,’ etc., we have a reminder of the time when such documents were still in roll form.” (25)
3. “[T]he word ‘control is’ really is ‘contra-roll,’ i.e. a roll that the tax office kept as a safeguard along with the regular tax roll.” (25)
4. “For almost 700 years the Chinese were able to keep their method for producing paper a secret, but when Chinese paper-makers were captured by the Arabas in the middle of the 8th century the secret was discovered. From then on paper started its journey through the Arab empire and reached Europe about 1100.” (34)
5. Books were stored on desks or with their spines facing the wall until the 17th century. (63)
6. The first common catalog of books in a collection came from 186 English monasteries at the end of the 14th century, leading to the “Registrum librorum Angliae (catalog of books in England), which is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and can be considered the oldest known attempt at compiling a common catalog for a group of libraries to show in which of them a particular book was to be found.” (65).
7. There exists something called “sizing liquid.” (68)
8. In 1276 in a paper mill in Italy “the sizing liquid was made from a boiled extract of animal hides, bones, etc.” (68)
9. Watermarks are a legacy of making paper on frames of brass wires. (68)
10. Louis XIV had commissioned a 64 volume set of the great works “for use of the Dauphin . . . and in which all objectionable passages were deleted.” (186)
11. The author loves libraries way more than legislatures seem to as expressed by legislative funding. (“There is one field in which the influence of the English-speaking countries has been predominate. The development of free public libraries in those countries has surpassed that in all others and must be counted as one of the greatest cultural contributions made by the Anglo-Saxon world.”) (234)
12. The author does not like barbarians. (“The period from 1914 to the present has been one of the strangest in the history of libraries. While public libraries have achieved a stronger position than ever[] before and have experienced an extraordinary growth in both their internal and external functions, this period has also witnessed the greatest destruction of books and libraries that the world has probably known since the days of the barbarian invasions.”) (259).
1. We have several Egyptian texts because they were recycled into mummy coffins (glued together and covered with a layer of plaster). (10)
2. The oldest books were written and stored on papyrus rolls and “[a] certain special respect has been attached to the roll as the most ancient book form even in our own day, as we see, for instance, in the custom of giving documents a distinctive and formal appearance by making them in rolls –festival speeches, honorary diplomas, etc. In expressions like ‘honor roll,’ etc., we have a reminder of the time when such documents were still in roll form.” (25)
3. “[T]he word ‘control is’ really is ‘contra-roll,’ i.e. a roll that the tax office kept as a safeguard along with the regular tax roll.” (25)
4. “For almost 700 years the Chinese were able to keep their method for producing paper a secret, but when Chinese paper-makers were captured by the Arabas in the middle of the 8th century the secret was discovered. From then on paper started its journey through the Arab empire and reached Europe about 1100.” (34)
5. Books were stored on desks or with their spines facing the wall until the 17th century. (63)
6. The first common catalog of books in a collection came from 186 English monasteries at the end of the 14th century, leading to the “Registrum librorum Angliae (catalog of books in England), which is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and can be considered the oldest known attempt at compiling a common catalog for a group of libraries to show in which of them a particular book was to be found.” (65).
7. There exists something called “sizing liquid.” (68)
8. In 1276 in a paper mill in Italy “the sizing liquid was made from a boiled extract of animal hides, bones, etc.” (68)
9. Watermarks are a legacy of making paper on frames of brass wires. (68)
10. Louis XIV had commissioned a 64 volume set of the great works “for use of the Dauphin . . . and in which all objectionable passages were deleted.” (186)
11. The author loves libraries way more than legislatures seem to as expressed by legislative funding. (“There is one field in which the influence of the English-speaking countries has been predominate. The development of free public libraries in those countries has surpassed that in all others and must be counted as one of the greatest cultural contributions made by the Anglo-Saxon world.”) (234)
12. The author does not like barbarians. (“The period from 1914 to the present has been one of the strangest in the history of libraries. While public libraries have achieved a stronger position than ever[] before and have experienced an extraordinary growth in both their internal and external functions, this period has also witnessed the greatest destruction of books and libraries that the world has probably known since the days of the barbarian invasions.”) (259).
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April 20, 2022Un derroche de erudición sobre la historia del libro como objeto (soportes, encuadernación, tipografía, comercio) repleto de datos, en muchas casos yuxtapuestos de forma sintética, sin excesivo contexto. Hay tanta información que es difícil de retener. Empecé a leerlo con una libreta al lado, tomando notas de los conceptos y acontecimiento más importantes. Pero había demasiados por página. Así que me dejé llevar y pasé a leerlo del tirón, simplemente aprovechando para refrescar las cuestiones sobre las que ya tenía alguna idea previa o haciendo nuevas asociaciones.
December 19, 2018
This book gets very dry and the author sometimes makes some odd choices, but it is also very informative and it isn't long. It is maybe not something a lot of people would read for fun, but it is a good source for something like a seminar and it isn't difficult to read so you can read all of it even if you only need one chapter.
January 16, 2022
Maravilloso leer tantos datos interesantes sobre los libros, los impresores, encuadernadores, litógrafos, coleccionistas…. En fin, para los amantes de los libros esta lectura nos convence aún más que en nuestras manos tenemos uno de los más hermosos inventos de toda la historia de la humanidad.
September 22, 2025
Libro con datos muy interesantes desde los inicios del libro hasta nuestros días. Lo he disfrutado, aunque en ciertos puntos me ha costado algo más por tanto dato histórico.
September 16, 2023
Un clásico para aprender sobre el libro. En los últimos meses he leído “El infinito en un junco” y me pregunto cuánto de este clásico ha pasado a él…
Por poner un pero, todos los datos relativos al mundo escandinavo me han sobrado, al ser el autor director lo entiendo, pero muchos términos y autores de allí ..eso lo he dejado.
Por poner un pero, todos los datos relativos al mundo escandinavo me han sobrado, al ser el autor director lo entiendo, pero muchos términos y autores de allí ..eso lo he dejado.
May 1, 2022
Es la segunda vez que lo leo con una perspectiva de treinta años. Aún me sigue pareciendo una puerta a un mundo indispensable.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews