the Nature of Book Print & Knowledge in Making

This analysis of print culture and its many arenas - commercial, intellectual, political and individual - looks at how authors, printers, booksellers and readers competed for power over the printed page. In The Nature of the Book, a tour de force of cultural history, Adrian Johns constructs an entirely original and vivid picture of print culture and its many arenas—commercial, intellectual, political, and individual. "A compelling exposition of how authors, printers, booksellers and readers competed for power over the printed page. . . . The richness of Mr. Johns's book lies in the splendid detail he has collected to describe the world of books in the first two centuries after the printing press arrived in England."—Alberto Manguel, Washington Times "[A] mammoth and stimulating account of the place of print in the history of knowledge. . . . Johns has written a tremendously learned primer."—D. Graham Burnett, New Republic "A detailed, engrossing, and genuinely eye-opening account of the formative stages of the print culture. . . . This is scholarship at its best."—Merle Rubin, Christian Science Monitor "The most lucid and persuasive account of the new kind of knowledge produced by print. . . . A work to rank alongside McLuhan."—John Sutherland, The Independent "Entertainingly written. . . . The most comprehensive account available . . . well documented and engaging."—Ian Maclean, Times Literary Supplement

This text takes a detailed look at early modern England and the creative and commercial forces in which print culture was formed (commercial, intellectual, political and individual), including replications of the disputes between authors and printers to political/religious manipulation. This text takes a look at early modern England and the creative and commercial forces in which print culture was formed and its many arenas - commercial, intellectual, political and individual. It includes detailed information on booksellers shops, the Royal Society, paper manufactories and type foundaries. Also featured are replications of the bitter disputes between authors and printers, printers and booksellers and clerics and individuals as they debate and resolve the meaning and rights attached to the creation of ideas, their appearance in written form and then in print, and the opportunity to sell, buy, and read printed work. Focusing on the interplay between the scientific and print revolutions and on their roles, both complementary and antagonistic, the text looks at production and dissemination of knowledge. Print also being used to manipulate those findings for political, religious or idealogical reasons.