The Enlightenment and the Book: Scottish Authors and Their Publishers in Eighteenth-Century Britain, Ireland, and America [Hardcover]

Richard B. Sher (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226752526 | ISBN-13: 978-0226752525 | Publication Date: February 1, 2007

The late eighteenth century witnessed an explosion of intellectual activity in Scotland by such luminaries as David Hume, Adam Smith, Hugh Blair, William Robertson, Adam Ferguson, James Boswell, and Robert Burns. And the books written by these seminal thinkers made a significant mark during their time in almost every field of polite literature and higher learning throughout Britain, Europe, and the Americas. 

In this magisterial history, Richard B. Sher breaks new ground for our understanding of the Enlightenment and the forgotten role of publishing during that period. The Enlightenment and the Book seeks to remedy the common misperception that such classics as The Wealth of Nations and The Life of Samuel Johnson were written by authors who eyed their publishers as minor functionaries in their profession. To the contrary, Sher shows how the process of bookmaking during the late eighteenth-century involved a deeply complex partnership between authors and their publishers, one in which writers saw the book industry not only as pivotal in the dissemination of their ideas, but also as crucial to their dreams of fame and monetary gain. Similarly, Sher demonstrates that publishers were involved in the project of bookmaking in order to advance human knowledge as well as to accumulate profits. 

The Enlightenment and the Book explores this tension between creativity and commerce that still exists in scholarly publishing today. Lavishly illustrated and elegantly conceived, it will be must reading for anyone interested in the history of the book or the production and diffusion of Enlightenment thought.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The Enlightenment and the Book is the missing link in the history of publishing. It connects the traditions of Britain and America and explains how the people and practices of the book trade shaped the very culture of intellectual tolerance that defined the Enlightenment. This is a remarkable achievement of social and intellectual history that will become a classic.”Curiosity: A Cultural History of Early Modern Inquiry>

(Barbara Benedict )

“This is a pioneering work that constitutes a really important contribution to book history and Enlightenment studies.”

(Elizabeth Eisenstein )

“Sher provides a richly detailed map of the Scottish Enlightenment’s progress across the Atlantic, using book history as a navigational tool. Historians of the book in America will find here a wealth of new information and a fresh transatlantic perspective on the development of book publishing in the late eighteenth century.”Benjamin Franklin, Writer and Printer>

(James N. Green )

“This account transforms our understanding of book-making in the Enlightenment. Sher offers an important re-examination of the processes of publication, fundamentally revising the history of author-bookseller relations in eighteenth-century Britain.”The Business of Books: Booksellers and the English Book Trade 1450–1850> (James Raven )

“Richard Sher’s The Enlightenment and the Book is not just an indispensible research tool for anyone interested in the Scottish Enlightenment, but a rich, wide-ranging and beautifully researched study of how Scottish ideas spread throughout the Anglophone world.”—John Brewer, author of A Sentimental Murder: Love and Madness in the Eighteenth Century (John Brewer )

"In 1757, when philosopher David Hume boasted that the Scots were "the People most distinguish''d for Literature in Europe," he was undoubtedly pitching it a bit strong. But as Sher notes in his conclusion to this mammoth and definitive work, "less than fifty years later that boast had considerably more merit than most contemporaries might have thought possible when it was first uttered." At its core, this is a painstaking investigation of how Scotland became a wellspring of Enlightenment books, an achievement Sher argues came about through the efforts of authors and publishers who shared and benefited from a complex and symbiotic relationship. The book is divided into three parts, with Part 1 focusing on the authors of Scottish Enlightenment books (e.g., John Gregory, Adam Smith), Part 2 looking at the principal publishers of these works in London and Edinburgh (e.g., Andrew Millar, William Strahan), and Part 3 examining the reprinting of these works by publishers in Dublin and Philadelphia. An appendix features seven tables that organize the data on the people and works discussed throughout. This extraordinary work of scholarship is essential for all research libraries."

(Library Journal )

"A major achievement."--Times Literary Supplement

(Times Literary Supplement )

"Richard Sher''s study of Edinburgh Enlightenment books is the most valuable work I have read in over a decade, and my specialty is not eighteenth-century Scotland. . . . I found it a compelling story, superbly organized and illustrated. . . .With heart, vision, and art, this tome fundamentally embodies the patriotic and enlightened campaign for Scottish learning that it celebrates."—James E. May, Eighteenth-Century Scotland

(James E. May Eighteenth-Century Scotland )

"This is an exceptional piece of work. It is both an astonishing accumulation of informative detail and a multiplicity of lively interconnected narratives of authors, books, booksellers, printers and other subjects. It is a very useful reference book, with its nearly 150 pages of tables and bibliographies; it is also an engaging and stimulating read."—Antonia Forster, Review of English Studies

(Antonia Forster Review of English Studies )

"The Enlightenment and the Book triumphantly unites the study of authors with the study of texts, and forges a better understanding of the relationship between those who wrote books and those who sold them. . . . A compelling, immensely studious, and thought-provoking testament to the best that the history of the book is now able to offer."—David Allan, Library

(David Allan Library )

"A work of great interest not only to those who study this period of Scottish history or literature, but also to anyone who has an abiding interest in the history of the book or bookmaking in general."  

(Michael G. Cornelius Bloomsbury Review )

"Sher has sunk a deep shaft down into an extremely dense pile of sources, and his work will no doubt serve as a reference point for historians of print culture and reading practices for years to come. . . . It raises the bar to a new level for scholars of eighteenth-century Scottish thought who are serious about the cultural history of ideas and who prefer specific examples over brushstroke theorizing."—M. D. Eddy, Isis

(M. D. Eddy Isis )

"Discerningly illustrated, at once scholarly and accessible, this is an essential addition not only to 18th-century studies but also to the history of the book."—Atlantic

(Atlantic )

"Sher brings to bear an enormous wealth of learning gained through years of painstaking archival research. It is a remarkable achievement which should become required reading for eighteenth-century British cultural and social historians."—Bob Harris, H-Net Reviews

(Bob Harris H-Net Reviews )

"Reading the fruits of Sher''s labour . . . is a wonderfully pleasurable--and wholly enlightening--experience. Wearing his erudition lightly, Sher not only writes in attractively accessible, and often alliterative prose, but he also displays a keen eye for the telling vignette."

(Clare Jackson Canadian Journal of History )

"There is no question that this is an authoritative and rich account of the ways in which the Scottish publishing industry both arose from and helped disseminate internationally the core values of the Enlightenment. . . . This book is a remarkable feat of scholarship, and scholars will find in it a wealth of historical information and reference material. And, at the same time, Sher presents a compelling reassessment of the relationship between book history and the production of both national and cosmopolitan (and often transatlantic) exchanges."—Tilar J. Mazzeo, American Historical Review

(Tilar J. Mazzeo American Historical Review )

"Book history is well served by this study, which has methodological as well as substantive claims to make. . . . This long-awaited and massive study will be consilted somewhat selectively by many, but it is nonetheless an important book."

(Roger L. Emerson Eifghteenth-Century Life )

"A powerful, challenging and comprehensive study. . . . It is unquestionably a landmark contribution that will shape discussions of the Enlightenment, book history and Scottish intellectual advances for years to come."—Christopher Flint, SHARP News

(Christopher Flint SHARP News )

"A monumental achievement"—Evan Gottlieb, Eighteenth-Century Studies

(Evan Gottlieb Eighteenth-Century Studies )

"This elegant study . . . transforms our understanding of eighteenth-century book making. It brilliantly succeeds as a fusion of the history of ideologies with the history of the material circumstances of textual production."—James Raven, The Book Collector

(James Raven The Book Collector )

About the Author

Richard B. Sher is Distinguished Professor of History at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is the author of Church and University in the Scottish Enlightenment: The Moderate Literati of Edinburgh.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 842 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (February 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226752526
• ISBN-13: 978-0226752525
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,683,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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