A History of the Book in America: Volume I: The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World (History of the Book in America (University of NC)) [Paperback]

Hugh Amory (Editor), David D. Hall (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807858269 | ISBN-13: 978-0807858264 | Publication Date: April 16, 2007

Volume 1, The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World carries the interrelated stories of publishing, writing, and reading from the beginning of the colonial period in America up to 1790. Three major themes run through the volume: the persisting connections between the book trade in the Old World and the New, evidenced in modes of intellectual and cultural exchange and the dominance of imported, chiefly English books; the gradual emergence of a competitive book trade in which newspapers were the largest form of production; and the institution of a "culture of the Word," organized around an essentially theological understanding of print, authorship, and reading, complemented by other frameworks of meaning that included the culture of republicanism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A model of scholarly publication and institutional cooperation. . . . A timely achievement and a great one. . . . Without university presses, we would still be waiting for HBA."
-Journal of Scholarly Publishing

"What the History of the Book series shows so clearly is that the world we know, the communities to which we already belong, are reified and reinforced by books. Such is the incredible and incredibly flexible power of this primitive technology. Behold the book: It is limited but perfect."
-Humanities magazine

"An interesting and enlightening series [that] provides an in-depth examination of the production and dissemination of the printed word in Colonial America."
— American Reference Books Annual

A masterpiece of scholarship.

Roger Chartier, The William and Mary Quarterly

Simply put, The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World is the best formal synthesis we have on the topic.

Early American Literature

[S]tudents of colonial American literature will find this volume an indispensable aid to their research in a myriad of ways.

American Literature

From the Inside Flap

This first volume of the five-volume series on the history of the book in America carries the interrelated stories of publishing, writing, and reading from the beginning of the colonial period in America up to 1790. Three major themes run through the volume: the persisting connections between the book trade in the Old World and the New; the gradual emergence of a competitive book trade in which newspapers were the largest form of production; and the institution of a "culture of the Word," organized around an essentially theological understanding of print, authorship, and reading. The volume also traces the histories of literary and learned culture, censorship and "freedom of the press," and literacy and orality.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 664 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (April 16, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807858269
• ISBN-13: 978-0807858264
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,389 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)