A New Introduction to Bibliography (Paperback)

by Philip Gaskell (Author)

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Product Description
Ronald B. McKerrow's An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students has been the classic manual on bibliography, showing how the transmission of texts might be affected by the processes of printing, but he concentrated almost exclusively on "Elizabethan" printing - the period from 1560 to 1660. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the textual problems of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and, although McKerrow covered the period up to 1800, he did not describe the technology of the machine-press period. Gaskell incorporates work done since McKerrow's day on the history of the printing technology of the hand-press period, and he breaks new ground by providing a general description of the printing practices of the machine-press period. Little has been previously published about the techniques and routines of nineteenth- and twentieth-century book production, making this book essential to students of literature, scholars, printing historians, librarians, and booklovers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 462 pages
• Publisher: Oak Knoll Press (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884718132
• ISBN-13: 978-1884718137
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #165,343 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly Specialized Tome Not for Everyone, June 7, 2001

By	Fugitive Pope "The universe is a big place . ... (MIssouri 2nd / United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A New Introduction to Bibliography (Hardcover)

Gaskell (as it is known) was the textbook I used at UCLA for an Analytical Bibliography class which was a prerequisite for a class on Handpress Printing. It's not for wimps (UCLA, the Analytical Bib class, OR this work!). Hint: if you don't know what the term "analytical bibliography" means, do not buy this book (exception: if the book is required for your class in Analytical Bibliography!).

Gaskell is an astonishingly thorough one volume overview of almost everything about the transmission of printed text. It consists of only 438 pages, yet manages to cover book production from 1500 to 1950. Included are sections on printing type, composition, paper, imposition, presswork, warehousing, binding, decoration, the American and English book trades, machinery, etc., ad infinitum (it seems). The "Reference Bibliography" following various appendices thoroughly lists the resources to which one would refer for more indepth analysis (e.g., watermark catalogs, surveys of the book industry during historical periods, Stationer's Records ...).

The final section on "Bibliographical Applications" is probably the most complex, and also my favorite part of this work. It gives a fair overview, with examples, of bibliographic description of the kind one would find in an antiquarian bookseller's catalog.

This book is NOT a standalone resource for all aspects of analytical bibliography, though I can't imagine anyone working in this activity starting anywhere OTHER than with Gaskell. The only improvement would be an expansion to a 10 volume encyclopedia on the subject of analytical bibliography.