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‘This volume is both original and useful. Whilst each of the essays in and of itself offers new research, the volume taken as a whole is a substantial contribution to book, image, and media history. It deliberately disrupts the idea of a unified field, demonstrating how both books and prints (sometimes combined within the same volume) act as agents between cultures.‘ — Kate Flint, Provost Professor of Art History and English, University of Southern California, USA ‘Rather than ask the old questions, ‘what is a book’ or ‘what is a print’, Stead and her collaborators want to know: what has been the use of this text-bearing object? What does it do? Applying those queries to all manner of media – made, found, used, and re-purposed – this new approach dissolves (and complicates) the distinction between the material and textual aspects of what we read, and encourages methodologies that cross the boundaries of discipline.’ — Leslie Howsam, Emerita Distinguished University Professor, University of Windsor, Canada This book contributes significantly to book, image and media studies from an interdisciplinary, comparative point of view. Its broad perspective spans medieval manuscripts to e-readers. Inventive methodology offers numerous insights into visual, manuscript and print culture: material objects relate to meaning and reading processes; images and texts are examined in varied associations; the symbolic, representational and cultural agency of books and prints is brought forward. An introduction substantiates methods and approaches, ten chapters follow along media lines: from manuscripts to prints, printed books, and e-readers. Eleven contributors from six countries challenge the idea of a unified field, revealing the role of books and prints in transformation and circulation between varying cultural trends, ‘high’ and ‘low’. Mostly Europe-based, the collection offers book and print professionals, academics and graduates, models for future research, imaginatively combining material culture with archival data, cultural and reading theories with historical patterns.

Illustrated books --- History --- Books --- Books-History. --- Civilization-History. --- History of the Book. --- Cultural History. --- Books—History. --- Civilization—History.

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This book is a study of children, their books and their reading experiences in late sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Britain. It argues for the importance of reading to early modern childhood and of childhood to early modern reading cultures by drawing together the fields of childhood studies, early modern literature and the history of reading. Analysing literary representations of children as readers in a range of genres (including ABCs, prayer books, religious narratives, romance, anthologies, school books, drama, translations and autobiography) alongside evidence of the reading experiences of those defined as children in the period, it explores the production of different categories of child readers. Focusing on the ‘good child’ reader, the youth as consumer, ways of reading as a boy and as a girl, and the retrospective recollection of childhood reading, it sheds new light on the ways in which childhood and reading were understood and experienced in the period.

Children --- Children's literature --- Books and reading for children --- Reading interests of children --- Books and reading. --- History and criticism. --- Literature, Modern. --- Books-History. --- British literature. --- Great Britain-History. --- Early Modern/Renaissance Literature. --- History of the Book. --- British and Irish Literature. --- History of Britain and Ireland. --- Modern literature --- Arts, Modern --- Books—History. --- Great Britain—History.

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This book explores the significance of the international book town movement and its impact on contemporary society. It examines how book towns have emerged and how their culture and unique characteristics help to explain a steadily growing phenomenon that has enabled peripheral communities around the world to reclaim their economic futures and impact on the cultural sphere as increasingly powerful sites and sources of creativity. Regenerating Regional Culture assesses why, at a time when the book industry is experiencing a profound transformation, book towns are proliferating in Europe and across the globe. It acknowledges the role of the book as a catalyst for this significant cultural activity and development. The book is shown to be a unique and pivotal item of cultural consumption, a remarkable artefact and, more than ever before, a springboard for contemporary cultural debate. This work investigates how the reanimation of these ‘down-on-their-luck’ towns is attracting, through a combination of nostalgia, history and cultural heritage, a growing middle class cohort who seek both intellectual stimulation and opportunities for serious leisure and wellbeing. This book will prove to be a useful resource for understanding the impacts of book towns on art, culture and society while also offering insightful research for those involved in existing or future development of book towns and other community cultural projects.

Booksellers and bookselling. --- Independent bookstores. --- Bookstores --- Book sales --- Book industries and trade --- Publishers and publishing --- Sociology, Urban. --- Sports-Sociological aspects. --- Books-History. --- Sociology of Culture. --- Urban Studies/Sociology. --- Cultural Management. --- Sociology of Sport and Leisure. --- History of the Book. --- Urban sociology --- Cities and towns --- Culture. --- Management. --- Sports—Sociological aspects. --- Books—History. --- Administration --- Industrial relations --- Organization --- Cultural sociology --- Culture --- Sociology of culture --- Civilization --- Popular culture --- Social aspects

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This book is an exploration of the material conditions of the production of African literature. Drawing on the archives of Heinemann’s African Writers Series, it highlights the procedures, relationships, demands, ideologies, and counterpressures engendered by the publication of three major authors: Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Ngugi wa Thiongo. As a study of the history and techniques of African literary texts, this book advances a theory of reciprocity of effects - what it terms 'auto-heteronomy' - to describe the dynamic of formalist activism by which texts anticipate and shape the forces of literary production in advance. It serves as a departure from the 'death of the author' thesis by reconsidering the role of the author in African literature and culture industry, as well as the influence of African publics on writers’ aesthetic choices, and on the overall processes of production. This work is a major contribution to African literary history, literary criticism, and book history. .

African literature --- History and criticism. --- African literature. --- Africa-History. --- Books-History. --- Literature   . --- Literature, Modern-20th century. --- Fiction. --- African Literature. --- African History. --- History of the Book. --- Postcolonial/World Literature. --- Twentieth-Century Literature. --- Fiction --- Metafiction --- Novellas (Short novels) --- Novels --- Stories --- Literature --- Novelists --- Belles-lettres --- Western literature (Western countries) --- World literature --- Philology --- Authors --- Authorship --- Black literature (African) --- Authors, African --- Philosophy --- Africa—History. --- Books—History. --- Literature, Modern—20th century.

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This book addresses magical ideas and practices in early modern Norway. It examines a large corpus of Norwegian manuscripts from 1650-1850 commonly called Black Books which contained a mixture of recipes on medicine, magic, and art. Ane Ohrvik assesses the Black Books from the vantage point of those who wrote the manuscripts and thus offers an original study of how early modern magical practitioners presented their ideas and saw their practices. The book show how the writers viewed magic and medicine both as practical and sacred art and as knowledge worth protecting through encoding the text. The study of the Black Books illuminates how ordinary people in Norway conceptualized magic as valuable and useful knowledge worth of collecting and saving despite the ongoing witchcraft prosecutions targeting the very same ideas and practices as the books promoted. Medicine, Magic and Art in Early Modern Norway is essential for those looking to advance their studies in magical beliefs and practices in early modern Europe as well as those interested in witchcraft studies, book history, and the history of knowledge.

History. --- Europe --- Civilization --- Social history. --- Books --- Medicine --- Cultural History. --- History of Early Modern Europe. --- History of Medicine. --- Social History. --- History of the Book. --- Descriptive sociology --- Social conditions --- Social history --- History --- Sociology --- Cultural history --- Annals --- Auxiliary sciences of history --- History—1492-. --- Medicine, Magic, mystic, and spagiric. --- Magic --- Magick --- Necromancy --- Sorcery --- Spells --- Occultism --- Magic medicine --- Medicine, Mystic --- Medicine, Occult --- Medicine, Spagiric --- Mystic medicine --- Occult medicine --- Spagiric medicine --- Spagyric medicine --- Alchemy --- Alternative medicine --- Superstition --- Civilization-History. --- Europe-History-1492-. --- Medicine. --- Books-History. --- Clinical sciences --- Medical profession --- Human biology --- Life sciences --- Medical sciences --- Pathology --- Physicians --- Health Workforce --- Civilization—History. --- Europe—History—1492-. --- Medicine—History. --- Books—History.