This unique five volume set provides a comprehensive resource of the most significant published papers on book history in the West starting with the codex and finishing in the 20th century. The editors have carefully selected the best literature from a wealth of relatively inaccessible sources and written substantial introductions which provide an overview of the period. The papers are reproduced in entirety with their original page numbers to aid comprehensive research and accurate referencing. Together the volumes provide an essential compendium for students and scholars of book history

This selection of papers by major scholars introduces students to the history of the book in the West from late Antiquity to the publication of the Gutenberg Bible and the beginning of the print revolution. The collection opens with wide-ranging papers on handwriting and the physical make-up of the book. In the second group of papers the emphasis is on the ’look’ of the book, complemented by a third group dealing with scribes, readers and the availability of books. The editors’ introduction provides an overview of the medieval book.

Beginning with one of the crucial technological breakthroughs of Western history - the development of moveable type by Johann Gutenberg - The History of the Book in the West 1455-1700 covers the period that saw the growth and consolidation of the printed book as a significant feature of Western European culture and society. The volume collects together seventeen key articles, written by leading scholars during the past five decades, that together survey a wide range of topics, such as typography, economics, regulation, bookselling, and reading practices. Books, whether printed or in manuscript, played a major role in the religious, political, and intellectual upheavals of the period, and understanding how books were made, distributed, and encountered provides valuable new insights into the history of Western Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.

The essays in this volume cover the crucial period that saw the growth and consolidation of the printed book as a significant feature of Western European culture and society, following the development of moveable type by Johann Gutenberg. Written by leading scholars during the past five decades, the articles cover topics such as typography, economics, regulation, bookselling, and reading practices.