The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making

by Johns, Adrian

• ISBN13: 9780226401225
• ISBN10: 0226401227
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

InThe Nature of the Book, a tour de force of cultural history, Adrian Johns constructs an entirely original and vivid picture of print culture and its many arenascommercial, intellectual, political, and individual."A compelling exposition of how authors, printers, booksellers and readers competed for power over the printed page. . . . The richness of Mr. Johns's book lies in the splendid detail he has collected to describe the world of books in the first two centuries after the printing press arrived in England."Alberto Manguel,Washington Times"[A] mammoth and stimulating account of the place of print in the history of knowledge. . . . Johns has written a tremendously learned primer."D. Graham Burnett,New Republic"A detailed, engrossing, and genuinely eye-opening account of the formative stages of the print culture. . . . This is scholarship at its best."Merle Rubin,Christian Science Monitor"The most lucid and persuasive account of the new kind of knowledge produced by print. . . . A work to rank alongside McLuhan."John Sutherland,The Independent"Entertainingly written. . . . The most comprehensive account available . . . well documented and engaging."Ian Maclean,Times Literary Supplement

Author Biography

Adrian Johns is professor in the Department of Sociology and a member of the Science Studies Program at the University of California, San Diego

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
A Note on Conventions	xix
Introduction: The Book of Nature and the Nature of the Book	1	(57)
Literatory Life: The Culture and Credibility of the Printed Book in Early Modern London	58	(129)
``The Advancement of Wholesome Knowledge'': The Politics of Print and the Practices of Propriety	187	(79)
John Streater and the Knights of the Galaxy: Republicanism, Natural Knowledge, and the Politics of Printing	266	(58)
Faust and the Pirates: The Cultural Construction of the Printing Revolution	324	(56)
The Physiology of Reading: Print and the Passions	380	(64)
Piracy and Usurpation: Natural Philosophy in the Restoration	444	(99)
Histories of the Heavens: John Flamsteed, Isaac Newton, and the Historia Coelestis Britannica	543	(79)
Conclusion	622	(19)
Bibliography	641	(68)
Index	709