Synopses & Reviews
In this much praised history of that momentous process, Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin mesh together economic and technological history, sociology and anthropology, with the study of modes of consciousness to root the development of printing in the changing social relations and ideological struggles of Western Europe.
The Verso World History Series: This series provides attractive new editions of classic works of history, making landmark texts available to a new generation of readers. Covering a timespan stretching from Ancient Greece and Rome to the twentieth century, and with a global geographical range, the series will also include thematic volumes providing insights into such topics as the spread of print cultures and the history of money.
Synopsis
Books, and the printed word more generally, are aspects of modern life that are all too often taken for granted. Yet the emergence of the book was a process of immense historical importance and heralded the dawning of the epoch of modernity. In this much praised history of that process, Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin mesh together economic and technological history, sociology and anthropology, as well as the study of modes of consciousness, to root the development of the printed word in the changing social relations and ideological struggles of Western Europe.
About the Author
Lucien Febvre, who died in 1956, was cofounder of the influential journal
Annales, and is widely recognized as one of the foremost historians of the twentieth century.
Henri-Jean Martin is a distinguished historian of the development of early printing.