The Literature of the Book: History of the Book

LOGOS 14.4crc64 1/12/04 6:27 PM Page 187

LOGOS The Literature of the Book: History of the book

Beth Luey A genuine and full understanding of any cultural artifact or process demands the perception of, at least, the broad outlines of its historical evolution. This applies particularly to the book – and more narrowly the printed book – which in recent times has been introduced worldwide, making it the central cultural artifact of most of the world’s population. Neither the central cultural role of the Founding director of the Scholarly printed book nor the now highly evolved tech- Publishing Program at Arizona State University, Beth Luey is the author of nologies of bookmaking can be approached in all several books, including Handbook for their richness and complexity by those ignorant of Academic Authors, and is a contributor to their histories. volume 5 of The History of the Book in Some believe that any well-trained operative America. She is the President of the Society can master the setting of type, the manufacture of for the History of Authorship, Reading, and paper, the running of a press, or carry out the enor- Publishing (SHARP) and of the Association mous number of humdrum errands incident to the for Documentary Editing, and is a past routine operations in a publisher’s office, a book- President of the International Association store or a library. Some will even argue that much of for Publishing Education. She has been the the work of authorship can be reduced in today’s Editor of Publishing Research Quarterly and environment to the careful pursuit of well-tested Documentary Editing, and serves on the and successful formulas. These critics are correct editorial board of Book History. Email: [email protected] insofar as the brute facts of getting the job done are concerned. Missing from such assessments is the meaningful and rewarding sense of performing work Richard Abel that is part of a long continuum of culture-making, the coming to see oneself in a long and honorable line of those who by sheer grit and inspired innova- tion produced the technologies we presently employ. Without a broader sense of history, operatives remain cogs in a machine. They fail to learn of and appreciate the giants upon whose shoulders they stand and to take joy in membership in the genera- Dick Abel graduated in Medieval History from tions-long ranks of their peers. Reed College, Portland, Oregon, where he still Our effort has been to draw up a “short list” of lives. After graduate work in the same field at the University of California, he became a books seeking to acquaint readers with the broad bookseller, establishing in 1960 his outlines of the history of the book; with the place eponymous company which is now Blackwell of some of the numerous actors involved in the North America. In the mid-1970s, Abel making, shaping and using of books; and with the became an independent publisher. He now evolution of the technology of bookmaking. We devotes himself to research and writing. He is have drawn up such lists relative to each of the US Editor of LOGOS. seven sections of the book creating/using process

Beth Luey and Richard Abel

from authorship through the various processes the definition of “art” and the consequence of this involved in publishing and selling books to the change in status for readers. long-term preservation of books in libraries, and finally to the point of all these exertions, the BONHAM-CARTER, Victor Authors by Profession reader. The lists contain those titles which, in the 2 volumes, Society of Authors, 1984 editors’ judgment, best offer well-founded accounts The two volumes, covering the beginnings through 1910 and 1911-1981, respectively, describe the detailing the present understanding of the evolu- evolution of professional authorship in England, tion of the historic aspect of each of the sections. including business arrangements, copyright, the The “Publishing” section contains not simply Society of Authors, defamation and other legal and books on the practices of publishing but also more financial matters. general titles devoted to understanding the cultural role of the book. BRODHEAD, Richard H Cultures of Letters: Scenes Perhaps the greatest difficulty we faced in of Reading and Writing in Nineteenth Century America, formulating these lists was elimination. We University of Chicago Press, 1993 acknowledge, with regret, a strong partiality Using a variety of historical sources, Brodhead toward works dealing with Europe and North reconstructs the variety of literary works of the America. We were provided with preliminary lists period, describing the processes by which writers drawn up by members of the “Literature of the became authors, the impact of race and gender, and Book” working group. Probably the most extensive the relationship between authors and readers. was that from Robert Fleck of Oak Knoll Books, derived from OP catalogs issued by his firm. We WEST, James L W III American Authors & the had to choose from hundreds of titles, virtually all Literary Marketplace Since 1900, University of Penn- of which would be of interest to collectors sylvania Press, 1988 concerned with the history of the book. Our West examines literary authorship in the US in the mandate proved to be the reduction of this exten- 20th century, focusing on author/editor relations, sive body of literature to that small number that literary agents, the status of the author, the activi- might best form the contents of a useful profes- ties of publishers and subsidiary rights markets, as sional library. To realize this objective, all manner well as the impact of economic and legal concerns of books which are iconic or major references/texts on authors’ work. for the historian had to be omitted. Any aficionado WATTS, Ian The Rise of the Novel, Penguin, 1963 of book history will immediately discover the A standard account of the history of fictional writ- absence of many old print friends. One of the ings from the metamorphosis of storytelling into the editors sought to include several of these old stan- new, more acceptable form of the “art” of writing dards but the other correctly argued such titles had styled the novel. no place in a bibliography of this kind. As a solace, the latter gratefully agreed to the inclusion of 2. Editing Moxon’s Mechanik Exercises. For the rest, this is BERG, A Scott Max Perkins: Editor of Genius, very much a working bibliography meant to convey Dutton, 1978 the broad outlines of book history for working book This biography of the Scribner editor who worked people. with such authors as F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Erskine 1.Authorship Caldwell is based in part on the extensive correspon- BELL-VILLADA, Gene H Art for Art’s Sake: How dence between Perkins and many of these authors, Politics and Markets Shaped the Ideology & Culture of some of which has since been published. Aestheticism, 1790-1990, University of Nebraska Press, 1996 KLINE, Mary-Jo A Guide to Documentary Editing, A detailed account of radical change in the defini- 2/e, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998 tion and assessment of art from the formalisms of In addition to providing guidance to editors of the preceding eras and the romantic period, with a historical documents and literary texts, Kline particular focus on the inclusion of writing within reviews the history of scholarly editing in the US.