1hotbook.com

Books and a Changing World

By: Admin , From any resources

Introduction

The history of the book presents us with a complete, observable communications revolution. By following the developments in manuscript and print book production, tied to the changes in the technologies used to produce those texts, we can also chart the various changes in social organization, politics and economics from the feudalism of the 7th century, through to the advent and advance of early capitalism in the 15th century.

The implications of the printed word are vast. There are those who argue that Martin Luther and the Protestant revolution could not have taken place if it were not for the printing press. While this is not entirely valid, the press and the already wide distribution of books and other printed matter in Luther’s time certainly added to the distribution of his ideas and work. In order to understand the effect of printing in the 15th century, you have to go back to the 7th century and see how the book world was organized prior to the advent of printing. Then you can see what changed along with the introduction of printing.

Febvre and Martin contend that society in Europe changed during the Renaissance because of a secularization of learning that occurred with the growth of the university. They date the important changes from the 13th century.

Four Important Periods in the History of the Book

I. 7th to 13th Century: The age of religious “manuscript” book production. Books in this period are entirely constructed by hand, and are largely religious texts whose creation is meant as an act of worship.

II. 13th to 15th Century: The secularization of book production. Books are beginning to be produced that do not serve as objects of worship, but that try to explain something about the observable world. The difficulty with the spread of such knowledge is that production is still taking place via pre-print - manuscript - methods.

The production of secular books is driven by two things:

1. The rise of universities in Europe, spreading from Italy.
2. The return of the crusaders in the 13th century, who bring with them texts from Byzantium. These books, written during the Greek and Roman periods in history, focus on this-world concerns.

III. 15th to 16th Century: The first printed books. These are print versions of traditional works like the Bible, books of hours (prayer books) and the religious calendars.

IV. 16th to 17th Century: New information is put into books that has important consequences for European life and society.