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Book Value Categories and the Acceptance of Technological Changes in English Book Production

by Simon Rosenberg (Author)
©2020 Thesis 298 Pages
Open Access

Summary

For more than 20 years now, the publishing industry has been highly influenced by innovations in digital technology. This is not the first time that technological changes affect the book trade. Both the printing press and industrialized production methods vitally changed the book industry in their time. With a macroscopic, comparative approach, this book looks at the transitional phases of the book of the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries to locate distinctive patterns in the acceptance of new technologies. Using specific book value categories, which shape the acceptance context of innovations in book production, helps us find continuities and discontinuities of these patterns. It also offers a better understanding of current developments in publishing in the digital age.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Acknowledgement
  • Contents
  • Introduction
  • The Death of the Printed Book?
  • The Book as an Evolutionary Process?
  • The Book
  • Publishing
  • Structure
  • Approach of This Study
  • 1. Basic Concepts: Value and Acceptance
  • 1.1. Value
  • 1.2. Acceptance
  • 1.3. Value and the Book
  • The Value Chain of Publishing
  • 1.4. Book Value Categories
  • Economic Value
  • Content Value
  • Symbolic Value
  • Conclusion
  • 2. The Gutenberg Age
  • 2.1. Context: Introduction of the Printed Book
  • Type Material
  • Paper
  • Printing Process
  • Gutenberg’s B42
  • Incunables as Transitional Books
  • 2.2. Early Printing Presses in England
  • 2.2.1. Preconditions in England
  • Readers
  • Publishing Categories
  • Patronage
  • 2.2.2. William Caxton
  • 2.2.3. Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson
  • Comparing Caxton, de Worde and Pynson
  • 2.2.4. The English Provinces
  • Oxford (1478–1519)
  • Cambridge (1520–1522)
  • St Albans (1479–1486)
  • 2.3. Acceptance of the Printed Book in England
  • 2.4. The Book Value Categories Applied
  • 3. The Industrial Age
  • 3.1. Context: England During the Industrialization
  • 3.1.1. Publication
  • Authors
  • Publisher
  • 3.1.2. Manufacture
  • Printing from Plates
  • Paper
  • Sourcing of Material
  • New Printing Presses
  • 3.1.3. Reception
  • 3.1.4. Distribution
  • Railways
  • Libraries
  • Mudie’s “Select Library”
  • 3.2. Acceptance of Industrialized Book Production
  • 3.3. Book Value Categories Applied
  • 4. The Digital Age
  • 4.1. Context: Introduction of the E-Book
  • 4.2. Publishing in the Digital Age
  • 4.2.1. The Early E-Book-Market
  • 4.2.2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Content
  • Support of Acceptance
  • Hindrances of Acceptance
  • Piracy
  • Price Policy
  • Formats
  • Reading Devices
  • 4.3. Acceptance of the Digital Book
  • 4.4. The Book Value Categories Applied
  • Conclusion
  • Gutenberg Age
  • Industrial Age
  • Digital Age
  • Prognosis?
  • List of Illustrations
  • Bibliography
  • Series index

cover

Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the
internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the
Library of Congress

Zugl.: Münster (Westfalen), Univ., Diss., 2013

About the author

Simon Rosenberg studied English philology, medieval and modern history at the University of Münster, where he also finished his PhD. He was a research and teaching assistant at the Institute for Book Studies & Textual Research and later senior assistant professor at the English Department of the University of Münster, taking over teaching and administrative duties for the chair of book studies.

About the book

For more than 20 years now, the publishing industry has been highly influenced by innovations in digital technology. This is not the first time that technological changes affect the book trade. Both the printing press and industrialized production methods vitally changed the book industry in their time. With a macroscopic, comparative approach, this book looks at the transitional phases of the book of the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries to locate distinctive patterns in the acceptance of new technologies. Using specific book value categories, which shape the acceptance context of innovations in book production, helps us find continuities and discontinuities of these patterns. It also offers a better understanding of current developments in publishing in the digital age.

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Acknowledgement

This book is a revised (and slightly extended) version of my dissertation that was accepted by the Philosophische Fakultät of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in 2013. I am grateful for the support of this publication by the Open Access Publication Fund of the University of Münster.

As Peter Gabriel once said “There are very few books written by a committee, and for a very good reason.” Yet, from the very first ideas all the way to the published physical object, the number of people that helped me with this one is staggering. First and foremost, I would like to thank my first supervisor, Prof. Dr. Gabriele Müller-Oberhäuser, for her continued support, trust and especially for her many, many critical questions that made this book so much better. Prof. Adriaan van der Weel, Leiden University, was very kind to act as my second supervisor and was a crucial support for this publication, especially concerning the last chapter of this book. I would also like to thank Prof. Hermann Josef Real of the Ehrenpreis Centre for Swift Studies and Prof. Bernfried Nugel for, among other things, accepting my book in their series “Münster Monographs on English Literature.”

Colleagues, fellow PhD-students and student assistants from my days at the Institut für Buchwissenschaft & Textforschung and the English Department at the WWU, too many to mention, backed me in all their different ways. (You know who you are.) I would like to thank especially Birgit Hötker-Bolte for being not only a great administrator, but also friend, who never tired of reminding me to finish this book. Further special thanks are in order for Dr. Sandra Simon, who has read huge parts of early drafts of this book (when she was supposed to be writing hers) and steered my work in a better direction.

I would also like to thank my friends who supported my years as a PhD student in the way only friends can. Apart from sharing the ‘occasional’ bottle of red wine, Dr. Kai Elprana in particular offered many hours of conversations about revisions (“How much time do you have?”). His curiosity about this project left him knowing a surprising amount about the fifteenth-century book trade in England. (You’re welcome!)

My proofreaders during the final stages were kind enough to offer quick and vital help on, at times, very short notice. Ellen Barth, M. A., Sue Kummer and especially Erin Kummer, M. A. deserve a special mention. Thank you very much for turning my sometimes-erratic English sentences into decent English. All remaining errors are entirely my own.

Buchwissenschaft ist selten eine Garantie für eine erfolgreiche Karriere, die zum ökonomischen Reichtum führt. Glücklicherweise gab es zwei Menschen, die niemals meine Entscheidung anzweifelten oder mich von meinem Weg abbringen wollten. Ihre Unterstützung war die wesentlichste. Daher möchte ich dieses Buch Barbara und Werner Rosenberg, meinen Eltern, widmen.

Contents

Introduction

The Death of the Printed Book?

The Book as an Evolutionary Process?

The Book

Publishing

Structure

Approach of This Study

1. Basic Concepts: Value and Acceptance

1.1. Value

1.2. Acceptance

1.3. Value and the Book

The Value Chain of Publishing

1.4. Book Value Categories

Economic Value

Content Value

Symbolic Value

Conclusion

2. The Gutenberg Age

2.1. Context: Introduction of the Printed Book

Type Material

Paper

Printing Process

Gutenberg’s B42

Incunables as Transitional Books

2.2. Early Printing Presses in England

2.2.1 Preconditions in England

Readers

Publishing Categories

Patronage

2.2.2 William Caxton

2.2.3 Wynkyn de Worde and Richard Pynson

Comparing Caxton, de Worde and Pynson

2.2.4 The English Provinces

Oxford (1478–1519)

Cambridge (1520–1522)

St Albans (1479–1486)

2.3. Acceptance of the Printed Book in England

2.4. The Book Value Categories Applied

3. The Industrial Age

3.1. Context: England During the Industrialization

3.1.1 Publication

Authors

Publisher

3.1.2 Manufacture

Printing from Plates

Paper

Sourcing of Material

New Printing Presses

3.1.3 Reception

3.1.4 Distribution

Railways

Libraries

Mudie’s “Select Library”

3.2. Acceptance of Industrialized Book Production

3.3. Book Value Categories Applied

4. The Digital Age

4.1. Context: Introduction of the E-Book

4.2. Publishing in the Digital Age

4.2.1 The Early E-Book-Market

4.2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Content

Support of Acceptance

Hindrances of Acceptance

Piracy

Price Policy

Formats

Reading Devices

4.3. Acceptance of the Digital Book

4.4. The Book Value Categories Applied

Conclusion

Gutenberg Age

Industrial Age

Digital Age

Prognosis?

List of Illustrations

Bibliography

Details

Pages
298
Year
2020
ISBN (PDF)
9783631827383
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631827390
ISBN (MOBI)
9783631827406
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783631804261
DOI
10.3726/b17293
Open Access
CC-BY
Language
English
Publication date
2020 (June)
Published
Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2020. 298 pp., 1 fig. col., 3 fig. b/w

Biographical notes

Simon Rosenberg (Author)

Simon Rosenberg studied English philology, medieval and modern history at the University of Münster, where he also finished his PhD. He was a research and teaching assistant at the Institute for Book Studies & Textual Research and later senior assistant professor at the English Department of the University of Münster, taking over teaching and administrative duties for the chair of book studies.

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