The First Print Era

The First Print Era examines the rise of print culture during China’s Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127). Bringing together often-overlooked primary sources from the period and scholarship on many individual topics in Song print history, the book offers the first extended narrative in English of how print became entrenched as a sustained mode of textual dissemination in China. While discussing technical innovations and the growth of the print industry, the book focuses on how the rise of print affected several indispensable elements of Song intellectual culture: the expansion of the exam system, the canonization of Tang and earlier models, the rise of antiquarianism and connoisseurship, the birth of Neo-Confucianism as a new intellectual force, the growth of a new literati culture and new forms of literary production and critique, and the development of calligraphy as an art form that could be taught, critiqued, and divided into schools. Overall, the book describes a process by which print publication moved from a highly centralized state enterprise, back to expanded elite use, and eventually towards the popular print markets that would create new forms of expression during the Southern Song and Yuan dynasties. This book will be an essential read for students and scholars of Asian studies, Medieval studies, and those with a focus on print history and Chinese studies.

Print, in the early modern period, could make or break power. This volume addresses one of the most urgent and topical questions in early modern history: how did European authorities use a new medium with such tremendous potential? The eighteen contributors develop new perspectives on the relationship between the rise of print and the changing relationships between subjects and rulers by analysing print’s role in early modern bureaucracy, the techniques of printed propaganda, genres, and strategies of state communication. While print is often still thought of as an emancipating and disruptive force of change in early modern societies, the resulting picture shows how instrumental print was in strengthening existing power structures. Contributors: Renaud Adam, Martin Christ, Jamie Cumby, Arthur der Weduwen, Nora Epstein, Andreas Golob, Helmer Helmers, Jan Hillgärtner, Rindert Jagersma, Justyna Kiliańczyk-Zięba, Nina Lamal, Margaret Meserve, Rachel Midura, Gautier Mingous, Ernesto E. Oyarbide Magaña, Caren Reimann, Chelsea Reutchke, Celyn David Richards, Paolo Sachet, Forrest Strickland, and Ramon Voges.

In The 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 arenas—commercial, 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

This book examines commercial and personal connections in the early modern book trade in Paris and northwestern France, ca. 1450–1550. The book market, commercial trade, and geo-political ties connected the towns of Paris, Caen, Angers, Rennes, and Nantes, making this a fertile area for the transference of different fields of knowledge via book culture. Diane Booton investigates various aspects of book production (typography and illustration), market (publishers and booksellers), and ownership (buyers and annotators) and describes commercial and intellectual dissemination via established pathways, drawing on primary and archival sources.

A thorough rethinking of a field deserves to take a shape that is in itself new. Interacting with Print delivers on this premise, reworking the history of print through a unique effort in authorial collaboration. The book itself is not a typical monograph—rather, it is a “multigraph,” the collective work of twenty-two scholars who together have assembled an alphabetically arranged tour of key concepts for the study of print culture, from Anthologies and Binding to Publicity and Taste. Each entry builds on its term in order to resituate print and book history within a broader media ecology throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The central theme is interactivity, in three senses: people interacting with print; print interacting with the non-print media that it has long been thought, erroneously, to have displaced; and people interacting with each other through print. The resulting book will introduce new energy to the field of print studies and lead to considerable new avenues of investigation.

Introduction origins and reproductions -- Printing feminism -- Locating feminism -- Doing feminism -- Invitations to women's liberation -- Imaging and imagining revolution -- Conclusion feminism redux

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a groundbreaking guide that provided African American travelers with crucial information on safe places to stay, eat, and visit during the era of segregation in the United States. This essential resource, originally published from 1936 to 1966, offered a lifeline to black motorists navigating a deeply divided nation, helping them avoid the dangers and indignities of racism on the road. More than just a travel guide, The Negro Motorist Green Book stands as a powerful symbol of resilience and resistance in the face of oppression, offering a poignant glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of the African American experience in the 20th century.