The Anatomy of Bibliomania

The Anatomy of Bibliomania PDF Author: Holbrook Jackson
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252070433
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 676

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Book Description
Inspects the allure of books, their curative and restorative properties, and the passion for them that leads to bibliomania. This title comments on why we read, where we read - on journeys, at mealtimes, on the toilet (this has 'a long but mostly unrecorded history'), in bed, and in prison - and what happens to us when we read.

The Anatomy of Bibliomania

The Anatomy of Bibliomania PDF Author: Holbrook Jackson
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252070433
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 676

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Book Description
Inspects the allure of books, their curative and restorative properties, and the passion for them that leads to bibliomania. This title comments on why we read, where we read - on journeys, at mealtimes, on the toilet (this has 'a long but mostly unrecorded history'), in bed, and in prison - and what happens to us when we read.

The Anatomy Of Bibliomania

The Anatomy Of Bibliomania PDF Author: Holbrook Jackson
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781015437654
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Theories of Reading

Theories of Reading PDF Author: Karin Littau
Publisher: Polity
ISBN: 0745616593
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
Why do literary theorists see reading as an act of dispassionate textual analysis and meaning production, when historical evidence shows that readers have often read excessively, obsessively, and for sensory stimulation? Posing these and other questions, this is the first major work to bring insights from book history to bear on literary history and theory. In so doing, the book charts a compelling and innovative history of theories of reading. While literary theorists have greatly contributed to our understanding of the text-reader relation, they have rarely taken into account that the relation between a book and a reader is also a relation between two bodies: one made of paper and ink, the other flesh and blood. This is why, Karin Littau argues, we need to look beyond the words on the page, and pay attention to the technical innovations in the physical format of the book. Only then is it possible to understand more fully how media technology has changed our experience of reading, and why media history presents a challenge to our conceptions of what reading is. Each chapter places the reader in specific disciplinary and historical contexts: literature, criticism, philosophy, cultural history, bibliography, film, new media. Overall, the history recounted in this book points to a split between modern literary study which regards reading as a reducibly mental activity, and a tradition reaching back to antiquity which assumed that reading was not only about sense-making but also about sensation. Theories of Reading: Books, Bodies and Bibliomania will be essential reading for all students and scholars of literary theory and history as well as of great interest to students of the history of the book and new media.

The Fear of Books

The Fear of Books PDF Author: Holbrook Jackson
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252070402
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Examines the violence, destruction, and suppression that have hounded books throughout their history and the fears that lead to such treachery. This book identifies three deeply seated fears: fear of insurrection, fear of blasphemy, and fear of pornography.

Dark Archives

Dark Archives PDF Author: Megan Rosenbloom
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374717427
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
On bookshelves around the world, surrounded by ordinary books bound in paper and leather, rest other volumes of a distinctly strange and grisly sort: those bound in human skin. Would you know one if you held it in your hand? In Dark Archives, Megan Rosenbloom seeks out the historic and scientific truths behind anthropodermic bibliopegy—the practice of binding books in this most intimate covering. Dozens of such books live on in the world’s most famous libraries and museums. Dark Archives exhumes their origins and brings to life the doctors, murderers, and indigents whose lives are sewn together in this disquieting collection. Along the way, Rosenbloom tells the story of how her team of scientists, curators, and librarians test rumored anthropodermic books, untangling the myths around their creation and reckoning with the ethics of their custodianship. A librarian and journalist, Rosenbloom is a member of The Order of the Good Death and a cofounder of their Death Salon, a community that encourages conversations, scholarship, and art about mortality and mourning. In Dark Archives—captivating and macabre in all the right ways—she has crafted a narrative that is equal parts detective work, academic intrigue, history, and medical curiosity: a book as rare and thrilling as its subject.

A Word A Day

A Word A Day PDF Author: Anu Garg
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1118039688
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
"Anu Garg's many readers await their A Word A Day rations hungrily. Now at last here's a feast for them and other verbivores. Eat up!" -Barbara Wallraff Senior Editor at The Atlantic Monthly and author of Word Court Praise for A Word a Day "AWADies will be familiar with Anu Garg's refreshing approach to words: words are fun and they have fascinating histories. The people who use them have curious stories to tell too, and this collection incorporates some of the correspondence received by the editors at the AWAD site, from advice on how to outsmart your opponent in a duel (or even a truel) to a cluster of your favorite mondegreens." -John Simpson, Chief Editor, Oxford English Dictionary "A banquet of words! Feast and be nourished!" -Richard Lederer, author of The Miracle of Language Written by the founder of the wildly popular A Word A Day Web site (www.wordsmith.org), this collection of unusual, obscure, and exotic English words will delight writers, scholars, crossword puzzlers, and word buffs of every ilk. The words are grouped in intriguing categories that range from "Portmanteaux" to "Words That Make the Spell-Checker Ineffective." each entry includes a concise definition, etymology, and usage example-and many feature fascinating and hilarious commentaries by A Word A Day subscribers and the authors.

Ex Libris

Ex Libris PDF Author: Anne Fadiman
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780374527228
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
A collection of essays discusses the central and joyful importance of books and reading in the author's life.

Printer's Error

Printer's Error PDF Author: J. P. Romney
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062412337
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
A funny and entertaining history of printed books as told through absurd moments in the lives of authors and printers, collected by television’s favorite rare-book expert from HISTORY’s hit series Pawn Stars. Since the Gutenberg Bible first went on sale in 1455, printing has been viewed as one of the highest achievements of human innovation. But the march of progress hasn’t been smooth; downright bizarre is more like it. Printer’s Error chronicles some of the strangest and most humorous episodes in the history of Western printing, and makes clear that we’ve succeeded despite ourselves. Rare-book expert Rebecca Romney and author J. P. Romney take us from monasteries and museums to auction houses and libraries to introduce curious episodes in the history of print that have had a profound impact on our world. Take, for example, the Gutenberg Bible. While the book is regarded as the first printed work in the Western world, Gutenberg’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on it. Today, Johannes Gutenberg is recognized as the father of Western printing. But for the first few hundred years after the invention of the printing press, no one knew who printed the first book. This long-standing mystery took researchers down a labyrinth of ancient archives and libraries, and unearthed surprising details, such as the fact that Gutenberg’s financier sued him, repossessed his printing equipment, and started his own printing business afterward. Eventually the first printed book was tracked to the library of Cardinal Mazarin in France, and Gutenberg’s forty-two-line Bible was finally credited to him, thus ensuring Gutenberg’s name would be remembered by middle-school students worldwide. Like the works of Sarah Vowell, John Hodgman, and Ken Jennings, Printer’s Error is a rollicking ride through the annals of time and the printed word.

Biblioholism

Biblioholism PDF Author: Tom Raabe
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781555912406
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Have you ever ... Awakened, the morning after a book-buying spree, unable to remember how many books you bought or how much you spent? Been reprimanded or fired for reading on the job? Had to sit down with your family to discuss your book-buying and reading habits? You are not alone. Your complete recovery awaits you--just buy one more book!

Page Fright

Page Fright PDF Author: Harry Bruce
Publisher: Douglas Gibson Books
ISBN: 1551993171
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
A witty round-up of writers' habits that includes all the big names, such as Dickens, Flaubert, Tolstoy, Hemingway At public events readers always ask writers how they write. The process fascinates them. Now they have a very witty book that ranges around the world and throughout history to answer their questions. All the great writers are here — Dickens, dashing off his work; Henry James dictating it; Flaubert shouting each word aloud in the garden; Hemingway at work in cafés with his pencil. But pencil or pen, trusty typewriter or computer, they all have their advocates. Not to mention the writers who can only keep the words flowing by writing naked, or while walking or listening to music — and generally obeying the most bizarre superstitions. On Shakespeare’s works: “Fantastic. And it was all done with a feather!” — Sam Goldwyn “I write nude, seated on a thick towel, and perhaps with a second towel around me.” — Paul West “I’ve never heard of anyone getting plumber’s block, or traffic cop’s block.” — Allan Gurganus “I’m a drinker with a writing problem.” — Brendan Behan