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  • Books as History: The Importance of Books Beyond their Texts
  • Mirjam M. Foot
Books as History: The Importance of Books Beyond their Texts. By David Pearson. London: The British Library; New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press. 2008. 208 pp. £25. isbn 978 0 7123 4923 9 (UK); 978 1 58456 233 7 (USA).

There is by now a growing body of literature devoted to the book as a physical object. A number of scholars in France, Britain, the USA, Japan, and to a lesser extent elsewhere on the continent of Europe, have expounded the cultural, historical, and aesthetic value of books, demonstrating that there is a further dimension to books than just as carriers of texts, that the object has its own story to tell and that its physical form provides information over and above that of its content. The format can show us not only how the text was received and what was its impact, but it can also have its influence on the meaning of the text itself and its interpretation.

Books have stirred human emotions, they have sparked unrest, fanned hatred, but have also brought great benefits and elicited love. All this can be reflected in, or demonstrated by, their physical form in its near-endless variety.

David Pearson's Books as History brings these ideas to a wider public. He illustrates a number of aspects of this variety: variety through production as well as variety through the book's subsequent history. The choice of paper (or parchment), typeface, and layout, varieties resulting from the actual process of printing, the presence (or absence) of illustration and decoration, the binding, and the adventures that have befallen the individual copies, shown by notes, associations, additions, and deletions, all demonstrate the theme of this book: that books are interesting and historically significant objects in their own right, a theme important to emphasize in an age when technology is challenging the status and the future of the book as we (still) know it.

Pearson's accessible text and splendid array of wide-ranging and imaginatively chosen examples make his book a joy. The very few infelicities do not detract from the positive impact. The book is well and widely researched, well designed, and beautifully produced. It is a pity that some of the illustrations of bindings have been cut in half by the gutter, but overall the double-page spreads work well.

The expressions and sentiments are those of a librarian, but a librarian who understands the value of the physical object. This book should be required reading for all librarians and information managers; it should be a set text for all library students; and it is a must for all those who read and like books. [End Page 332]

Mirjam M. Foot
Nuthampstead
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