A History of Reading

by Alberto Manguel (Author)

• New

  Paperback
  1997

  $17.15

  This study of the history of reading goes from the earliest examples of the clay tablets and cuneiform of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt via the invention of printing in the 15th century to the birth of a mass reading public and today's digital revolution. It argues that it is the demands and expectations of the reader, acting alongside the creative will of the writer, that is the evolutionary motor of literary forms and genres. From man's first use of the written word simply as a form of reference, to the emergence of the first holy or devotional texts, and onto the development of fictions, both poetic and novelistic, this work aims to both challenge and enlighten.

• Used

  Paperback
  1996

  $5.84

  As it traces the magical, joyful, and mysterious craft of reading, this book spills over with scandalous tales of book thieves, book burners, censors, and anarchists; of the women of 11th-century Japan, who had to invent their own reading material; of the African American slaves forbidden to read under penalty of death. Replete with over 140 arcane and beautiful illustrations, this witty and ambitious book will delight every reader--from the browser to the bookworm.