Rare Book School
Preliminary Reading List

The History of the Book in America, c. 1700-1830

James N. Green

Preliminary Advices

Required Readings

1. Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut, et al. The Book in America: A History of the Making and Selling of Books in the United States. Rev. ed. (New York: Bowker, 1951). Parts I and II  (pp.1-136).  Not in print, but used copies may be available online.

   If Lehmann-Haupt is not available, or for those who prefer a more up-to-date and detailed survey, the following two volumes are highly recommended.   

   A History of the Book in America, Volume 1: The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World, ed. Hugh Amory & David D. Hall,  (Worcester & Cambridge: American Antiquarian Society & Cambridge University Press, 2000, Reprinted in paper by University  of North Carolina Press). See especially chapters 1 and 3 (by Hugh Amory), chapter 2 (by David Hall), chapters 6 and 8 (by James Green), and chapter 7 (by Calhoun Winton). 
   
   A History of the Book in America, Volume 2: An Extensive Republic: Print, Culture, and Society in the New Nation, ed. Robert A. Gross & Mary Kelley (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010).  See especially Introduction (by Robert Gross), chapter 2 (by James Green).
   

Suggested Readings

Gaskell, Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliography. New Castle DE: Oak Knoll Press, 1995). See especially pp. 5-250.

Joyce, William L., et al., eds. Printing and Society in Early America. (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1983). See especially pp. 48-185. 

Remer, Rosalind, Printers and Men of Capital: Philadelphia Book Publishers and the New Republic. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996).

Silver, Rollo G.  The American Printer, 1787-1825. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1967).

Wroth, Lawrence C.  The Colonial Printer. (Portland: Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1938).