Rare Book School
Preliminary Reading List

Printed Books since 1800: Description & Analysis

Preliminary Advices

Required Reading:

1. Gaskell, Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliography. Winchester & New Castle, DE: St. Paul’s Bibliographies & Oak Knoll Press, 1995. Read especially pp. 189-310 on “Book Production: The Machine-Press Period, 1800-1950.”
2. John Carter. ABC for Book Collectors. 8th edition revised by Nicolas Barker. Oak Knoll, 2004. An essential guide to book vocabulary.

Suggested Reading:

• Michael Twyman. The British Library Guide to Printing: History and Techniques. British Library, 1998; University of Toronto Press, 1999. For those seeking a good, short introduction to the longer history of books, leading up to and including the post-1800 period, this is a very useful and readable summary.
• David Finkelstein & Alistair McCleery, eds. An Introduction to Book History. New York: Routledge, 2005. This gathering of seminal articles covering various aspects of book history provides good introductory overview of the larger theoretical field of the history of the book.
• Rick Gekoski. Nabokov’s Butterfly & Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2004. A collection of entertaining stories by a bookseller about selling great literary books. Originally published in London under the title ‘Tolkien's Gown’ & Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books.