History of Books and Printing
The New York Public Library has a world renowned collection of physical artifacts documenting the historical development of written forms of communication. While the General Research Division has a long standing tradition of collecting supporting material in the book arts that traces the evolution of the book and its production, the Division also concerns itself with the material that describes the intellectual, economic, and cultural impact of this evolution on the surrounding society. At present, the format and transmission of text is in the greatest period of flux since the invention of movable type and printing. At the same time, the study of the history of books is achieving legitimacy as a multi-disciplinary scholarly pursuit. The following guide will attempt to provide direction to the appropriate source material within the Division.
If you need further assistance, visit our reference desk, or e-mail us at generalresearch@nypl.org.
Using the Library’s Catalogs
General instructions for locating materials are given in the Research Guide, How Do I Find a Book?. The following information is specific to the topic at hand.
In the Dictionary Catalog, the basic subject headings for the history of books and printing are:
- Authors
Authors and Publishers
Bibliography--History
Book Design
Book Industries
Bookbinding
Books
Books--Decoration
Books--History
Books and Reading
Booksellers and Book Trade
Illumination of Books and Manuscripts
Illustration of Books
Incunabula
Manuscripts
Printers
Printing
Printing--History
Printing Trades
Publishers and Publishing
Reading
Those for CATNYP include:
- Authors and Publishers
Authors and Readers
Authorship-History
Bibliography-History
Book Industries and Trade--History
Books and Reading--History
Illumination of Boooks and Manuscripts
Libraries-History
Literacy-History
Literature Publishing-History
Literature and Society-History
Manuscripts-History
Printing-History
Publishers and Publishing- History
Scriptoria-History
Writing-History
In the Dictionary Catalog most terms provide cross references to more specific subject headings. Additional subject headings for CATNYP can be found by using the Library of Congress Subject Headings, which provides related, broader, and narrower terms.
NB: All works listed in this bibliography that have call numbers beginning with *R, *RB, *RR, or *RS are found in the Main Reading Rooms. See also Research Guide, "How to Find Periodicals."
Bibliographical Description of Books
Bowers, Fredson Thayer, Principles of Bibliographical Description (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1949; Winchester, Hampshire: St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1986). JFE 92-4711.
Carter, John, ABC for Book Collectors, Sixth Edition (London; New York: Granada Publishing, 1972). Public Catalog Desk.
Gaskell, Philip, A New Introduction to Bibliography (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1974). *R-*GAC 73-6468.
Kenneison, W.C., and A.J.B. Spilman, Dictionary of Printing, Papermaking and Bookbinding (London: George Newnes Limited, 1963). *R-*I.
General Surveys
Dahl, Svend, History of the Book (New York: Scarecrow Press, 1958). *R-*IPE.
McMurtrie, Douglas Crawford, The Book: The Story of Printing and Bookmaking (New York: Covici Friede, 1937). *R-*IPE.
Steinberg, Sigfrid Henry, Five Hundred Years of Printing (Harmondsworth, Eng.; Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1974). JFC 75-2161.
Vervliet, Hendrik D.L., The Book Through Five Thou-sand Years: A Survey by Fernand Baudin and Others (London; New York: Phaidon, 1972). JFG 86-5.
Bibliographies
ABHB: Annual Bibliography of the History of the Printed Book and Libraries (vol. 1- ) (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973- ). *RS-*I 75-376.
A Bibliography of the History of Printing in the Library of Congress (Springwater, NY: Horace Hart, 1987-1990). JFF 90-2101.
A Bibliography of Printing, With Notes and Illustrations, E.C. Bigmore and C.W.H. Wyman, compilers (London: Quaritch, 1880-86; Reprint, New York: P.C. Duschnes, 1945, 2v.). *RS-*IP 1945.
Brenni, Vito Joseph, The Art and History of Book Printing: A Topical Bibliography (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984). *RS-*I 85-56.
The British Book Trade From Caxton to the Present Day: A Bibliographical Guide, Robin Myers, ed. (London: Deutsch, 1973). *RS-*IIE 74-2582.
Columbia University Libraries, The History of Printing From Its Beginnings to 1930; The Subject Catalogue of the American Type Founders Company Library in the Columbia University Libraries (Millwood, NY: Kraus International Publications, 1980). Public Catalog Desk.
The Invention of Printing: A Bibliography, Douglas C. McMurtrie, ed. (Chicago: Chicago Club of Printing House Craftsmen, 1942). *RS-*IPF 75-2996.
Needs and Opportunities in the History of the Book: America, 1639-1876, David D. Hall and John B. Hench, eds., (Worchester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 1987). JFE 87-2098.
Schreyer, Alice D., The History of Books: A Guide to Selected Resources in the Library of Congress (Washington: Center for the Book, The Library, 1987). JFF 87-1418.
Winckler, Paul A., History of Books and Printing: A Guide to Information Sources (Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1979). JFD 80-6491.
Antiquity: Alphabets, Writing Systems, Writing Materials
Diringer, David, The Alphabet; A Key to the History of Mankind (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1968). *R-RAH 85-3.
Diringer, David, The Hand Produced Book (New York: Philosophical Library, 1953). *RR-*I.
Gaur, Albertine, A History of Writing, revised edition (London: British Library, 1992). *R-*IC 92-18728.
Healey, John F., The Early Alphabet (London: British Museum Publications, 1990). JFF 91-804.
Jensen, Hans, Sign, Symbol and Script: An Account of Man's Efforts to Write (New York: Putnam, 1969). F-11 7042.
The Origins of Writing, Wayne M. Senner, ed. (Lincoln, NB; London: University of Nebraska Press, 1989). *R-*IC 90-4457.
Reading the Past: Ancient Writing from Cuneiform to the Alphabet (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990). *R-*IC 91-4099.
Thompson, James Westfall, Ancient Libraries (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1962, c1940). *RR-*H or C-12 4275.
Ullman, B.L., Ancient Writing and Its Influence (London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1932). *RR-*IC.
Medieval Period: The Codex and Manuscript Production
Alexander, Jonathan, Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993). JFF 93-1645.
Bologna, Guila, Illuminated Manuscripts: The Book Before Gutenberg (New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988). JFG 89-187.
Buhler, Curt Ferdinand, The Fifteenth Century Book: The Scribes, The Printers, The Decorators (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1960). E-11 1664.
Calkins, Robert G., Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983). JFF 84-171.
De Hamel, Christopher, A History of Illuminated Manuscripts (Oxford: Phaidon, 1986). 8-*ISGE 86-3106.
Diringer, David, The Illuminated Book: Its History and Production (London: Faber and Faber, 1958). *RR-*ISM.
Harthan, John P., Books of Hours and Their Owners (Freiberg: Herder, 1982, c1977). JFG 86-32.
Putnam, George, Books and Their Makers in the Middle Ages (New York: Hillary House Publishers, Ltd., 1962). *RR-*IIE.
Roberts, Colin H., and T.C. Skeat, The Birth of the Codex (London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1987). JFE 88-6087.
Art of the Book
Avrin, Leila, Scribes, Script, and Books: The Book Arts From Antiquity to the Renaissance (Chicago: American Library Association; London: The British Library, 1991). *RR-*I 92-10692.
Bland, David, A History of Book Illustration: The Illuminated Manuscript and the Printed Book (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969). *R-*IS 75-5031.
Brassington, W. Salt, A History of the Art of Bookbinding (New York: Macmillan and Co.; London: Elliot Stock, 1894). *R-*ITE.
Brenni, Vito Joseph, Book Illustration and Decoration: A Guide to Research (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980). *RS-*IS 83-810.
Diehl, Edith, Bookbinding: Its Background and Technique (New York: Rinehart, 1946). *RR-*ITR.
Gascoigne, Bamber, How to Identify Prints: A Complete Guide to Manual and Mechanical Processes From Woodcut to Inkjet (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1986). Desk MDI 87-2309; available in the Print Room, Room 308. Request a pass in Room 316.
Harthan, John P., A History of the Illustrated Book: The Western Tradition (London: Thames and Hudson, 1981). JFG 83-117.
McMurtrie, Douglas C., The Golden Book: The Story of Fine Books and Book Making, Past and Present (Chicago: Pascal Covici, 1927). JFE 91-9376.
Needham, Paul, Twelve Centuries of Bookbindings, 400-1600 (New York: Pierpont Morgan Library: Oxford University Press, 1979). JFG 84-2.
Slythe, R. Margaret, The Art of Illustration 1750-1900 (London: The Library Association, 1970). *R-*IS 75-3083.
Invention and Spread of Printing
Berry, William Turner, and Herbert Edmund Poole, Annals of Printing: A Chronological Encyclopaedia from the Earliest Times to 1950 (London: Blandford Press, 1966). *RR-*IPE.
Bouchot, Henri Francois Xavier Marie, The Book: Its Printers, Illustrators and Binders From Gutenberg to the Present Time (London: H. Grevel, 1890; Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1971). *R-*I 74-3917.
Carter, Thomas Francis, The Invention of Printing in China and Its Spread Westward (New York: Columbia University Press, 1925). JFE 87-3111.
Clair, Colin, A History of European Printing (London; New York: Academic Press, 1976). *R-*IPE 78-1727.
Doyle, Anthony Ian, et al., Manuscript to Print: Tradition and Innovation in the Renaissance Book (Durham: University of Durham Library, 1975). JFG 76-262.
Haebler, Konrad, The Study of Incunabula (New York: Grolier Club, 1933; New York: Kraus Reprint Corp., 1967). *R-*IPF 75-5435.
Peddie, Robert Alexander, Fifteenth-Century Books: A Guide to Their Identification (New York: Burt Franklin, 1969). *R-*GBK 76-1312.
Updike, Daniel Berkley, Printing Types, Their History, Forms and Use: A Study in Survival (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1962). *RR-*IPV.
Publishing and Bookselling
Anderson, Patricia, and Jonathan Rose, eds., British Literary Publishing Houses (Detroit: Gale Research, 1991). Dictionary of Literary Biography, vols. 106 and 112. *R-AB 79-1061.
Dzwonkoski, Peter, ed., American Literary Publishing Houses (Detroit: Gale Research, 1986). Dictionary of Literary Biography, vols. 46 and 49. *R-AB 79-1061.
Feather, John, A History of British Publishing (London; New York; Sydney: Crown Helm, 1988). *R-*IIE 88-1593.
Mumby, Frank Arthur and Ian Norrie, Publishing and Bookselling, 5th Edition (London: Jonathan Cape, 1974). *R-*IIE 74-5171.
Plant, Marjorie, The English Book Trade, 3rd Edition (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1974). *R-*IIE 75-4041.
Books and Society
Allen, James Smith, In the Public Eye: A History of Reading in Modern France, 1800-1940 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991). JFE 91-8582.
Bennett, H.S., English Books and Readers, 1475-1557; 1558-1603; 1603-1640 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 1969; 1965; 1970). *R-*IPH.
Books and Society in History: Papers of the Association of College and Research Libraries Rare Books and Manuscripts Preconference, 24-28 June, 1980, Boston, Massachusetts, Kenneth E. Carpenter, ed. (New York: R.R. Bowker, 1983). JFE 84-850.
Court, Franklin E., Institutionalizing English Literature: The Culture and Politics of Literary Study, 1750-1900 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1992). JFD 92-15286.
The Culture of Print: Power and the Uses of Print in Early Modern Europe, Alain Boureau...(et al.); edited by Roger Chartier; translated by Lydia G. Cochrane (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1989). JFE 90-673.
Eisenstein, Elizabeth L., The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979). *R-*IPF 90-11810 or JFE 79-1250.
Eisenstein, Elizabeth L., The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983). JFF 84-505.
Febrve, Lucien Paul Victor, The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450-1800 (London: N.L.B., 1976). *R-*IPE 77-4917.
Harthan, John P., Books of Hours and Their Owners (London: Thames & Hudson, 1977). 8-*ISGK 78-4370.
Hirsch, Rudolf, Printing, Selling and Reading, 1450-1550 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1967). F-11 4233.
Histoire de l'Edition Francaise, Henri-Jean Martin et Roger Chartier, eds. (Paris: Promodis, 1983- ), Tome 1-4. *R-*IPI 89-2146.
Kaufman, Paul, Libraries and Their Users: Collected Papers in Library History (London: Library Association, 1969). D-19 8780.
McKenzie, D.F., Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts (London: British Library, 1986). JFD 87-5381.
Printing and the Mind of Man, John Carter and Percy H. Muir, comps. and eds. (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1967). *R-*GBO+ 72-1315.
Printing the Written Book: The Social History of Books, Circa 1450-1520, Sandra Hindman, ed. (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1991). *R-*IPF 92-8932.
Reynolds, L.D., and N.G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature (Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1991). JFD 91-5135.
The Uses of Literacy in Early Medieval Europe, Rosamund McKitterick, ed. (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990). JFE 90-7599.
Vincent, David, Literacy and Popular Culture: England, 1750-1914 (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989). JFE 92-5142.
Wieck, Roger S., Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life (New York: George Brazieller, in association with the Walters Art Gallery, 1988). JFF 88-1368.
The Book in the United States
Blumenthal, Joseph, The Printed Book in America (Boston: D.R. Godine, 1977). *R-*IPG 79-1250.
Brenni, Vito Joseph, Book Printing in Britain and America: A Guide to the Literature and a Directory of Printers (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983). *RS-*IP 84-475.
Kaestle, Carl F., et al., Literacy in the United States: Readers and Reading Since 1880 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991). JFE 91-4599.
Lehmann-Haut, Hellmutt, et al., The Book in America: A History of the Making and Selling of Books in the United States (New York: Bowker, 1952). *R-*IIE 75-1942.
Printing and Society in Early America, William L. Joyce, ed. (Worchester, MA: American Antiquarian Association, 1983). JFE 83-2874.
Tanselle, G. Thomas, Guide to the Study of United States Imprints (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1971). *RS-*IP 74-1915.
Tebbel, John, A History of Book Publishing in the United States (New York: Bowker, 1972- ). *R-*IIE 75-1084.
Wentz, Robby, Western Printing: A Selective and Descriptive Bibliography of Books and Other Materials on the History of Printing in the Western United States 1822-1975 (Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop, 1975). *RS-*IPG 76-2617.
Winterich, John T., Early American Books and Printing (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, Riverside Press, 1935). *R-*IPG 92-10873.
Zboray, Ronald J., A Fictive People: Antebellum Economic Development and the American Reading Public (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). JFE 93-2197.