The work of print : authorship and the English text trades, 1660-1760 / Lisa Maruca.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maruca, Lisa.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Literary conjugations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Book industries and trade--England--History--17th century.

Book industries and trade.

Book industries and trade--England--History--18th century.

Authorship--History--17th century.

Authorship.

Authorship--History--18th century.

Authors and publishers--England--History--17th century.

Authors and publishers.

Authors and publishers--England--History--18th century.

History.

England.

Physical Description:

viii, 227 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2007]

Summary:

The Work of Print traces a shift in the very definition of literature, from one that encompasses the material conditions of the production and distribution of books to the more familiar emphasis on the solitary author's ownership of an abstract text. Printers' manuals, tracts on typography, legal documents, and booksellers' autobiographies reveal that in the seventeenth century, print workers conceived of their roles as central to the production of literature. Maruca's insightful readings of these documents alongside traditional works of fiction and authors' correspondence show that the claims of print-workers and booksellers were part of a struggle for ownership and control as the concept of author as proprietor of his or her intellectual property began to take hold in the mid-1700s, gradually eclipsing print workers' contributions to the process of textual creation.

Encompassing the histories of literature, labor, technology, publishing, and gender, The Work of Print ultimately offers significant insights into the ideology of authorship and intellectual property and our understanding of textuality and print in the digital age.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Printing Production Values 3

2 Printers' Manuals and the Bodies of Type 28

3 Citizen, Hero, or Midwife? Re-presenting the Bookseller 60

4 From Authorized Print to Authoritative Author: The Regulated Trade 91

5 The Printer as Author: Samuel Richardson, Intellectual Property, and the Feminine Text 127

6 The Ghost in the Machine: Invisible Print in a Digital Age 158.

Notes:

"A Robert B. Heilman book."

Includes bibliographical references (pages [211]-221) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780295987446

0295987448

9780295987576

029598757X

OCLC:

123955023