The Enlightenment & the book : Scottish authors & their publishers in eighteenth-century Britain, Ireland, & America / Richard B. Sher.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sher, Richard B., 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Scottish authors--Publishing.

English literature.

Scottish literature--18th century--Publishing.

Scottish literature.

Publishers and publishing--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Publishers and publishing.

Publishers and publishing--Ireland--History--18th century.

Publishers and publishing--United States--History--18th century.

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

Authors and publishers.

English literature--Scottish authors--Appreciation.

Scottish literature--18th century--Appreciation.

Authors, Scottish--Intellectual life--18th century.

Authors, Scottish.

Enlightenment--Scotland.

Enlightenment.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (842 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Enlightenment and the book

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The late eighteenth century witnessed an explosion of intellectual activity in Scotland by such luminaries as David Hume, Adam Smith, Hugh Blair, William Robertson, Adam Ferguson, James Boswell, and Robert Burns. And the books written by these seminal thinkers made a significant mark during their time in almost every field of polite literature and higher learning throughout Britain, Europe, and the Americas. In this magisterial history, Richard B. Sher breaks new ground for our understanding of the Enlightenment and the forgotten role of publishing during that period. The Enlightenment and the Book seeks to remedy the common misperception that such classics as The Wealth of Nations and The Life of Samuel Johnson were written by authors who eyed their publishers as minor functionaries in their profession. To the contrary, Sher shows how the process of bookmaking during the late eighteenth-century involved a deeply complex partnership between authors and their publishers, one in which writers saw the book industry not only as pivotal in the dissemination of their ideas, but also as crucial to their dreams of fame and monetary gain. Similarly, Sher demonstrates that publishers were involved in the project of bookmaking in order to advance human knowledge as well as to accumulate profits. The Enlightenment and the Book explores this tension between creativity and commerce that still exists in scholarly publishing today. Lavishly illustrated and elegantly conceived, it will be must reading for anyone interested in the history of the book or the production and diffusion of Enlightenment thought.

Contents:

Composing the Scottish Enlightenment

Identity and diversity among Scottish authors

The rewards of authorship

Forging the London-Edinburgh publishing axis

The heyday of Scottish Enlightenment publishing

The achievement of William Creech

The rise and fall of Irish reprinting

Making Scottish books in America, 1770-1784

A more extensive diffusion of useful knowledge : Philadelphia, 1784-1800.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [709]-755) and index.

ISBN:

9786611966478

9781281966476

1281966479

9780226752549

0226752542

OCLC:

476229474