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Reading Matters : Five Centuries of Acquiring Books / George C. Schoolfield.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Schoolfield, George C., Author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Book collectors--Great Britain.
- Book collectors.
- Book collecting--England--History.
- Book collecting.
- Book collectors--England--Biography.
- Private libraries--England--History.
- Private libraries.
- Book collectors--United States.
- Book collecting--United States--History.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (313 p.)
- Place of Publication:
- New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2008]
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- It is easy to forget in our own day of cheap paperbacks and mega-bookstores that, until very recently, books were luxury items. Those who could not afford to buy had to borrow, share, obtain secondhand, inherit, or listen to others reading. This book examines how people acquired and read books from the sixteenth century to the present, focusing on the personal relationships between readers and the volumes they owned. Margaret Willes considers a selection of private and public libraries across the period-most of which have survived-showing the diversity of book owners and borrowers, from country-house aristocrats to modest farmers, from Regency ladies of leisure to working men and women.Exploring the collections of avid readers such as Samuel Pepys, Thomas Jefferson, Sir John Soane, Thomas Bewick, and Denis and Edna Healey, Margaret Willes also investigates the means by which books were sold, lending fascinating insights into the ways booksellers and publishers marketed their wares. For those who are interested in books and reading, and especially those who treasure books, this book and its bounty of illustrations will inform, entertain, and inspire.
- Contents:
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1. Books do furnish a Room: The Books of Bess Hardwick and the Cavendish Family
- Chapter 2. Enjoyment of all that's worth seeking after: The Books of Samuel Pepys
- Chapter 3. Distance Learning: Three Provincial Libraries
- Chapter 4. A Founding Father: The Books pf Thomas Jefferson
- Chapter 5. Building a Library: The Books of Sir John Soane
- Chapter 6. A little Light Reading? Fact and Fiction in Georgian Britain
- Chapter 7. Rare and Curious: The Books of Charles Winn
- Chapter 8. The Common Reader: Books for Working Men and Women
- Chapter 9. Children of the Revolution: The Books of Denis and Edna Healey
- Appendix: Equivalent Values of the Pound
- Notes
- Further Reading
- Index
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)
- ISBN:
- 9780300142365
- 0300142366
- OCLC:
- 953660792
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