The Book-Makers: Book review
For someone who is passionate/nerdy about the history of books, The Book-Makers: Book review is for you!
Adam Smyth not only knows his stuff on the subject of bibliography (being Professor of English Literature and the History of the Book at Balliol College, Oxford but he prints books as well. Who better to guide us through 550 years of the printed book, using eighteen curious characters as examples?
The details are intriguing: Why the paper in Baskerville’s Virgil is as glossy as silk. Why two sisters cutting up bibles was an act of devotion. How one man began a ‘circulating’ library which changed a nation’s attitudes to reading and writing. The concept of ‘extra-illustration’. How books are ‘temporal bridges’ linking us to the past….Such a rich niche seam to mine.
Naturally, I was drawn to the ‘Binding’ chapter, and enjoyed the insights into Seventeenth century bookbinding.
If you’re a reader, a maker, a writer, an artist, this is a book to absorb, entertain and illuminate.
The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in 18 Remarkable Lives by Adam Smyth, is published by The Bodley Head.
Buy your copy from Golden Hare Books and receive 10% off with this code bookbinderbookreview39 which is valid until 16th September 2024. This link has the discount already applied when you check out!
You always find the most fantastic books to tell us about! Thank you so much! And thank you for your blog. Just reading it brings a sense of peace from the island.
Aw Jakki, That’s great to hear….ha ha someone’s got to keep a look out for the best books about books. Sending best and bookiest from Iona as ever, Rachel
Will look this up :-)
Really enjoyed “The Dictionary of Lost Words” by Pip Williams. Although an historical fiction there is a lot of true information of the making of books in oxford in the late 1800’s early 1900’s. . The Bookbinder is another one of her books. Easy reads.
Cheers
Suzanne