Hardback : $41.91
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 one will inform, entertain, and inspire.
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 one will inform, entertain, and inspire.
Margaret Willes was Publisher for the National Trust, where she began its own imprint, in addition to writing and producing illustrated books. She lives in London.
. . . enchanting and delightful. . . . Willes s diligent and
skillful research in a wide range of archives is demonstrated on
every page. . . . [C]aptivating; it is at once both instructive and
entertaining. Anyone who loves books and their history will love
Reading Matters. Peter H./i>
--Peter H. Reid "Library and Information History ""
"A handsome, richly illustrated ramble through the history of book
buying. . . . This is a charming book, full of digressions
biographical and historical nuggets abound but it is also clearly
the fruit of a remarkable range and depth of research." Peter
Walpole, Virginia Quarterly Review
--Peter Walpole"Virginia Quarterly Review" (03/01/2009)"
." . . enchanting and delightful. . . . Willes's diligent and
skillful research in a wide range of archives is demonstrated on
every page. . . . [C]aptivating; it is at once both instructive and
entertaining. Anyone who loves books and their history will love
Reading Matters." -- Peter H./i>
--Peter H. Reid "Library and Information History "
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