Reading nation in the romantic period
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007
- xxix, 765 p. ; ill., facsims, 23 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
During the four centuries when printed paper was the only means by which texts could be carried across time and distance, everyone engaged in politics, education, religion, and literature believed that reading helped to shape the minds, opinions, attitudes, and ultimately the actions, of readers." "William St. Clair investigates how the national culture can be understood through a quantitative study of the books that were actually read. Centred on the romantic period in the English-speaking world, but ranging across the whole print era, he reaches startling conclusions about the forces that determined how ideas were carried, through print, into wider society.
9780521699440
England Intellectual life Books Industry Trade England History Books and reading Social aspects History England History Criticism interpretation English literature History and criticism Literature and society Print era Book prices Print runs Intellectual property Readerships Booksellers Libraries Manuscript Novels Readers Romantic period Volumes Writing English literature Reacting societies