A History of the Book in America, Volume 1: The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World

A History of the Book in America is a five-volume, interdisciplinary series that offers a collborative history of the book in American culture from the earliest days of European settlement to our own days. Its creation is a principal activity of the American Antiquarian Society. Volume 1, The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World is organized around three major themes: the persisting colonial relationship between European settlements and the Old World; the gradual emergence of a pluralistic book trade that differentiated printers from booksellers; and the transition from a "culture of the Word" to the culture of republicanism. The volume also describes nascent forms of literary and learned culture (including the circulation of manuscripts), literacy and censorship, orality, and the efforts by Europeans to introduce written literacy to Native Americans and African Americans.

"Three major themes run through the volume: the persisting connections between the book trade in the Old World and the New; the gradual emergence of a competitive book trade in which newspapers were the largest form of production; and the institution of a "culture of the World, " organized around an essentially theological understanding of print, authorship, and reading, complemented by other frameworks of meaning that included the culture of republicanism."--BOOK JACKET.