The Book on the Bookshelf.

Petroski, H.

ISBN 10: 0375406492 / ISBN 13: 9780375406492

Published by Alfred A. Knopf : Distributed by Random House, New York, first edition, 1999, 1999

About this Item

Two-tone paper-covered boards, 8vo, 25 cm, x, 290, [2] pp, over 60 ills. From the blurb - ".Petroski turns to the subject of books and bookshelves, and wonders whether it was inevitable that books would come to be arranged vertically as they are today on horizontal shelves. As we learn how the ancient scroll became the codex became the volume we are used to, we explore the ways in which the housing of books evolved. Petroski takes us into the pre-Gutenberg world, where books were so scarce they were chained to lecterns for security. He explains how the printing press not only changed the way books were made and shelved, but also increased their availability and transformed book readers into book owners and collectors. He shows us that for a time books were shelved with their spines in, and it was not until after the arrival of the modern bookcase that the spines faced out. In delightful digressions, Petroski lets Seneca have his say on 'the evils of book collecting'; examines the famed collection of Samuel Pepys (only three thousand titles: old discarded to make room for new); and discusses bookselling, book buying, and book collecting through the centuries. Richly illustrated and wonderfully written, this is the ultimate book on the book: how it came to be and how we have come to keep it." Name on front free endpaper, otherwise Very Good in Very Good dustwrapper.

Seller Inventory # ABE-59449

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Book on the Bookshelf.
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf : Distributed by Random House, New York, first edition, 1999
• Publication Date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0375406492
• ISBN 13: 9780375406492
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Books About Books

About this title

Synopsis

Tracing the evolution of the book and its companion, the bookshelf, an intriguing study ranges from the scrolls of antiquity to the modern-day volume, explaining how the art of book storage evolved, and discusses such topics as libraries, bookselling, book collection, and book buying throughout history. 25,000 first printing. Tour.

About the Author

Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and Professor of History at Duke University, where he also serves as chairman of the department of civil and environmental engineering.  Before moving to Duke in 1980, he was on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin and on the staff of Argonne National Laboratory.

His books include: To Engineer is Human, which he also adapted for a BBC-television documentary; The Pencil; The Evolution of Useful Things; Design Paradigms; Engineers of Dreams; Invention by Design; and Remaking the World. He also writes the engineering column in American Scientist, and lectures widely.

Henry Petroski has been a Guggenheim Fellow