Books and the Sciences in History

This book, published in 2000, examines the intersection between science and books from early medieval times to the nineteenth century.

Marina Frasca-Spada (Edited by), Nick Jardine (Edited by)

9780521659390, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 November 2000

456 pages, 89 b/w illus.
24.8 x 17.6 x 2.4 cm, 0.72 kg

'… timely … builds on distinguished studies in book history … a substantial, innovative and stimulating assessment … wide ranging, challenging and always thoughtful … Books and the Sciences in History is an authoritative, learned, and thoroughly readable analysis that surely marks a milestone in the way we approach our subject.' Medical History

The history of the sciences and the history of the book are complementary, and there has been much recent innovative research in the intersection of these lively fields. This accessibly-written, well-illustrated volume, published in 2000, was the first systematic general work to do justice to the fruits of recent scholarship. The twenty specially-commissioned chapters, by an international cast of distinguished scholars, cover the period from the Carolingian renaissance of learning to the mid nineteenth-century consolidation of science. They examine all aspects of the authorship, production, distribution, and reception of manuscripts, books and journals in the various sciences. An editorial introduction surveys the many profitable interactions of the history of the sciences with the history of books. Two afterwords highlight the relevances of this wide-ranging survey to the study of the development of scientific disciplines and to the predicaments of scientific communication in the electronic age.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: books and sciences Marina Frasca-Spada and Nick Jardine
Part I. Triumphs of the Book: 1. Books and sciences before print Rosamond McKitterick
2. Printing the world Jerry Brotton
3. Geniture collections, origins and uses of a genre Anthony Grafton
4. Annotating and indexing natural philosophy Ann Blair
5. Illustrating nature Sachiko Kusukawa
6. Astronomical books and courtly communication Adam Mosley
7. Reading for the philosophers' stone Lauren Kassell
8. Writing and talking of exotic animals Silvia De Renzi
Part II. Learned and Conversable Reading: 9. Compendious footnotes Marina Frasca-Spada
10. On the bureaucratic plots of the research library William Clark
11. Encyclopaedic knowledge Richard Yeo
12. Periodical literature Thomas Broman
13. Natural philosophy for fashionable readers Mary Terrall
14. Rococo readings of the book of nature Emma Spary
15. Young readers and the sciences Aileen Fyfe
16. The physiology of reading Adrian Johns
Part III. Publication in the Age of Science: 17. A textbook revolution Jonathan Topham
18. Useful knowledge for export Eugenia Roldàn Vera
19. Editing a hero of modern science Lisa Jardine and Alan Stewart
20. Progress in print James Secord
Afterwords: Books, texts, and the making of knowledge Nick Jardine
The past, present, and future of the scientific book Adrian Johns
Notes on contributors.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], European history [HBJD]