History of Books 1/26/15 10:03 PM Definitions • THE PRINTING REVOLUTION- theory that states that the introduction of every new technology changes society • ORAL CULTURE- culture where speech transmits info more than writing • PRINT CULTURE- culture where print transmits info predominantly • Led by age of enlightenment • Ideas can be transported • Facts can be validated • BOOKS- less timely medium; bound and covered; consecutive from beginning to end; made to last longer than other print media, not heavily supported by advertising; will sell less copies over time than total viewers of a television show once; very powerful medium Graphic Symbols • MEDIUM- intervening message for an audience • CAVE PAINTINGS- earliest ideas represented • MNEMONIC DEVICES- memory stimulators • INFO STORAGE- writing preserves ideas • INFO EXCHANGE- accurately recovers ideas from those who record them • STANDARDIZATION- language made from rules to be interpreted • IDEOGRAPHIC OR PICTOGRAPHIC WRITING- associated whole thoughts through pictures in a standardized way [hieroglyphics] • PHONOGRAM- representing sounds using a graphic symbol [English alphabet with 26 letters; still considered one of human’s greatest achievements; fast advance] Where Did We Write? • PAPYRUS- reed used for early paper [early Egypt, Greeks used it as scrolls] • PARCHMENT- animal skins [extremely durable and still exists] • CODEX- parchment cut and bound [Romans in early AD; first to resemble todays books] • WOODCUTS- carved wooden block pressed onto rice paper [Asian contribution adopted by Europe] Three (Four) Transitions• Books as scrolls • Rolled up documents (portable) • Books with bound pages • Manu-scripti; hand written and paper • Printed books (Johannes Gutenberg) • Moveable type; rearranged letters • Digital Books in America • Colonial publishers o Came to America seeking to express ideas and make money (freedom) o First press set up in Cambridge, Massachusetts o 1640 the first book was published in New England (the whole book of Psalms) • Colonial books • CHAPBOOK- inexpensive paperback with entertaining stories [first library-1731 in Philly] [Industrial Revolution changed books] Early Paperbacks • DIME OR PULP NOVELS- inexpensive fiction printed on cheap paper made from wood pulp • MASS-MARKET PAPERBACKS- introduced in 1939; within most people’s
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