The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe

Fülszöveg

w.
niar nii-reuenck Din imuntinc; maki;? Altliougli tlie importance of tlie advent of printing for tlie Western world lias long l^een recognized, it was Elizabeth Eisenstein, in her nionuniental, two-volinne worl<, 'Ihc l^riiiliiij;; Press as an Aí;ciiI of Clmii,{;c, wiio provided tlie first full-scale treatment of the subject.This illustrated and abridged edition gives a stimulating survey of the communications revolution of the fifteenth century. After summarizing the initial changes introduced by the establishment of printing shops, it goes on to discuss how printing effected three major cultural movements: the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the rise of modern science. Specific examples show how the use of the new presses enabled churchmen, scholars, and craftsmen to move beyond the limits hand copying had imposed and thus to pose new challenges to traditional institutions.
This edition includes a new essay in which Eisenstein discusses numerous recent controversies... Tovább

Fülszöveg

w.
niar nii-reuenck Din imuntinc; maki;? Altliougli tlie importance of tlie advent of printing for tlie Western world lias long l^een recognized, it was Elizabeth Eisenstein, in her nionuniental, two-volinne worl<, 'Ihc l^riiiliiij;; Press as an Aí;ciiI of Clmii,{;c, wiio provided tlie first full-scale treatment of the subject.This illustrated and abridged edition gives a stimulating survey of the communications revolution of the fifteenth century. After summarizing the initial changes introduced by the establishment of printing shops, it goes on to discuss how printing effected three major cultural movements: the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the rise of modern science. Specific examples show how the use of the new presses enabled churchmen, scholars, and craftsmen to move beyond the limits hand copying had imposed and thus to pose new challenges to traditional institutions.
This edition includes a new essay in which Eisenstein discusses numerous recent controversies provoked by the first edition and reaffirms the thesis that the advent of printing entailed a communications revolution. Fully illustrated and annotated, the book argues that the cumulative processes set in motion with the advent of printing are likely to persist despite the recent development of new communications technologies.
From reviews of The Printing Press as an Agent of Change
"This is a good and important book the author's clear and forceful style makes it a pleasure to read." - The New York Review of Books
Elizabeth L. Eisenstein is the Alice Freeman Rilmer Professor of History (Emerita) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author of many book and articles, including The Printing Press as an Agent of Change (Cambridge, 1979) and Grub Street Abroad: Aspects of the Eighteenth Century French Cosmopolitan Press (1992). In 2002, she was awarded the American Historical Association's Award for Scholarly Distinction.
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cover illustration: a printers shop, detail of UNIVERSITY PRESS
an engraving from Nam Rcperla. a series of prints, WWW.Cambridge.org
designed by Vasaris pupil, Stradanus, in the 1580s,
engraved and published by the Antwerp firm of
Galleus. Courtesy of the Prints Division,The New
York Public Library, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.
Cover design by James F. Brisson Vissza