Full Description
Originally published in 1966, this book studied the background against which libraries in England have developed since classical times and the part they played in the formation of 20th Century bibliographic culture and bibliomania. Part 1 discusses the power of the written book in antiquity and follows the story from Greek and Roman times to Roman Britain and through Saxon and Medieval England to the Reformation. Part 2 traces the history of the Englishman's study and his domestic library from its beginning to Victorian days and reveals how intimately it is related to our literature and culture. The spread of the art of reading in the 15th Century and its expansion among people of all classes in the 18th and 19th centuries are discussed in detail.
Contents
Part 1 1. Introduction 2. Callimachus and the Alexandrian Library 3. The Byzantine Age 4. Seneca 5. In Roman Britain 6. In Saxon Britain 67 Colonnade and Cloister 8. The Dispersal 8. Physical Handicaps 10. Gabriel Naudé and the Problems of Mass Production Part 2: The English Domestic Library 11. The Beginnings 12. From Sir Thomas More to Samuel Pepys 12. From Samuel Pepys to Dr. Johnson 13. The Infectious Habit 19. The Nineteenth Century.
