Bill Bell

Nineteenth-century media and the construction of identities

This collection of research in 19th-century media history represents some salient developments in the field. Taking as its theme the way the media serves to define national, ethnic, professional, gender, and textual identities, the volume addresses serials in the UK, the US, and Australia. High culture rubs shoulders with the popular press, likewise text with image, and feminist periodicals with masculine, gay, and domestic serials.

SYMPOSIUM: WHAT WAS THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK? INTRODUCTION

“‘Histoire du livre’”, remarked Robert Darnton in a much celebrated essay from 1982, “‘Geschichte des Buchwesens’…‘history of books’ or ‘of the book’ in English-speaking countries—its name varies from place to place, but everywhere it is being recognized as an important new discipline”. In the twenty-five years since Darntons original observation book history has if anything continued to flourish. With a number of multi-volume national histories of the book now at various stages of completion, an international infrastructure of research centres, teaching programmes and publishers’ lists, quite clearly something has been happening.

The Edinburgh history of the book in Scotland, volume 3: ambition and industry 1800-1880

Throughout the nineteenth century Scotland was transformed from an agricultural nation on the periphery of Europe to become an industrial force with international significance. A landmark in its field, this volume explores the changes in the Scottish book trade as it moved from a small-scale manufacturing process to a mass-production industry. This book brings together the work of over thirty leading experts to explore a broad range of topics that include production technology, bookselling and distribution, the literary market, reading and libraries, and Scotlands international relations.