The Oxford Companion to the Book

Over a decade in its gestation, The Oxford Companion to the Book is a monumental enterprise in every sense. Suarez and Woudhuysen, director of the Rare Books School at the University of Virginia and a professor of English at University College London respectively, have attempted nothing less than a definitive reference work on “the book” in all its manifestations. As their introduction makes clear, the subject is not just the history of printing and publication, but also the history of the written word itself, including manuscripts and libraries and the editing, collecting and dissemination of books. The scope therefore encompasses...