The Enlightenment & the book : Scottish authors & their publishers in eighteenth-century Britain, Ireland, & America / / Richard B. Sher

• Autore: Sher Richard B. <1948->
• Pubblicazione: Chicago, : University of Chicago Press, c2006
• Edizione: 1st ed.
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (842 p.)
• Disciplina: 070.50941109/033
• Soggetto topico: English literature - Scottish authors - Publishing; Scottish literature - 18th century - Publishing; Publishers and publishing - Great Britain - History - 18th century; Publishers and publishing - Ireland - History - 18th century; Publishers and publishing - United States - History - 18th century; Authors and publishers - Scotland - History - 18th century; English literature - Scottish authors - Appreciation; Scottish literature - 18th century - Appreciation; Authors, Scottish - Intellectual life - 18th century; Enlightenment - Scotland
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [709]-755) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Composing the Scottish Enlightenment -- Identity and diversity among Scottish authors -- The rewards of authorship -- Forging the London-Edinburgh publishing axis -- The heyday of Scottish Enlightenment publishing -- The achievement of William Creech -- The rise and fall of Irish reprinting -- Making Scottish books in America, 1770-1784 -- A more extensive diffusion of useful knowledge : Philadelphia, 1784-1800.
• Sommario/riassunto: The late eighteenth century witnessed an explosion of intellectual activity in Scotland by such luminaries as David Hume, Adam Smith, Hugh Blair, William Robertson, Adam Ferguson, James Boswell, and Robert Burns. And the books written by these seminal thinkers made a significant mark during their time in almost every field of polite literature and higher learning throughout Britain, Europe, and the Americas. In this magisterial history, Richard B. Sher breaks new ground for our understanding of the Enlightenment and the forgotten role of publishing during that period. The Enlightenment and the Book seeks to remedy the common misperception that such classics as The Wealth of Nations and The Life of Samuel Johnson were written by authors who eyed their publishers as minor functionaries in their profession. To the contrary, Sher shows how the process of bookmaking during the late eighteenth-century involved a deeply complex partnership between authors and their publishers, one in which writers saw the book industry not only as pivotal in the dissemination of their ideas, but also as crucial to their dreams of fame and monetary gain. Similarly, Sher demonstrates that publishers were involved in the project of bookmaking in order to advance human knowledge as well as to accumulate profits. The Enlightenment and the Book explores this tension between creativity and commerce that still exists in scholarly publishing today. Lavishly illustrated and elegantly conceived, it will be must reading for anyone interested in the history of the book or the production and diffusion of Enlightenment thought.
• Altri titoli varianti: Enlightenment and the book
• Titolo autorizzato: The Enlightenment & the book
• ISBN: 1-281-96647-9; 9786611966478; 0-226-75254-2
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9910821840303321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II