The English Library: Sources and History

by Raymond Irwin

Overview

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 20^th 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 15^th Century and its expansion among people of all classes in the 18^th and 19^th centuries are discussed in detail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032161730
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/13/2021
Series:	Raymond Irwin on the English Library
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Raymond Irwin directed the University College London School of Library, Archive and Information Studies from 1945 until 1969.

Table of 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.