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Book Cover
E-book
Author Maclean, Ian, 1945-

Title Scholarship, commerce, religion : the learned book in the age of confessions, 1560-1630 / Ian Maclean
Published Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012

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Description 1 online resource (xiv, 380 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents Setting the scene -- In medias res: a literary agent in Frankfurt, 1606-1615 -- Authors, fields, and genres -- Labor, impensa, emolumentum: the publisher of learned books -- Controlling the market: temporal and ecclesiastical authorities -- Sellers and purchasers: markets, distribution and collection-building -- The rise and fall of the learned book market, 1560-1630 -- Postscript: then and now
Summary "A decade ago in the Times Literary Supplement, Roderick Conway Morris claimed that "almost everything that was going to happen in book publishing--from pocket books, instant books and pirated books, to the concept of author's copyright, company mergers, and remainders--occurred during the early days of printing." Ian Maclean's colorful survey of the flourishing learned book trade of the late Renaissance brings this assertion to life. The story he tells covers most of Europe, with Frankfurt and its Fair as the hub of intellectual exchanges among scholars and of commercial dealings among publishers. The three major religious confessions jostled for position there, and this rivalry affected nearly all aspects of learning. Few scholars were exempt from religious or financial pressures. Maclean's chosen example is the literary agent and representative of international Calvinism, Melchior Goldast von Haiminsfeld, whose activities included opportunistic involvement in the political disputes of the day. Maclean surveys the predicament of underfunded authors, the activities of greedy publishing entrepreneurs, the fitful interventions of regimes of censorship and licensing, and the struggles faced by sellers and buyers to achieve their ends in an increasingly overheated market. The story ends with an account of the dramatic decline of the scholarly book trade in the 1620s, and the connivance of humanist scholars in the values of the commercial world through which they aspired to international recognition. Their fate invites comparison with today's writers of learned books, as they too come to terms with new technologies and changing academic environments."--Publisher's website
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes In English
Print version record
Subject Scholarly publishing -- Europe -- History -- 16th century
Scholarly publishing -- Europe -- History -- 17th century
Book industries and trade -- Europe -- History -- 16th century
Book industries and trade -- Europe -- History -- 17th century
Communication in learning and scholarship -- Europe -- History -- 16th century
Communication in learning and scholarship -- Europe -- History -- 17th century
LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES -- Publishing.
Book industries and trade
Communication in learning and scholarship
Scholarly publishing
Europe
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2011041320
ISBN 9780674068728
0674068726
9780674065321
0674065328