Preface; Note on the text; Abbreviations; Part I The conditions of print; 1. The social meaning of print; 2. The prelude to print:the rise of writing; Part 2 The development of print; 3. The coming of print, 1550-1650; 4. The triumph of print, 1650-1700; Part 3. The strategies of reading; 5. Reading for power: institutions and print; 6. Reading for salvation; 7. Reading for profit and pleasure; Appendix -- Book production inseventeenth-century Ireland; Bibliography; Index
Summary
This fascinating and innovative study explores the lives of people living in early modern Ireland through the books and printed ephemera which they bought, borrowed or stole from others. While the importance of books and printing in influencing the outlook of early modern people is well known, recent years have seen significant changes in our understanding of how writing and print shaped lives, and was in turn shaped by those who appropriated the written word. This book draws on this literature to shed light on the changes that took place in this unusual European society. The author finds that
