The Book-Makers

March 1, 2024
Fascinating stories about books and the people who made them. Smyth, a professor of English literature and history, nimbly traverses more than five centuries as he illuminates some influential men and women in the bookmaking trade. The author begins in 1490s London with the savvy Dutchman Wynkyn de Worde, who published more than 800 titles, roughly 15% of "the entire known printed output in England before 1550." Smyth explores the meticulous and demanding art of bookbinding via William Wildgoose and his work on Shakespeare's First Folio, sold off by the Bodleian Library after the Third was published. Throughout this interesting narrative, Smyth drops countless bookish tidbits--e.g., in 1634, two sisters cut up Bibles and glued pieces into a large collage, Gospel Harmony, which told the chronological story of Christ's life. The author also examines typography and its unique language, focusing on the 18th-century work of John Baskerville and the lesser-known Sarah Eaves, who married him and "released his imagination." After an inky visit to the "colonial autodidact" Benjamin Franklin, who read books as he printed them, Smyth turns to paper and the man who revolutionized paper making with his "continuous paper" machine in 1798 (sadly, he was never financially rewarded). Readers will also learn about the popular art of "extra-illustration," radical book modification akin to Gospel Harmony. In 1860, the "Smaug-like" Mudie's circulating library, with its rented books, "revolutionised reading"--but you couldn't check out George Moore's scandalous A Modern Lover. At William Morris' Kelmscott Press (founded in 1891), limited-edition books were works of art. The controversial, exotic Nancy Cunard published Beckett's first poem in 1930 at her Hours Press amid a flowering of small presses, including Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press. Smyth closes with zines, DIY publishing, boxed sets, and artists' books. Bibliophiles will savor this sprightly walk down the book's memory lane.

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April 1, 2024
Books have shaped the course of history, profoundly so since the invention of movable type in the fifteenth century. Although books are themselves fascinating objects, Oxford professor Smyth finds the people associated with them to be even more worthy of attention. Printer Wynkyn de Worde produced volumes of poetry in London's Fleet Street. Smyth follows de Worde with the story of binder William Wildgoose. By the time Benjamin Franklin appeared with his almanacs, printers had turned to more ephemeral, much more profitable items, from lottery tickets to paper money. Nicolas Robert mechanized paper production to great economy. In the nineteenth century, Charles Mudie inaugurated a circulating library that offered contemporary literature as well as the classics for modest fees. In the following century, Nancy Cunard became notorious for publishing books that offended just about everyone. Today, bookstores find themselves under siege, but zines and do-it-yourself printed texts that challenge narrow definitions of what a book is find eager audiences. By focusing on personalities over objects, Smyth infuses his history of books and printing with engaging human portraits. His use of present tense propels his prose, making books old and new gloriously, vibrantly alive for all readers, not just booksellers and librarians.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from May 1, 2024

This lively and enlightening history of books and the people who made them is packed with fascinating people and facts and buttressed by a flood of informative illustrations scattered across the text and in folio. The discussion starts with the late 15th-century successor to William Caxton, Wynkyn deWorde, who was innovative both in what he published and how he did it. Across 40 years, his press published more than 800 titles, accounting for about 15 percent of the known printing output in England prior to 1550. Smyth's book ends with an introduction to self-published zines and Nancy Cunard's avant-garde Hours Press, which was responsible for the first separately published work by Samuel Beckett, "Whoroscope," in 1930. Throughout this volume, Smyth (English literature and book history, Univ. of Oxford; editor, Oxford Handbook of the History of the Book in Early Modern England) conveys just how fluid book text and format has been and still is. VERDICT A must for book lovers. Give to fans of Christopher de Hamel's The Manuscripts Club. --David Keymer

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2024

Smyth (English literature and book history, Univ. of Oxford; Material Texts in Early Modern England) offers a diverting history of books and the people who made them. The author narrates his own work, allowing his love for his subject to shine through as he animatedly discusses the bookmakers' innovative spirits and devotion to their craft. His book begins in 1492 London with Dutchman Wynkyn de Worde, who published more than 800 titles, accounting for a whopping 15 percent of England's known printed output before 1550. From there, Smyth explores the work of 17 additional artisans, including skilled bookbinder William Wildgoose, typographers John Baskerville and Sarah Eaves, sisters Anna and Mary Collett, who created a new biblical narrative through collaging with printed Bibles, and Nancy Cunard, a pioneering small publisher who printed Samuel Beckett's Whoroscope in 1930. While he references developments in Asia and the Middle East, Smyth's history focuses primarily on bookmakers in England and the United States. Nearly half of the individuals Smyth profiles are women who made groundbreaking, if often overlooked contributions to the field. VERDICT This energetic, deeply researched history of bookmakers is a delight. Book lovers everywhere will want to check this out.--Sarah Hashimoto

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.