| Description |
1 online resource |
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text file |
| Note |
Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph. |
| Contents |
Creating new worlds -- Inventing America in the English book trade -- Creating book trades in English America -- Creating German books in the new world -- Re-creating the London book trade in the United States -- Revolutions in American book production technology -- Transplanting the German book trade to the United States -- The evolution of the American book business -- Becoming a German bookseller in the United States -- Creating a German bookstore in Philadelphia -- The evolution of an American publisher -- Creating an independent American publisher -- Imposing order on the American book trade -- Creating the office of Publishers' weekly -- Celebrating the book trade in the new world -- The end of the beginning -- Inventing the future American book trade. |
| Summary |
Anyone who pays attention to the popular press knows that the new media will soon make books obsolete. But predicting the imminent demise of the book is nothing new. At the beginning of the twentieth century, for example, some critics predicted that the electro-mechanical phonograph would soon make books obsolete. Still, despite the challenges of a century and a half of new media, books remain popular, with Americans purchasing more than eight million books each day. In How Books Came to America, John Hruschka traces the development of the American book trade from the moment of European contact with the Americas, through the growth of regional book trades in the early English colonial cities, to the more or less unified national book trade that emerged after the American Civil War and flourished in the twentieth century. He examines the variety of technological, historical, cultural, political, and personal forces that shaped the American book trade, paying particular attention to the contributions of the German bookseller Frederick Leypoldt and his journal, Publishers Weekly. Unlike many studies of the book business, How Books Came to America is more concerned with business than it is with books. Its focus is on how books are manufactured and sold, rather than how they are written and read. It is, nevertheless, the story of the people who created and influenced the book business in the colonies and the United States. Famous names in the American book trade-Benjamin Franklin, Robert Hoe, the Harpers, Henry Holt, and Melvil Dewey-are joined by more obscure names like Joseph Glover, Conrad Beissel, and the aforementioned Frederick Leypoldt. Together, they made the American book trade the unique commercial institution it is today. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Language |
English. |
| Subject |
Book industries and trade -- United States -- History.
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Book industries and trade. |
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United States. |
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History. |
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Publishers and publishing -- United States -- History.
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Publishers and publishing. |
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Booksellers and bookselling -- United States -- History.
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Booksellers and bookselling. |
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German imprints -- United States -- History.
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German imprints. |
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Book industries and trade -- Germany -- History.
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Germany. |
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Book industries and trade -- Great Britain -- History.
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Great Britain. |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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Electronic books.
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History.
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| Other Form: |
0-271-05081-0 |
| ISBN |
9780271072272 (electronic book) |
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027107227X (electronic book) |
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9780271050812 (alkaline paper) |
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0271050810 (alkaline paper) |
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