Readings From The Works Of Charles Dickens And From Irish And American Authors

Official organ of the book trade of the United Kingdom.

Vols. for 1871-76, 1913-14 include an extra number, The Christmas bookseller, separately paged and not included in the consecutive numbering of the regular series.

Developments in cultural history and literary criticism have suggested alternative ways of addressing the interpretation of reading. How did people read in the past? Where and why did they read? How were the manner and purpose of reading envisaged and recorded by contemporaries - and why? Drawing on fields as diverse as medieval pedagogy, textual bibliography, the history of science, and social and literary history, this collection of fourteen essays highlights both the singularity of personal reading experiences and the cultural conventions involved in reading and its perception. An introductory essay offers an important critical assessment of the various contributions to the development of the subject in recent times. This book constitutes a major addition to our understanding of the history of readers and reading.