As we rely increasingly on digital resources, and libraries discard large parts of their older collections, what is our responsibility to preserve 'old books' for the future? David McKitterick's lively and wide-ranging study explores how old books have been represented and interpreted from the eighteenth century to the present day. Conservation of these texts has taken many forms, from early methods of counterfeiting, imitation and rebinding to modern practices of microfilming, digitisation and photography. Using a comprehensive range of examples, McKitterick reveals these practices and their effects to address wider questions surrounding the value of printed books, both in terms of their content and their status as historical objects. Creating a link between historical approaches and the technologies of the future, this book furthers our understanding of old books and their significance in a world of emerging digital technology.
• Examines changes in attitudes to old books since the seventeenth century, setting current debates about digital reproduction in their historical context • Makes use of a wide range of examples from Britain and western Europe to show how and when our attitudes towards old books have changed • Focuses especially on the second half of the nineteenth century to explore how a reading public for old books developed
Contents
1. The past in pixels; 2. Restoration and invention; 3. Conservation, counterfeiting and bookbinding; 4. Representation and imitation; 5. From copying to facsimile; 6. The arrival of photography; 7. Public exhibition; 8. The Caxton exhibition of 1877; 9. A bibliographical and public revolution; 10. Conclusion.
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