Ganot's and Atkinson's skills as teachers, readers and writers were crucial for the design of their textbooks. Their physics, however, was the result of a collaborative project resulting from the interaction between science pedagogy and printing practices. The purpose of this chapter is two-fold. Firstly, I will analyse the material qualities of Ganot's textbooks, and establish how they potentially prescribed the communication of Ganot's physique. Secondly, I will characterize Ganot's physique by analysing the structure, order and narrative of his textbooks, in the framework of major themes in the historiography of nineteenth-century physics. In the conclusion, I will show how the study of the interaction between form and meaning helps us to a better understanding of nineteenth-century physics as disciplinary knowledge.

The making of Ganot's textbooks in France and England was a business that involved many actors. It was only through the interaction of the author, printer, draughtsman engraver and bookseller that Ganot's textbooks were created. Next to them was an equally important and large group of professionals – printing technicians and book trade workers – in charge of the wide range of tasks leading to the production of a textbook and its marketing. Ganot's textbooks were considered outstanding, not only for their pedagogical arrangement, their contents and their language, but also for their mise en page, their paper, typography, illustrations and size.