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Charting the “Rise of the West”: Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2009

Eltjo Buringh  and
Jan Luiten Van Zanden
Eltjo Buringh*
Affiliation:
Postdoctoral Student, Utrecht University, Drift 10, 3512 BS Utrecht, The Netherlands. E-mail: buringh@xs4all.nl
Jan Luiten Van Zanden*
Affiliation:
Professor of Economic history, Utrecht University, Drift 10, 3512 BS Utrecht, The Netherlands, and Senior Researcher, International Institute of Social History, Cruquiusweg 31, 1019 AT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: jvz@iisg.nl
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Abstract

This article estimates the development of manuscripts and printed books in Western Europe over the course of thirteen centuries. As these estimates show, medieval and early modern book production was a dynamic economic sector, with an average annual growth rate of around one percent. Rising production after the middle of the fifteenth century probably resulted from lower book prices and higher literacy. To explain the dynamics of medieval book production, we provide estimates for urbanization rates and for the numbers of universities and monasteries. Monasteries seem to have been most important in the early period, while universities and laypeople dominated the later medieval demand for books.

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ARTICLES
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The Journal of Economic History , Volume 69 , Issue 2 , June 2009 , pp. 409 - 445
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2009

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