A History of Bookselling from the Dawn of Print to the Twenty-First Century

Award-winning Scottish historian Pettegree offers an abundantly detailed history of bookselling, spanning the past 600 years. As far back as Greek and Roman times, there was a market for handwritten texts, and, even before the invention of printing, doctors, lawyers, and clergymen collected relevant tomes. Gutenberg’s invention, though, fueled the start of a book industry that involved printers, typefounders, binders, publishers, and sellers. Read more