Book History, Illuminated

In the second episode of Book History, Illuminated, Leah introduces Robert Darnton's Communications Circuit, and explains why it is, and why it is not, so great. She talks about Thomas R. Adams and Nicolas Barker's response to Darnton's Circuit, Pride and Prejudice, and Polish samizdat. What's samizdat? Listen and find out. Intro theme samples speech from the trailer for Lane Smith's "It's a Book". Check the trailer out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4BK_2VULCU. Resources cited in this episode include: "What is the History of Books?" - Robert Darnton (https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3403038/darnton_historybooks.pdf) "'What is the History of Books?' Revisited" - Robert Darnton (https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3403039/darnton_revisited.pdf?sequence=2) "A New Model for the Study of the Book" - Thomas R. Adams and Nicolas Barker "What is the History of Samizdat?" - Gordon Johnston "'I Was There': On Kurt Vonnegut" - William Deresiewicz (http://www.thenation.com/article/167921/i-­‐was-­‐there-­‐kurt-­‐vonnegut) Matka noc - Kurt Vonnegut (translated by Lech Jęczmyk) [1984 NOVA edition: BL Sol.213e; 1989 Petit Press edition: BL Sol.230d]

Welcome to the first episode of Book History, Illuminated! To kick off the podcast, Leah tries (and fails - sorry!) to define what she means by "book", and explains what book history is and why you should care. If you're new to book history, listen to this episode for the background info you'll need for the following episodes. Intro theme samples speech from the trailer for Lane Smith's "It's a Book". Check the trailer out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4BK_2VULCU. Resources cited in this episode include: The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing, 1450-1800 - Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean Martin The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man - Marshall McLuhan An Introduction to Bibliographical and Textual Studies - William Proctor Williams and Craig S. Abbott (Leah has some trouble citing this one correctly in the podcast - oops) Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts - D. F. McKenzie