This revised restructured and thoroughly updated edition of a classic textcovers six centuries of publishing in Britain from before the invention of theprinting... » 

This revised restructured and thoroughly updated edition of a classic textcovers six centuries of publishing in Britain from before the invention of theprinting press to the electronic era.At the beginning of the 21st century the publishing industry is beingtransformed by new technologies. Over 500 years ago book production wasrevolutionised by an earlier new technology the printing press and moveabletype. A whole new industry grew out of this invention an industry in whichbooks were massproduced for the first time. By the end of the 15th centuryprinted books had largely ousted manuscripts in the commercial book tradetheir predominance as an information medium was not seriously challenged untilafter the turn of the twentieth century and even then only at the margins. Theprinted book became one of the symbols of Western culture.In this book John Feather considers not only the publishing industry itselfbut also areas affecting and affected by it from education politicstechnology and law to religion custom and class. He traces the history of thepublishing of books in Britain looking at how they were financed produced anddistributed. The key player in this complex process was always the publisheralthough the person or firm which performed that function has undergone manychanges of both name and substance since Caxton set up his press in WestminsterAbbey. The successors of the small tradesman who produced books in early modernEngland are the great global corporations which dominate the media today. Thisbook explains how that transformation has happened.In this radically reworked second edition John Feather places Britain andherindustries firmly in the global marketplace. With transatlantic competitionand cooperation now standard and with books marketed across the world viainternet stores Feather concludes by asking how British is Britishpublishing? «