Making Meaning
"The greatest bibliographer of our time," was how historian Robert Darnton described D. F. McKenzie. Yet until now many of McKenzie's major essays, scattered in specialist journals and inaccessible publications, have circulated mainly in tattered photocopies. This volume, edited by two of McKenzie's former students, brings together for the first time a wide range of his writings on bibliography, the book trade, and the "sociology of texts." Selected by the author himself before his sudden...
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A collection of seminal writings by a pioneer in the field of book history. A volume in the series Studies in Print Culture and the History of the Book.Michael WinshipNot only does McKenzie address major bibliographical issues in ways that question and reformulate fundamental assumptions and procedures,he also demonstrates just how bibliography illuminates an entire range of scholarship in literary,cultural,and political history. It is this breadth of perspective,which he everywhere insists on,that makes this an important collection,one that should have broad appeal.
AcknowledgmentsEditorial Introduction3Pt. 1Bibliography1Printers of the Mind: Some Notes on Bibliographical Theories and Printing-House Practices132"Indenting the Stick" in the First Quarto of King Lear (1608)863Stretching a Point: Or, The Case of Spaced-out Comps91Pt. 2The Book Trade4The London Book Trade in 16681095The London Book Trade in 16441266Trading Places? England 1689 - France 1789144Pt. 3The Sociology of Texts7"The Staple of News" and the Late Plays1698Typography and Meaning: The Case of William Congreve1989Speech - Manuscript - Print23710"What's Past Is Prologue": The Bibliographical Society and History of the Book25911Our Textual Definition of the Future: The New English Imperialism?276A Chronological Bibliography of McKenzie's Writings282
\ Michael WinshipNot only does McKenzie address major bibliographical issues in ways that question and reformulate fundamental assumptions and procedures,he also demonstrates just how bibliography illuminates an entire range of scholarship in literary,cultural,and political history. It is this breadth of perspective,which he everywhere insists on,that makes this an important collection,one that should have broad appeal.\ \ \ \ \ BooknewsThe problem of how to relate the history of book production to the considerations of literary studies occupied scholarly bibliographer McKenzie for his entire career. Ten of his previously published essays are presented here and reflect that concern and his advocacy for a theoretical viewpoint rooted in "the sociology of texts." Among the topics presented are how the investigation of work habits of 17th century printers calls into question previous bibliographic assumptions, the relation of the London book trade to book production, and theoretical considerations of the practice of bibliography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)\ \
