- Portable written or printed work filling a number of sheets fastened together.
- Book: Old English (boc); beech tree
- Paper: Old French papier; Egyptian papyrus
- Folio: Latin folio; leaf or sheet of paper
- A portable container consiting of a series of printed and bound pages that preserves, announces, expounds or transmits knowledge to a literal readership across time and space.
A book in its purest form is a phenomenon of space and time and dimensionality that is unique in itself. Every time we turn the page we are confronted with a new page. (Haslam, 2008)
Revolutionary Phases
The movement from oral to written culture
- Development of the Alphabet
- Acquisition of Language
- Writing
- Economic trading structures
- Evolution drive
The Oral
- Spoken
- Heard
- Natural
- Addressee is already present
- Quick, forgotten, devolved
- Time based
- Feedback immediate
The Written
- Visual
- Artificial
- Addressee generally absent: monologue
- Slow and requires equipment
- Permanent and prestigious
- Organised in space and feedback delayed
Writing Systems
Alphabetic
- Phonograms
- Letterforms
Ideographic Systems
- Hieroglyphs
- Pictograms
- Logograms
The movement from literacy to printing
- Manuscripts: British Library
- Development of printing
- 300 BCE pressed seals China & Egypt
- 1800 - 1600 BCE Minson Pharistas Disc
- 220 Block printing on paper
- 90 Arab printing
- 1450 Gutenburg
- 1473 William Caxton
- 1476 Canterbury Tales in English
The movement from print to computer
Generated Content
- Print is slowly being displaced from the centre of social communication to the periphery.
The Future of the Book
A revolution?
- Supercession
- Sweep away the old
- Liberation
- New technology is empowering
- Self publish
Sacred Texts
- Fixed nature
- Creation of clergy
- Power: King James
- Creation of Y Bibl; documentation of language
The Book as Power
The book enabled constitutions to be written, for language to be fixed to provide a code. It entrenches the word of the leader, for example in Mein Kampf.
Definitive Books
Information becomes fixed, resulting in yesterday's news becoming today's history.
The Western Canon is a term used to define a 'canon', or set, of books that have been influential in shaping western culture.
Helpful Books
Practical books like map books, manuals and instructions.
The Pleasure of Reading
Book as Leisure
- Guides
- Hobbies
- Novel
- Picture Book
- Catalogues
- Cultural books
Judging a Book by it's Cover
Homemade Books
- Notebooks
- Diaries
- Fanzines
- Blogs
- Web Publishing
- Artist Books
- Small Editions
Storytelling and Books
Before one can consider a book, one must consider! what it is to have a text. A text is an array of words on! paper. Or, if not words, other things that are to be! read. One can have a text with no words at all - ! music or visual entities of symbols!"The Book, Spiritual Instrument! Jerome Rothenberg & David Guss< Narrative Storytelling Voice Structure Interactive Books Interactive books can include colouring books, physicality, pop ups, getting lost, journeys or flick books. Consider... Text: content (collectors, collections, collecting) tone of voice what are you presenting? Narrative: structure, sequence, title how do you order your text? Physicality: structure, form, interaction, duplication how are you making your book?
Audience: readers, distribution, interaction how will readers interact with your book?Haslam, A, 2008, Book Design, Central St. Martins, London
