50 Books About Books

Impressions of Nature: A History of Nature Printing by Roderick Cave (Mark Batty Press, jacketed hardcover, $85). Our September 2010 review calls this a “beautiful book, brimming with full-color illustrations. Cave impressively relays the early history of nature printing, its spread through Europe, the work of major printers, and its applications in photography and graphic design. There seems to be something for everyone in this splendid volume.”

A Critical Edition of the Private Diaries of Robert Proctor: The Life of a Librarian at the British Museum edited by J. H. Bowman (Mellen Press, unjacketed hardcover, $129.95). Librarian Robert Proctor’s private diaries from 1899 through his mysterious death in 1903 (with a gap), carefully edited and published here for the first time. Bowman’s careful and thorough annotations add much to the text.

Slow Reading by John Miedema (Litwin Books, paperback, $12). Four scholarly essays on the nature of reading and connecting with what you read, which together comprise a valuable reminder that you’ll get more out of a book (no matter its form) if you engage with it fully and carefully.

The Devil in the Holy Water, or the Art of Slander from Louis XIV to Napoleon by Robert Darnton (University of Pennsylvania Press, jacketed hardcover, $34.95). A detailed and absolutely captivating history of French libelous publications in the late eighteenth century, drawn from a series of apt and interconnected examples and complemented by a wide range of well-chosen illustrations. Darnton’s multidisciplinary range and talent for a good story are on full display in this volume.

The History of the Library in Western Civilization: Volume IV, The Medieval World in the West, from Cassiodorus to Fournival by Konstantinos Staikos (Oak Knoll Press, jacketed hardcover, $75). The fourth volume in this well-regarded series, covering the spread of secular and religious writings in Europe during the early Christian and Carolingian eras, as well as the beginnings of the university system and the origins of library architecture.

A Place in My Chronicle: A New Edition of the Diary of Christopher Columbus Baldwin edited by Jack Larkin & Caroline Sloat (American Antiquarian Society/Oak Knoll Press, jacketed hardcover, $55). The first modern, illustrated and annotated edition of Baldwin’s diaries during the time he served as AAS librarian, 1829-1835.

The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future by Robert Darnton (PublicAffairs, jacketed hardcover, $23.95). A collection of eleven of Darnton’s essays on books past, present, and future, including his thoughts on the potential for print and electronic media to work together to serve scholarship. Featured in our November 2009 issue, this book “puts the digital question into a useful context by examining the past.”

Books and the British Army in the Age of the American Revolution by Ira D. Gruber (University of North Carolina Press, jacketed hardcover $55). Gruber analyzes the books on warfare used by soldiers and officers as they prepared for and conducted war.

Books as Weapons: Propaganda, Publishing, and the Battle for Global Markets in the Era of World War II by John B. Hench (Cornell University Press, hardcover, $35). The retired vice president for collections and programs at the American Antiquarian Society examines armed services editions, overseas editions, and transatlantic editions and how American publishers tried to win hearts and minds with books.

Thoreau on Cape Cod: His Journeys and the Lost Maps (Levenger Press, jacketed hardcover, $49). An abridged edition of Thoreau’s Cape Cod with new maps and commentary by Library of Congress Senior Cartographic Librarian John Hessler. Beautifully produced and a fascinating new way to look at Thoreau as cartographer.