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What difference did printing make? Although
the importance of the advent of printing for the Western
world has long been recognized, it was Elizabeth Eisenstein,
in her monumental, two-volume work, The Printing Press
as an Agent of Change, who provided the first full-scale
treatment of the subject. This illustrated and abridged
edition gives a stimulating survey of the communications
revolution of the fifteenth century. After summarizing the
initial changes introduced by the establishment of printing
shops, it goes on to discuss how printing effected three
major cultural movements: the Renaissance, the Reformation,
and the rise of modern science. Specific examples show how
the use of the new presses enabled churchmen, scholars,
and craftsmen to move beyond the limits hand copying had
imposed and thus to pose new challenges to traditional institutions.
This edition includes a new essay in which
Eisenstein discusses numerous recent controversies provoked
by the first edition and reaffirms the thesis that the advent
of printing entailed a communications revolution. Fully
illustrated and annotated, the book argues that the cumulative
processes set in motion with the advent of printing are
likely to persist despite the recent development of new
communications technologies.
Elizabeth L. Eisenstein is the Alice
Freeman Palmer Professor of History (Emerita) at the University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author of many books
and articles, including The Printing
Press as an Agent of Change (Cambridge,
1979) and Grub Street Abroad:
Aspects of the Eighteenth Century French Cosmopolitan Press
(1992). In 2002, she was awarded the American Historical
Association's Award for Scholarly Distinction.
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