Printed Books: a Cultural History of Publishing, Reading, and Preserving

The course traces continuities and ruptures in the history of the printed book, with the aim of providing the tools to understand the implications of the digital revolution, not only from the point of view of production processes (publishing), but also of fruition (reading), and of the preservation and valorization of the book heritage; it focuses on the historiographical junctures that have characterized the discipline, illustrating research methodologies; and it provides, through individual and group activities, insights into the understanding, valorization and communication of bibliographical material of historical relevance.

At the end of the course the student will be able to:
- describe with appropriate vocabulary the major junctures in the history of books, reading, and institutions for the preservation of bibliographic materials;
- delineate the political, economic, social, or cultural contexts that influenced these junctures (censorship, counterfeiting, literacy, schooling, technology);
- discuss and present, in written and oral form, the effects generated by these revolutions in the production, enjoyment, and preservation of bibliographic materials;
- make relevant use of the vocabulary, methodology and tools specific to the history of the book in the modern and contemporary ages;
- critically compare the different orientations of international historiographical production in the field of book history in the modern and contemporary ages;
- critically discuss the different research methodologies applicable to the history of the book in modern and contemporary ages;
- outline and discuss the different strategies of valorization and communication of historically relevant bibliographic materials;
- design simple valorization/communication interventions (virtual exhibition, blogpost, online annotation) of a bibliographic object of historical relevance (book, book portion, periodical publication issue, printed illustrated sheet, etc.).