Scriptorium: History and Key Facts
A scriptorium ( ) was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes.
#publishing-history
45 articles
Term Catalogue: History and Key Facts
A Term Catalogue (German: Messkatalog) is a serial publication compiled to inform customers—most importantly book traders from other cities—of the book production as available on the book fairs.
![Page from the Apocalypse, a block book printed in Europe between 1450 & 1500.
The image come from a late 15th century compilation blockbook [Cod Pal. Germ 34] of which the 'Apokalypse' (4th ed.) forms one section. The printed text is in latin but handwritten german translation sheets were inserted between the blockboo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Apocalypse.jpg)
Block book: History and Key Facts
Block books or blockbooks, also called xylographica, are short books of up to 50 leaves, block printed in Europe in the second half of the 15th century as woodcuts with blocks carved to include b
Chapbook: History and Key Facts
A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe.
Index (publishing): History and Key Facts
An index (pl.: usually indexes, more rarely indices) is a list of words or phrases ('headings') and associated pointers ('locators') to where useful material relating to that heading can be found
![Title page of the First Folio, by William Shakespeare, with copper engraving of the author by Martin Droeshout. Image courtesy of the Elizabethan Club and the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University. [1]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Title_page_William_Shakespeare%27s_First_Folio_1623.jpg)
Folio: History and Key Facts
The term "folio" (from Latin folium 'leaf') has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper
Album amicorum: History and Key Facts
The album amicorum ('album of friends', friendship book) was an early form of the poetry book, the autograph book and the modern friendship book.
History of the Quran: History and Key Facts
The history of the Quran, the holy book of Islam, is the timeline ranging from the inception of the Quran during the lifetime of Muhammad (believed to have received the Quran through revelation b
Book design: History and Key Facts
Book design is the graphic art of determining the visual and physical characteristics of a book.
Small press: History and Key Facts
A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published.
Project Panama: History and Key Facts
Project Panama is a destructive book scanning operation started in early 2024 by the American artificial intelligence corporation Anthropic.
Sola scriptura: History and Key Facts
Sola scriptura (Church Latin for 'by scripture alone') is a Christian theological doctrine held by most Protestant Christian denominations, in particular the Lutheran and Reformed traditions, tha
Scam genealogical book: History and Key Facts
The popularity of genealogy, encouraged by the increasing use of the Internet is encouraging a number of people to mass-market what authorities regard as "scam genealogical books" which are somet
Book packaging: History and Key Facts
Book packaging, or book producing, is a publishing activity in which an individual or outside company independently develops and produces a book, performing the creative and production work that
Espresso Book Machine: History and Key Facts
The Espresso Book Machine (EBM) was a print on demand (POD) machine created by On Demand Books.
A History of the Book in America: History and Key Facts
A History of the Book in America is a five-volume series of scholarly books of essays published 2000–2010 by the University of North Carolina Press, and edited by David D.
COPIM: History and Key Facts
The Copim community is an international group of researchers, universities, librarians, open access book publishers and infrastructure providers.
Castoff (publishing): History and Key Facts
In book publishing, casting off is the process of estimating the number of signatures required to typeset a manuscript.
Print culture: History and Key Facts
Print culture embodies all forms of printed text and other printed forms of visual communication.
Book burning: History and Key Facts
Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context.
Pulp magazine: History and Key Facts
Pulp magazines, also called "the pulps", were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955.
Lyell Lectures: History and Key Facts
The Lyell Readership in Bibliography is an endowed annual lecture series given at the University of Oxford.
Presentation copy: History and Key Facts
A presentation copy is a copy of a book that has been presented, usually by the author or someone associated with the book's production, to another individual.
Cerlalc: History and Key Facts
The Regional Center for the Promotion of Books in Latin America and Caribbean (CERLALC) (Spanish: Centro Regional para el Fomento del Libro en América Latina y el Caribe, Portuguese: Centro Regio
Sophistication (books): History and Key Facts
Sophistication of books is the practice of making a book complete by replacing missing leaves with leaves from another copy.
Paperback: History and Key Facts
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples.
Text publication society: History and Key Facts
A text publication society is a learned society which publishes (either as its sole function, or as a principal function) scholarly editions of old works of historical or literary interest, or ar
Little magazine: History and Key Facts
In the United States, a little magazine is a magazine genre consisting of "artistic work which for reasons of commercial expediency is not acceptable to the money-minded periodicals or presses",
Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing: History and Key Facts
The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) formed in 1991 in the United States on the initiative of scholars Jonathan Rose, Simon Eliot, and others.
Penguin Books: History and Key Facts
Penguin Books Limited is a British publishing house that was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John.
Manuscript culture: History and Key Facts
A manuscript culture is a culture that depends on hand-written manuscripts to store and disseminate information.
Book History: History and Key Facts
Book History is the official publication of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing.
Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia: History and Key Facts
Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia is a learned society founded in 1947 at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville to promote interest in books and manuscripts, maps, print
Fixed book price: History and Key Facts
Fixed book price (FBP) is a form of resale price maintenance applied to books.
Bookbinding: History and Key Facts
Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated process
African Books Collective: History and Key Facts
The African Books Collective (ABC) is a nonprofit distribution and marketing collective owned by African publishers.
Jeannette Hopkins: History and Key Facts
Jeannette Hopkins (1923–2011) was an American editor known for her career at a time when few women worked in the field.
Printing press: History and Key Facts
A printing press is a machine that applies pressure to transfer ink onto a surface made of paper, cloth, or a similar material.
Icelandic Christmas book flood: History and Key Facts
The Christmas book flood or Yule book flood (Icelandic: Jólabókaflóðið) is a term used in Iceland for the annual release of new books occurring in the months before Christmas.
Bibliographical Society: History and Key Facts
Founded in 1892, The Bibliographical Society is the senior learned society in the UK dealing with the study of the book and its history.
Saddle stitch stapler: History and Key Facts
Saddle stitch staplers or simply saddle staplers are bookbinding tools designed to insert staples into the spine (saddle) of folded printed matter such as booklets, catalogues, brochures, and man
Publishing: History and Key Facts
Publishing is the process of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, whether in physical or digital form, available to the public for sale or free of charge.
History of books: History and Key Facts
The history of books begins with the invention of writing, as well as other inventions such as paper and printing; this history continues all the way to the modern-day business of book printing.
Endpaper: History and Key Facts
The endpapers or end-papers of a book (also known as the endsheets) are the pages that consist of a double-size sheet folded, with one half pasted against an inside cover (the pastedown), and the