The Story of the Bookshelf

Author: Henry Petroski
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-11-01
Features: Anne Fadiman, author of The Joy of Books, says that as a child, she and her brother loved to browse their parents' bookshelves, imagining what kind of tastes, desires, ambitions, and vices their books revealed. She said, their sense of self was reflected on their bookshelves. Bookshelves have always played a secondary role to books. However, if we shift our focus and reconsider the bookshelf as a newly discovered or crafted object, our perspective on books will also change. The author of this book, with his expertise in craftsmanship and design, traces the evolution and origins of bookshelves—from scrolls and manuscripts to printed books—through the study rooms of collectors, university libraries, and bookstores from ancient times to the present, detailing the history of bookshelves and human reading behavior. Why are books placed vertically? When did book spines start facing outward? Why were ancient books chained to reading cabinets? Additionally, the author discusses Seneca the Younger's "curse of book collecting," diarist Samuel Pepys's principle of owning no more than three thousand books, and anecdotes of buying, selling, and collecting books over the centuries. It covers both the origins of bookshelves and the reasons behind book collecting, serving as the ultimate window into the world of books. The book explores the evolution and history of bookshelves and human reading behavior, from the study rooms of collectors, university libraries, and bookstores across the ages.