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The paper trail: an unexpected history of the world's greatest invention / Alexander Monro
by Monro, Alexander
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Galway, Ireland
2 Copies Available from This Seller
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About This Item
London: Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2014. 2nd edition. Hardcover. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description; [xi], 368 pages: illustrations, maps; 25 cm. Contents; Tracing Paper -- Alpha and Omega -- Preparing the Soil -- Genesis -- At the Margins -- Paper Rain -- Papyrocracy -- The Handover -- Bibliophiles -- Building Books -- A New Music -- Bagdatixon and its Ologies -- A Continent Divides -- Translating Europe -- A New Dialogue -- By the Cartload. Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-348) and index. SummaryThis is the story of how you came to be holding this book, how you came to be following its printed words across dozens of pages, pages made not from bamboo, silk, parchment or papyrus, but from paper. The emergence of paper in the imperial court of Han China brought about a revolution in the transmission of knowledge and of ideas. For over two millennia, it has allowed ideas, religions, philosophies and propaganda to spread around the world with ever greater ease. Paper was the first writing surface sufficiently cheap, portable and printable for books, pamphlets, prints and journals to be mass-produced and to travel widely. It enabled an ongoing dialogue between communities of scholars who could now engage with each others ideas across continents and years. The Paper Trail traces the westward voyage of this ground-breaking invention; beginning with the Buddhist translators responsible for the spread of paper across China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. It describes the theologians, scientists and artists who used paper to create the intellectual world of the Abbasid Caliphate, and journeys with the missionaries and merchants who carried it along the Silk Road. Paper finally reached Europe in 1276 and was indispensable to the scholars and translators who manufactured the Renaissance and Reformation from their desks. Paper created a world in which free thinking could flourish, and brought disciplines from science to music into a new age: the paper age. Paper still surrounds us in our everyday lives - on our desks, wrapping our food, in our wallets. It has become universal, and also supremely disposable. But is the age of paper coming to an end? This is the story of how a simple Chinese invention has wrapped itself around our world, with history's most momentous ideas etched upon its surface. Subjects; Papermaking - History. Paper - History. Papermaking - China. TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Technical & Manufacturing Industries & Trades.
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Details
- Bookseller
- MW Books Ltd.
(IE)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 236777
- Title
- The paper trail: an unexpected history of the world's greatest invention / Alexander Monro
- Author
- Monro, Alexander
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 2
- Edition
- 2nd edition
- Publisher
- London: Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books
- Date Published
- 2014
Terms of Sale
MW Books Ltd.
Returns accepted within 10 days of receipt if you are unsatisfied with either our description of, or the book itself.
About the Seller
MW Books Ltd.
Biblio member since 2005
Galway
About MW Books Ltd.
MW Books is an academic and antiquarian bookshop with a large stock in core areas such as Early Travel & Exploration, Nineteenth Century Literature, Early Political Economy, Labour and Social History, and Asian and Colonial History. Please don't hesitate to contact us with your questions or comments regarding any item listed.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Parchment
- Pages or book covering made from a prepared animal skin. Parchment describes any animal skin used for books, while vellum is a...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.