This guide provides some starting points for learning about the History of the Book, but there is so much more out there! If you're interested in pursuing this topic, consider expanding your search outside of the sources included in this guide. On this page you'll find links to sites for professional organizations, suggestions for searching more on your own, and other ways you can pursue further research on book history.
A few interesting topics within book history:
If you're a Simmons student and/or in the Boston area, there are many special collections to visit that house old, rare books and other materials relevant to the study of book history:
Here are a few journals that publish content about the history of the book:
While this guide has introduced several of the basic areas of study within the history of the book, there are many more areas of research that warrant attention. For one, this guide has looked at book history mainly from a Western perspective; other cultures have a long history of books as well. Diversity is a major discussion among book historians and there are a number of resources detailing initiatives to make the field more inclusive. If you found a particular aspect of book production intriguing, such as papermaking or woodcut prints, try searching for literature looking at the subject more in depth. The history of bookselling also is extensive and well-documented. Below are just a few possible search terms to get you started:
history of the book
book history
bibliography
printing
printing press
bookbinding
codex
incunabula
illuminated manuscript
bookseller
woodcut print
Since book history is such an interdisciplinary field, searching with a tool that looks through a wide variety of subjects, like Google Scholar, can help you find sources you might otherwise overlook.