{"title":"The Survival of Medieval Manuscript Culture in the Early Modern Age: The Other Side of a Universal Paradigm Shift","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s12109-024-09975-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> <p>Undoubtedly, the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg brought about a profound paradigm shift, transforming both the late medieval book markets and the general reading culture. However, as with many paradigm shifts, we need to differentiate in this regard more than scholarship has acknowledged so far. First, many medieval narrative motives, topics and themes continued to be rather popular well into the seventeenth century, if not beyond. Second, manuscript culture did not simply disappear. Instead, as this article outlines, in many areas and especially among the upper social classes, luxury items in the form of manuscripts remained critically important. A closer analysis also indicates that many times practical knowledge (fencing, horse training, medicine, etc.) and personal observations were copied down by hand and thus passed on to the specific audiences without the printing press involved. The manuscript did not disappear at all; instead, it assumed a more specialized function in terms of knowledge, autobiographical reflections and social representation.</p>","PeriodicalId":44970,"journal":{"name":"PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-024-09975-3","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Undoubtedly, the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg brought about a profound paradigm shift, transforming both the late medieval book markets and the general reading culture. However, as with many paradigm shifts, we need to differentiate in this regard more than scholarship has acknowledged so far. First, many medieval narrative motives, topics and themes continued to be rather popular well into the seventeenth century, if not beyond. Second, manuscript culture did not simply disappear. Instead, as this article outlines, in many areas and especially among the upper social classes, luxury items in the form of manuscripts remained critically important. A closer analysis also indicates that many times practical knowledge (fencing, horse training, medicine, etc.) and personal observations were copied down by hand and thus passed on to the specific audiences without the printing press involved. The manuscript did not disappear at all; instead, it assumed a more specialized function in terms of knowledge, autobiographical reflections and social representation.
期刊介绍:
Publishing Research Quarterly is an international forum for the publication of original peer-reviewed papers covering significant research on and analyses of the full range of the publishing environment. The journal provides analysis of content development, production, distribution, and marketing of books, magazines, journals, and online information services in relation to the social, political, economic, and technological conditions that shape the publishing process, extending from editorial decision-making to order processing to print and online delivery. Publishing Research Quarterly publishes significant research reports and analyses of industry trends, covering topics such as product development, marketing, financial aspects, and print and online distribution as well as the relationship between publishing activities and publishing’s constituencies among industry, government, and consumer communities. Scholarly articles, research reports, review papers, essays, surveys, memoirs, statistics, letters, and notes that contribute to knowledge about how different sectors of the publishing industry operate are published as well as book reviews.