Tag Archives: thebroadviewintroductiontobookhistory

The Big Difference Between Old Media and New Media

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Michelle Levy and Tom Mole’s introduction to The Broadview Introduction to Book History gives a comprehensive overview of what to expect and what you should know before reading the upcoming pages.


I found myself thinking about books as a form of technology while reading this text. The modern technology I am most familiar with is computers, which also has epochs that reflect books. The transition from scrolls to the codex could be seen as a form of making written technology more efficient. Similarly, computers were initially massive, clunky, and much slower than a persons’ calculations. Over time, they became efficient and cheaper to produce (as reflected by Gutenberg’s printing press).


More and more people begin to work with computers as they become more accessible. Computers go from something that could only be found in the military to something only in the university. From there, it gradually becomes more accessible to the point that it is in most homes. This accessibility (as reflected in the fourth epoch of books) creates what could be argued as a “computer culture” in the West, exemplified by the graphic below.


Where this parallel breaks down is in the fourth epoch, “when print faces competition from an array of new media” (xvi). That may very well be because we haven’t reached that point yet. It could also be argued that the competition is AI. I would disagree with this, however, because AI does not seem to be a radically new technology. Rather, it is an example of the massive increase to the computational power as a result of Moore’s Law.


I am unsure how to feel about the concern that screens make us “worse” readers and putting a value judgement on “extensive” versus “attentive” reading. As mentioned in Professor Pressman’s article, Old Media/New Media, Marshall McLuhan says that “we march backwards into the future” (1). Is there something inherently bad about reading a few works extensively as opposed to many superficially? Could the end product be the same? Does it matter? Could it be, that our nostalgic love for books is painting how we see reading in the modern age? These are all questions that I am not sure I have the answer for yet.

Week 3: Different Eyes on the Same Book

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When I first started reading about book history, I thought it would be a simple field with one clear method. A book is just a book, right? But I quickly realized that the history of books has been studied in very different ways, depending on the country and the tradition. In France, for example, book history focused on how books moved through society and how they influenced big historical events. In Germany, where I am from, the field called “Buchwissenschaft” was more about the practical side, how books were published, produced, and distributed. In Britain, book history developed from bibliography and textual editing, which meant looking closely at different editions of the same work and how small changes could affect the meaning.

I find this really interesting because it shows that each approach asks different questions about the same object. The French way treats the book almost like a historical actor, influencing revolutions and social changes. The German way is more focused on trade and infrastructure, thinking about printers, publishers, and markets. The British way zooms in on the text itself, paying attention to words, punctuation, and editing choices.

As a German student, I can understand why it developed in this way. Germany has a long tradition of book production and publishing, from Gutenberg’s press to the Leipzig Book Fair, so it makes sense that the focus was on how books were made and sold. At the same time, I also appreciate the French and British perspectives because they help me to see other sides of the book that I might not think about otherwise.

What I take away from this is that no single approach is enough on its own. If we only follow one national model, we miss the bigger picture. A book is never only a text or only a product. It is also a cultural force that both shapes and is shaped by history. That is what makes book history so exciting, it asks us to see books from many different angles.