Selected Reading

Elizabeth L. Eisenstein

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511819230.013

Berry, W. T., and Poole, H. W. Annals of Printing: A Chronological Encyclopaedia from Earliest Times to 1950 (London, 1966). Useful reference workCrossRef Google Scholar

Binns, Norman E. An Introduction to Historical Bibliography (London, 1962). Contains some useful data on early printing not duplicated by GaskellGoogle Scholar

Bühler, Curt. The Fifteenth-Century Book, the Scribes, the Printers, the Decorators (Philadelphia, 1960). Good coverage of essential aspects. By a distinguished curator of rare booksCrossRef Google Scholar

Butler, Pierce. The Origin of Printing in Europe (Chicago, 1940). Elementary. Written for undergraduates by a professor of library science. Contains useful selection of translated records pertaining to invention of printingGoogle Scholar

Carter, Harry. A View of Early Typography Up to About 1600 (Oxford, 1969). More up-to-date and more succinct than Updike's two-volume work on typesGoogle Scholar

Clapham, Michael. “Printing.” In A History of Technology. Vol. 2, From the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution, ed. Singer, Charles. (Oxford, 1957), 377–411. Competent, brief account of technological innovations associated with Gutenberg's “invention.”Google Scholar

Darnton, Robert. “What Is the History of Books?” Daedalus (Summer 1982): 65–85. Review article surveying European and American work. By influential American historian of eighteenth-century French book tradeGoogle Scholar

Febvre, Lucien, and Martin, H.-J. The Coming of the Book, tr. David Gerard (London, 1976). First ed.: L'Apparition du livre (Paris, 1958). Readers competent in French should get the original 1958 French version, which is superior in every way (including its bibliography and index) to this English translation. The book (which was written almost entirely by Martin) is a masterful survey and has more comprehensive coverage than any other title on this listGoogle Scholar

Gaskell, Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliography (Oxford, 1972). The best introductory guide to all aspects of the book as an objectGoogle Scholar

Goldschmidt, E. P. Medieval Texts and Their First Appearance in Print (London, 1943). Brings out differences between hand-copied and printed books. By a knowledgeable dealer in rare booksGoogle Scholar

Hay, Denys. “Literature: The Printed Book.” In The New Cambridge Modern History. Vol. 2. The Reformation 1520–1599, ed. Elton, G. R. (Cambridge, 1958), 356–86. Brief but sound introduction to topic by distinguished British authority on Italian Renaissance historyGoogle Scholar

Hirsch, Rudolf. Printing, Selling, and Reading 1450–1550 (Wiesbaden, 1967; rev. ed. 1974). Crammed with facts; emphasis on German developments. By a rare-book librarian who is especially knowledgeable about European bookselling and printingGoogle Scholar

Ivins, William M. Jr. Prints and Visual Communication (Cambridge, MA, 1953). Idiosyncratic work, by a former curator of prints, who overstates the case for his specialty but also brings out more clearly than others the significance of printed visual aidsGoogle Scholar

McLuhan, Marshall. The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographical Man (Toronto, 1962). Deliberately departs from conventional book format. Bizarre “mosaic” of citations drawn from diverse texts designed to stimulate thought about effects of printing. By a Canadian literary scholar turned media analyst. Careless handling of historical data may mislead uninformed readers. Surprisingly useful bibliographyGoogle Scholar

McMurtrie, Douglas. The Book (Oxford, 1943). Holds up well after six decades as a useful reference workGoogle Scholar

Steinberg, S. H. Five Hundred Years of Printing, rev. ed. (Bristol, 1961). Remarkably succinct survey. Better coverage of first century of printing than of later onesGoogle Scholar

Stillwell, Margaret Bingham. The Beginning of the World of Books 1450 to 1470: A Chronological Survey of the Texts Chosen for Printing … With a Synopsis of the Gutenberg Documents (New York, 1972). Despite a misleading title (the “world of books” began long before printing), this is a useful checklist for introductory purposesGoogle Scholar

Woodward, David (ed.). Five Centuries of Map Printing (Chicago, 1975). Chapter I by Arthur Robinson on map making and map printing provides a good introduction. Other chapters contain excellent illustrations of relevant tools and techniquesGoogle Scholar

Altick, R. The English Common Reader: A Social History of the Mass Reading Public 1800–1900 (Chicago, 1963). The first chapter covers material before 1800 and deals with many pertinent issuesGoogle Scholar

Aston, Margaret. “Lollardy and Literacy.” History 62 (1967): 347–71. Discussion of literacy among English Bible readers before printingCrossRef Google Scholar

Auerbach, Erich. Literary Language and Its Public in Late Latin Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, tr. R. Manheim (New York, 1965). Intriguing speculations by distinguished literary critic. Pioneering work somewhat outdated by more recent researchGoogle Scholar

Chaytor, H. J. From Script to Print: An Introduction to Medieval Vernacular Literature (Cambridge, 1955). Deals with difference between hearing and reading publics addressed by vernacular-writing literati before and after printing. Has come under attack for overstating changes wrought by printing. See Saenger entry later in this sectionGoogle Scholar

Cipolla, Carlo M. Literacy and Development in the West (London, 1969). Brief introductory surveyGoogle Scholar

Clanchy, Michael. From Memory to Written Record: England 1066–1307 (Cambridge, MA, 1979). Focus is on legal records, but questions pertaining to literacy before printing are also addressedGoogle Scholar

Davis, Natalie Z. “Printing and the People.” In Society and Culture in Early Modern France: Eight Essays (Palo Alto, CA, 1975), 189–227. Influential article that explores some of the effects of printing on popular culture in sixteenth-century FranceGoogle Scholar

Foley, John Miles. “Oral Literature: Premises and Problems.” Choice 18 (Dec. 1980): 187–96. Useful review article covering works dealing with the composition of epics, sagas, and so forthGoogle Scholar

Gerhardsson, Birger. Memory and Manuscript: Oral Tradition and Written Transmission in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity (Uppsala, 1961). Fascinating, detailed examination of regulations governing scribal procedures among rabbis and early ChristiansGoogle Scholar

Goody, J., and Watt, I. “The Consequences of Literacy.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 5 (1963): 304–45. A seminal article by an anthropologist and a professor of English which has set off a prolonged debate. Goody's later books, notably The Domestication of the Savage Mind (Cambridge, 1977), are also pertinentCrossRef Google Scholar

Graff, Harvey J. Literacy and Social Development in the West: A Reader (Cambridge, 1982). Contains pertinent articles by M. Clanchy, N. Z. Davis, Margaret Spufford, and othersGoogle Scholar

Havelock, Eric. The Literate Revolution in Greece and Its Cultural Consequences (Princeton, NJ, 1982). In this collection of essays, as in his Preface to Plato (1961), Havelock explores the effect of the shift from orality to literacy on Greek thought in a controversial, idiosyncratic, and stimulating mannerCrossRef Google Scholar

Humphreys, K. W. The Book Provisions of the Medieval Friars 1215–1400 (Amsterdam, 1964). Scholarly monograph describing new arrangements with lay copyists designed to provide books for Dominicans, Franciscans, and othersGoogle Scholar

Knox, Bernard M. W. “Silent Reading in Antiquity.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 9 (1968): 421–35. Important analysis questioning thesis that silent reading was an exceptional practice in antiquity. Overlooked by Saenger in article cited hereGoogle Scholar

Lord, Albert B. The Singer of Tales (Cambridge, MA, 1962). Problems associated with oral composition and with the transcription of the Homeric epics are discussed along lines laid out by the pioneering work of the late Milman ParryGoogle Scholar

Ong, Walter J. Interfaces of the Word (Ithaca, NY, 1977)Google Scholar

Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy (London, 1982). Collections of essays by a Jesuit scholar concerned with literary and intellectual history who has long been investigating the effects of printing on the Western mindCrossRef Google Scholar

Parkes, Malcolm B. “The Influence of the Concepts of Ordinatio and Compilatio on the Development of the Book.” In Medieval Learning and Literature: Essays Presented to R. W. Hunt, ed. Alexander, J. J. G. and Gibson, M. T. (Oxford, 1976), 115–45Google Scholar

Parkes, Malcolm B. “The Literacy of the Laity.” In Literature and Western Civilization. Vol. 2, The Medieval World, ed. Daiches, D. and Thorlby, A. (London, 1972–6), 555–76. Two essays by a medievalist who is knowledgeable about codicology and paleography and who downplays the differences between script and printGoogle Scholar

Reynolds, L. D., and Wilson, N. G. Scribes and Scholars (Oxford, 1968). By far the best introduction to issues associated with the transmission of hand-copied texts in Western EuropeGoogle Scholar

Root, Robert K. “Publication before Printing.” Publications of the Modern Language Association 28 (1913): 417–31. Despite being published long ago, still a useful articleCrossRef Google Scholar

Saenger, Paul. “Silent Reading: Its Impact on Late Medieval Script and Society.” Viator 13 (1982), 367–414. Presents evidence showing that silent reading occurred before the advent of printing. Overstates novelty of practice in late Middle Ages and ignores the extent to which silent reading was reinforced and institutionalized after printingCrossRef Google Scholar

Suleiman, Susan R., and Crosman, Inge. The Reader in the Text: Essays on Audience and Interpretation (Princeton, NJ, 1980). Collection of essays, primarily by literary critics, bearing on the problematic figure of the readerCrossRef Google Scholar

Vansina, Jan. Oral Tradition: A Study in Historical Methodology, tr. H. M. Wright (London, 1973). First ed., in French, 1961. By Africanist who pioneered in developing study of oral historyGoogle Scholar

Williams, Raymond. The Long Revolution (New York, 1966). Survey of gradual spread of literacy. By English literary critic who espouses Marxist view of cultureGoogle Scholar

Yates, Frances. The Art of Memory (London, 1966). Remarkable reconstruction of lost arts of memory as set forth in ancient treatises, used by medieval preachers, and elaborated upon in early modern eraGoogle Scholar

Armstrong, Elizabeth. Robert Estienne, Royal Printer: An Historical Study of the Elder Stephanus (Cambridge, 1954). First-rate portrait of a distinguished member of a great printing dynasty. Persecution by Sorbonne censors, which led the printer to leave Paris for Geneva, arouses the author's indignationGoogle Scholar

Clair, Colin. Christopher Plantin (London, 1960). Designed to introduce uninformed students to the activities of the most important printer of second half of sixteenth centuryGoogle Scholar

Davies, David W. The World of the Elseviers, 1580–1712 (The Hague, 1954). Self-explanatory title. View of important printing dynasty during Dutch “golden age.”CrossRef Google Scholar

Ehrman, Albert, and Pollard, Graham. The Distribution of Books by Catalogue from the Invention of Printing to A.D. 1800 (Roxburghe Club, Cambridge, 1965). Includes a valuable account of early booksellers' catalogues and of book fairsGoogle Scholar

Evans, Robert. “The Wechel Presses: Humanism and Calvinism in Central Europe 1572–1627.” Past and Present, Supplement 2 (1975). Detailed monograph on output of Frankfurt firm which turned out heterodox works during religious wars. Takes for granted readers' familiarity with prevailing cultural and intellectual trendsGoogle Scholar

Kingdon, Robert M. “The Business Activities of Printers Henri and François Estienne.” In Aspects de la propagande religieuse, ed. Meylan, H. (Geneva, 1957), 258–75Google Scholar

Kingdon, Robert M. “Christopher Plantin and His Backers 1575–1590: A Study in the Problems of Financing Business During War.” In Mélanges d'histoire èconomique et social en hommage au Professeur Antony Babel (Geneva, 1963), 303–16Google Scholar

Kingdon, Robert M. “Patronage, Piety and Printing in Sixteenth-Century Europe.” In A Festschrift For Frederick Artz, ed. Pinkney, D. and Ropp, T. (Durham, NC, 1964), 19–36. Kingdon's three articles are helpful in bringing out the way printers interacted with religious and political developments. This last listed essay is especially usefulGoogle Scholar

Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut. Peter Schoeffer of Gernsheim and Mainz (Rochester, NY, 1950). Excellent introduction to the life and work of the son-in-law of Gutenberg's financial backerGoogle Scholar

Lowry, Martin. The World of Aldus Manutius: Business and Scholarship in Renaissance Venice (Ithaca, NY, 1979). First full-length study of Aldus and the Aldine Press to appear in English. Based on solid research; well writtenGoogle Scholar

Mardersteig, Giovanni. The Remarkable Story of a Book Made in Padua in 1477, tr. H. Schmoller (London, 1967). A reconstruction of the operations of an early printer, who turned out a large folio edition of Avicenna in a single year, despite strikes and financing problems. By the late owner and operator of the famed Bodoni pressGoogle Scholar

McKenzie, D. F. “Printer of the Mind: Some Notes on Bibliographical Theories and Printing House Activities.” Studies in Bibliography 22 (1969): 1–75. The actual (often slapdash) practices of real flesh-and-blood compositors and typesetters are shown to be quite different from those imagined by analytical bibliographers. Thoroughly researched, influential critiqueGoogle Scholar

Oastler, C. L. John Day, The Elizabethan Printer. Oxford Bibliographic Society Occasional Publication 10 (Oxford, 1975). Densely detailed monograph on a privileged, prosperous, pious English printerGoogle Scholar

Painter, George D. William Caxton: A Quincentenary Biography (London, 1976). The best of the biographies celebrating the quincentenaryGoogle Scholar

Schoeck, Richard J. (ed.). Editing Sixteenth Century Texts (Toronto, 1966). Collection of relevant essays. See especially N. Z. Davis on Gilbert RouilléCrossRef Google Scholar

Thompson, James Westfall (ed.). The Francofordiense Emporium of Henri Estienne (Chicago, 1911). An edited, translated account of the Frankfurt book fair by Henry II Estienne, who is, of course, eager to promote the institutionGoogle Scholar

Uhlendorf, B. A. “The Invention and Spread of Printing till 1470 with Special Reference to Social and Economic Factors.” The Library Quarterly 2 (1932): 179–231. Although it was published more than half a century ago and is an old-fashioned, heavy-handed treatment, this article is still one of the few that does not take for granted the rapid spread of printing in Western Europe and attempts to account for itCrossRef Google Scholar

Updike, D. B. Printing Types, Their History, Forms, and Use: A Study in Survivals. 2 vols. (Cambridge, MA, 1937). A lavishly illustrated, detailed description by an American printer and publisher who died in 1941. Old-fashioned, anecdotal approachGoogle Scholar

Voët, Leon. The Golden Compasses: A History and Evaluation of the Printing and Publishing Activities of the Officina Plantiniana at Antwerp. 2 vols. (Amsterdam, 1969). The curator of the Plantin–Moretus Museum in Antwerp provides a wealth of data – too much for the average reader. The chapter on the printing office “as a humanist center” is worth consulting, howeverGoogle Scholar

Wilson, Adrian. The Making of the Nuremberg Chronicle, introduction by Peter Zahn (Amsterdam, 1976). A marvelous reconstruction based on careful research. Describes just how this massive collaborative work was produced. Chapter 6 on Anton Koberger and his printing house is of special interest. By a leading American typographerGoogle Scholar

Allen, P. S. The Age of Erasmus (Oxford, 1914)Google Scholar

Allen, P. S. Erasmus: Lectures and Wayfaring Sketches (London, 1934). These old studies bring out more clearly than do many later accounts the importance of printing in shaping Erasmus's careerGoogle Scholar

Bietenholz, P. G. Basle and France in the Sixteenth Century: The Basle Humanists and Printers in Their Contacts with Francophone Culture (Toronto, 1971). Dense and detailed account of French-language writers and printers in BaselGoogle Scholar

Bloch, Eileen. “Erasmus and the Froben Press: The Making of an Editor.” Library Quarterly 41 (1965): 109–20. Self-expanatory titleGoogle Scholar

Bolgar, R. R. The Classical Heritage and Its Beneficiaries: From the Carolingian Age to the End of the Renaissance (New York, 1964). A useful surveyGoogle Scholar

Dorsten, Jan. The Radical Arts (London, 1973). Treatment of cross-channel currents between Netherlands and Elizabethan England in which printers and booksellers loom largeGoogle Scholar

Ebel, J. G. “Translation and Cultural Nationalism in the Reign of Elizabeth.” Journal of the History of Ideas 30 (1969): 593–602. Brings out importance of translation movementCrossRef Google Scholar

Geanokoplos, Deno J. Greek Scholars in Venice: Studies in the Dissemination of Greek Learning from Byzantium to Western Europe (Cambridge, MA, 1962). Study of Cretan and Greek refugees who worked in Venice mainly for Aldus's firmGoogle Scholar

Geisendorf, Paul F. “Lyons and Geneva in the Sixteenth Century: The Fairs and Printing.” In French Humanism 1470–1600, ed. Gundesheimer, W. (New York, 1969), 146–63CrossRef Google Scholar

Gilmore, Myron P. Humanists and Jurists (Cambridge, MA, 1963). See especially chapter on Boniface AmerbachCrossRef Google Scholar

Goldschmidt, E. P. The Printed Book of the Renaissance: Three Lectures on Type, Illustration, Ornament (Cambridge, 1950). Full of useful dataGoogle Scholar

Harbison, E. Harris. The Christian Scholar in the Age of the Reformation (New York, 1956). Essays on Luther, Calvin, and others viewed as scholars rather than as charismatic leadersGoogle Scholar

Keller, A. “A Renaissance Humanist Looks at ‘New’ Inventions: The Article ‘Horlogium’ in Giovanni Tortelli's De Orthographia .” Technology and Culture 2 (1970): 345–65. Provides background for understanding Renaissance schemes linking printing with gunpowder and the compassCrossRef Google Scholar

Kline, Michael B. “Rabelais and the Age of Printing.” In Etudes rabelaisiennes IV: Travaux d'humanisme et renaissance (Geneva, 1963), vol. 60, 1–59. Self-explanatory titleGoogle Scholar

Lievsay, J. L. The Englishman's Italian Books 1550–1700 (Philadelphia, 1969). Suggests influence of importations from Italy on Tudor and Stuart literary cultureCrossRef Google Scholar

Nauert, Charles. “The Clash of Humanists and Scholastics: An Approach to Pre-Reformation Controversies.” Sixteenth Century Journal 4 (April 1973): 1–18. Suggestive essay. Shows importance of printing in extending debates beyond academic circlesCrossRef Google Scholar

Ong, Walter J. Ramus: Method and the Decay of Dialogue. From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason (Cambridge, MA, 1958). An influential study of Ramus's method. Stresses importance of printGoogle Scholar

Panofsky, Erwin. Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art (Uppsala, 1960)Google Scholar

Strauss, Gerald. “A Sixteenth-Century Encyclopedia: Sebastian Münster's Cosmography and Its Editions.” In From the Renaissance to the Counter-Reformation, ed. Carter, C. H. (New York, 1965), 145–63. Useful examination of successive printed editions of a sixteenth-century reference workGoogle Scholar

Yates, Frances. Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (London, 1964). Pioneering study of the authority exerted upon Renaissance scholars by writings attributed to the Egyptian scribal god, Hermes Trismegistus – writings that were translated into Latin by Marsilio Ficino and printed in the late fifteenth centuryGoogle Scholar

Black, Michael H. “The Printed Bible.” In Cambridge History of the Bible. Vol. 3, The West from the Reformation to the Present Day, ed. Greenslade, S. L. (Cambridge, 1963), 408–75. A mine of information on early Bible printing by a former editor of the Cambridge University PressCrossRef Google Scholar

Bossy, John. “The Counter Reformation and the People of Catholic Europe.” Past and Present 47 (May 1970): 51–70. Stresses comparative perspectives and deals with questions pertaining to “household religion.”CrossRef Google Scholar

Box, G. H. “Hebrew Studies in the Reformation Period and After.” In The Legacy of Israel, ed. Bevan, E. R. and Singer, Charles (Oxford, 1927), 315–75. Self-explanatory titleGoogle Scholar

Chrisman, Miriam Usher. Lay Culture, Learned Culture, Books and Social Change in Strasbourg, 1480–1599 (New Haven, CT, 1982). Comprehensive study of Strasbourg books and printers during age of ReformationCrossRef Google Scholar

Davis, Natalie Z. “The Protestant Printing Workers of Lyons in 1551.” In Aspects de la propagande religieuse, ed. Meylan, H. (Geneva, 1957), 247–57Google Scholar

Davis, Natalie Z. “Strikes and Salvation in Lyons.” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 56 (1965): 48–64. Two articles that offer close-up views of journeyman typographers' activities during era of religious warsCrossRef Google Scholar

Elton, Geoffrey R. Policy and Police: The Enforcement of the Reformation in the Age of Thomas Cromwell (Cambridge, 1972). See especially chapter 4. Brings out measures taken by Thomas Cromwell to control public opinion by exploiting printGoogle Scholar

Grendler, Paul F. The Roman Inquisition and the Venetian Press 1540–1605 (Princeton, NJ, 1977). Self-explanatory title. Careful study based on archival researchGoogle Scholar

Grossmann, Maria. “Wittenberg Printing, Early Sixteenth Century.” Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies 1 (1970): 53–74. Helps to set stage for Lutheran printingCrossRef Google Scholar

Hall, Basil. “Biblical Scholarship: Editions and Commentaries.” In Cambridge History of the Bible. Vol. 3, The West from the Reformation to the Present Day, ed. Greenslade, S. L. (Cambridge, 1963), 38–93. Contains useful material on trilingual studiesCrossRef Google Scholar

Haller, William. The Elect Nation: The Meaning and Relevance of Foxe's Book of Martyrs (New York, 1963). Places more emphasis on importance of printing than do most studies of Foxe's work. Exaggerates nationalistic themes according to criticsGoogle Scholar

Hillerbrand, Hans. “The Spread of the Protestant Reformation of the Sixteenth Century.” The South Atlantic Quarterly 67 (Spring 1968): 265–86. Elementary. Brief surveyGoogle Scholar

Holborn, Louise. “Printing and the Growth of a Protestant Movement in Germany from 1517–1524.” Church History II (June 1942): 1–15. Useful brief accountGoogle Scholar

Loades, D. M. “The Theory and Practice of Censorship in Sixteenth Century England.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, ser. 5 (1974): 141–57. Excellent brief accountGoogle Scholar

Monter, E. William. Calvin's Geneva (New York, 1967). Contains useful data on rise of printing industry after Calvin's arrivalGoogle Scholar

Ong, Walter J. The Presence of the Word (New Haven, CT, 1967). Provocative essays relating orality, chirography, and typography to religious experiences within Western ChristendomGoogle Scholar

Rekers, B. Benito Arias Montano, 1527–1598. Studies of the Warburg Institute 3 (London, 1972). Close-up study of chaplain of Philip II of Spain, who was sent to Antwerp to supervise the printing by Christopher Plantin of a polyglot Bible and who was converted to Plantin's heterodox “familist” faithGoogle Scholar

Schwartz, W. Principles and Problems of Biblical Translations: Some Reformation Controversies and Their Background (Cambridge, 1955). Helpful guidance to diverse schools of Bible translationGoogle Scholar

Schweibert, Ernest C. “New Groups and Ideas at the University of Wittenberg.” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 49 (1958): 60–78. Brings out connections between Wittenberg librarian and Aldine press in VeniceCrossRef Google Scholar

Scribner, R. W. For the Sake of Simple Folk: Popular Propaganda for the German Reformation (Cambridge, 1981). Emphasizes importance of nonverbal images, cartoons, caricatures, and so forth in conveying Lutheran message to massesGoogle Scholar

Smalley, Beryl. The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (South Bend, IN, 1964). Authoritative work. Provides data on how scribal scholars tried repeatedly to emend Jerome's version and protect it from corruptionGoogle Scholar

Spitz, Lewis. The Religious Renaissance of the German Humanists (Cambridge, MA, 1963). Biographical sketches of Northern humanists who took advantage of printingCrossRef Google Scholar

Trevor-Roper, Hugh R. The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century: Religion, the Reformation, and Social Change (New York, 1968). Stimulating essays on the religious origins of the EnlightenmentGoogle Scholar

Verwey, H. de la Fontaine. “The Family of Love.” Quaerendo 6 (1976): 219–71. Introduction to the heterodox sect which attracted circles of printers and engravers in the NetherlandsCrossRef Google Scholar

Williams, George H. The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia, 1962). Useful background on heterodox sects which attracted many Continental printers, booksellers, and engravers during the age of religious warsGoogle Scholar

Woodfield, Dennis. Surreptitious Printing in England 1550–1690 (New York, 1973). Provides close-up view of clandestine operations in Tudor and Stuart EnglandGoogle Scholar

Yates, Frances. “Paolo Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 7 (1944): 123–44. Study of influential antipapist treatise written by Venetian churchman and popularized in EnglandCrossRef Google Scholar

Ben-David, Joseph. “The Scientific Role: The Conditions of Its Establishment in Europe.” Minerva 4 (1965): 15–20. Typical sociological treatment of problemGoogle Scholar

Boas, Marie. The Scientific Renaissance (New York, 1962). Standard survey. Downplays role of printingGoogle Scholar

Butterfield, Herbert. The Origins of Modern Science 1300–1800, rev. ed. (New York, 1951). Best introductory accountGoogle Scholar

Butterfield, Herbert. Dictionary of Scientific Biography, ed. Gillispie, C. C., 14 vols. (New York, 1970). Should be consulted for biographies of individuals associated with rise of modern science. Excellent brief essays by acknowledged authoritiesGoogle Scholar

Drake, Stillman (ed. and tr.). Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo (New York, 1957). Selections from Galileo's writings combined with historical commentary by editor make this a most useful little book for undergraduatesGoogle Scholar

Drake, Stillman. “Early Science and the Printed Book: The Spread of Science Beyond the University.” Renaissance and Reformation 6 (1970): 38–52. One of few discussions of relationship between printing and sixteenth-century science by specialist in Galileo studies. As subtitle suggests, popularization and vernacular translation are stressed. Effects of printing on Latin-writing professors are discounted. Nonverbal (pictorial and mathematical) printing is ignoredGoogle Scholar

Gingerich, Owen. “Copernicus and the Impact of Printing.” Vistas in Astronomy 17 (1975): 201–9. By Harvard professor of astronomy who has drawn up an inventory of extant copies of De revolutionibus Google Scholar

Hall, A. Rupert. “The Scholar and the Craftsman in the Scientific Revolution.” In Critical Problems in the History of Science, ed. Clagett, M. (Madison, WI, 1969), 3–24. Important essay (in an important collection) concerning role of both Latin learning and craft experience in scientific developmentsGoogle Scholar

Haydn, Hiram. The Counter Renaissance (New York, 1950). Sixteenth-century empirical reaction to “bookish” classicizing trends is documented and discussedGoogle Scholar

Hellmann, C. Doris. The Comet of 1577: Its Place in the History of Astronomy (New York, 1944). Detailed and dry monograph, but useful in that it provides an appropriate context for Tycho's “discoveries.”CrossRef Google Scholar

Hooykaas, Reijer. Religion and the Rise of Modern Science (Edinburgh, 1972). Sets forth thesis that Protestant theology was a necessary prerequisite for rise of modern scienceGoogle Scholar

Ivins, William. Three Vesalian Essays (New York, 1952). Brings out importance of prints and engravings for anatomical studyGoogle Scholar

Keller, Alex (ed.). A Theatre of Machines (New York, 1965). An edited, translated edition of Jacques Besson's 1579 work, with a useful introduction and notesGoogle Scholar

Koestler, Arthur, The Sleepwalkers (London, 1959)Google Scholar

Koyré, Alexandre. From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe (Baltimore, 1957). English translation of French work by an important historian of astronomy who discusses the cosmological implications of CopernicanismGoogle Scholar

Kuhn, Thomas S. The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought (Cambridge, MA, 1957). A well-received, now-standard account. Role of printing not notedGoogle Scholar

Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, rev. ed. (Chicago, 1970). An enormously influential reinterpretation of scientific innovations relevant to the downfall of Ptolemy, Aristotle, Galen, and others. Ignores the printing “revolution.”Google Scholar

McGuire, J. E., and Rattansi, P. M. “Newton and the ‘Pipes of Pan.’” Notes and Records of the Royal Society 21 (Dec. 1966): 108–43. Documents Newton's concern with the “hermetic” traditionGoogle Scholar

Merton, Robert K. Science, Technology, and Society in Seventeenth Century England, rev. ed. (New York, 1970). Influential attempt to apply the “Weber thesis” to seventeenth-century English science. Work is now outdated, but updated bibliography is usefulGoogle Scholar

Middleton, W. E. K. The Experimenters: A Study of the “Accademia del Cimento” (Baltimore, 1971). Monograph on the chief Italian scientific societyGoogle Scholar

Rosen, Edward. “Renaissance Science as Seen by Burckhardt and His Successors.” In The Renaissance: A Reconsideration, ed. Helton, T. (Madison, WI, 1964), 77–103. Defense of the Burckhardt thesis against attacks by medievalistsGoogle Scholar

Rosen, Edward. (ed. and tr.). Three Copernican Treatises, 3rd ed. (New York, 1971). A very useful collection of Copernican writings, translated and edited by an acknowledged authority. A brief biography of Copernicus is includedGoogle Scholar

Rossi, Paolo. Philosophy, Technology, and the Arts in the Early Modern Era, tr. S. Attanasio, ed. Nelson, Benjamin (New York, 1970). First Italian ed., 1962. Useful brief essays by Italian biographer of Francis Bacon. Deals with many of the same issues that are raised in this bookGoogle Scholar

Sarton, George. Six Wings (Bloomington, IN, 1957)Google Scholar

Sarton, George. Appreciation of Ancient and Medieval Science During the Renaissance 1450–1600, 2d ed. (New York, 1958)Google Scholar

Sarton, George. “The Quest for Truth: Scientific Progress During the Renaissance.” In The Renaissance: Six Essays. Metropolitan Museum Symposium (New York, 1962), chap. 3. By the late Harvard professor who helped to introduce the history of science as an academic discipline in the United States. Unlike later scholars, Sarton stresses the importance of “the double invention of printing and engraving”Google Scholar

Shipman, Joseph. “Johannes Petreius, Nuremberg Publisher of Scientific Works, 1524–1550.” In Homage to a Bookman, Essays … for Hans P. Kraus, ed. Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut (Berlin, 1967), 154–62. Brief essay on publisher of Copernicus, Cardano, and other sixteenth-century natural philosophersGoogle Scholar

Stillwell, Margaret Bingham. The Awakening Interest in Science During the First Century of Printing, 1450–1550: An Annotated Checklist of First Editions (New York, 1970). Helpful reference guideGoogle Scholar

Thorndike, Lynn Jr. A History of Magic and Experimental Science: The Sixteenth Century, Vols. 5 and 6 in single volume (New York, 1941). Part of a massive work emphasizing the amount of pseudoscientific trash printed in the sixteenth centuryGoogle Scholar

Warner, Deborah H. “The First Celestial Globe of Willem Janszoon Blaeu.” Imago Mundi 25 (1971): 29–38. Contains much pertinent dataGoogle Scholar

Webster, Charles (ed.). The Intellectual Revolution of the Seventeenth Century. Past and Present series (London, 1975). Collection of essays (by Christopher Hill, Hugh Kearney, Theodore Rabb, and others) that first appeared in Past and Present debating issues pertaining to religion and the rise of modern science in EnglandGoogle Scholar

Westman, Robert. “The Melanchthon Circle, Rheticus, and the Wittenberg Interpretation of the Copernican Theory.” Isis 66 (June 1975): 285–345. By leading authority on the reception of the Copernican theoryCrossRef Google Scholar

Westman, Robert. (ed.). The Copernican Achievement (Los Angeles, 1975). Contains articles by Gingerich, Swerdlow, and other historians of astronomy including the editorCrossRef Google Scholar

Whiteside, D. T. “Newton's Marvellous Year: 1666 and All That.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 21 (June 1966): 32–42Google Scholar

Whiteside, D. T. “Before the Principia: The Maturing of Newton's Thought … 1664–1684.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 1 (1970): 5–20. By a leading authority on Newton's mathematical papers. Useful data on young Newton's reading materialsCrossRef Google Scholar

Wightman, W. P. D. Science and the Renaissance. 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1962). Considerable space devoted to role of printingGoogle Scholar