White Magic: The Age of Paper

White Magic: The Age of Paper

Paper is older than the printing press, and even in its unprinted state it was the great network medium behind the emergence of modern civilization. In the shape of bills, banknotes and accounting books it was indispensible to the economy. As forms and files it was essential to bureaucracy. As letters it became the setting for the invention of the modern soul, and as newsprint it became a stage for politics.

In this brilliant new book Lothar MÃ¼ller describes how paper made its way from China through the Arab world to Europe, where it permeated everyday life in a variety of formats from the thirteenth century onwards, and how the paper technology revolution of the nineteenth century paved the way for the creation of the modern daily press. His key witnesses are the works of Rabelais and Grimmelshausen, Balzac and Herman Melville, James Joyce and Paul ValÃ©ry.

MÃ¼ller writes not only about books, however: he also writes about pamphlets, playing cards, papercutting and legal pads. We think we understand the ?Gutenberg era?, but we can understand it better when we explore the world that underpinned it: the paper age.

Today, with the proliferation of digital devices, paper may seem to be a residue of the past, but MÃ¼ller shows that the humble technology of paper is in many ways the most fundamental medium of the modern world.
Country USA
Brand Wiley
Manufacturer Polity
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 9780745672533
UnitCount 1
Format Illustrated
EANs 9780745672533
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	Wiley
Manufacturer	Polity
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	9780745672533
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
EANs	9780745672533
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

White Magic: The Age of Paper

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