ENGL 333-002
2022W2
Lecture 1: Unfolding The History of The Book
January 9th, 2023
Introduction
Taking a media approach to the book is not merely a book but a medium.
● Homer wrote the Illiad, which he sang from memory – these are books! They are
moveable because he moved from city to city, singing his epics, but he didn’t physically
“turn” pages.
We are “unfolding the history of the book” because historians of the book have never treated the
book as a physical object – we start to learn that it has always been moveable.
● The book started as something that was folded and had flaps.
● When writing became dominant, and the book was created, we entered into “flat land.”
○ We are no longer spherical (our voices are above, in front, and below us)
● Not a static history of the codex – the history of the book starts in orality and ends up in
electronic media.
2022W2
Lecture 1: Unfolding The History of The Book
January 9th, 2023
Introduction
Taking a media approach to the book is not merely a book but a medium.
● Homer wrote the Illiad, which he sang from memory – these are books! They are
moveable because he moved from city to city, singing his epics, but he didn’t physically
“turn” pages.
We are “unfolding the history of the book” because historians of the book have never treated the
book as a physical object – we start to learn that it has always been moveable.
● The book started as something that was folded and had flaps.
● When writing became dominant, and the book was created, we entered into “flat land.”
○ We are no longer spherical (our voices are above, in front, and below us)
● Not a static history of the codex – the history of the book starts in orality and ends up in
electronic media.
