How does our understanding of Romantic literature change when we shift the focus from bound books to unbound forms? Assumptions about the book as a bound object have isolated literature from overlapping material cultures of book making, reading, viewing, and collecting. The Book Unbound reconstructs a Romantic textual condition of unbound forms in which the book acted as a repository for open-ended collections of discrete book parts, prints, watercolours, manuscripts, and serial publications, ca. 1750-1850.
Three case studies trace changing material practices of book making before and after publisher's bindings marked a turning point from a culture of unbound books. Through the restricted coterie gathered around Horace Walpole's private press at Strawberry Hill, William Blake's printmaker-poet's book making, and Charles Dickens's serialized part publications, this monograph changes understandings of the book as a medium.
| ISBN: | 9781009599986 |
| Publication date: | 8th January 2026 |
| Author: | Luisa Calè |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 316 pages |
| Series: | Cambridge Studies in Romanticism |
| Genres: |
Manuscripts and illumination Material culture Publishing and book trade Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800 Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 |
How does our understanding of Romantic literature change when we shift the focus from bound books to unbound forms? Assumptions about the book as a bound object have isolated literature from overlapping material cultures of book making, reading, viewing, and collecting.
The Book Unbound features in the following genres: Manuscripts and illumination, Material culture, Publishing and book trade, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900
Hardback. Not Available.
The Book Unbound was written by Luisa Calè and published by Cambridge University Press
The Book Unbound has 316 pages
Yes it is part of Cambridge Studies in Romanticism series