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Books, Readers, and Society
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
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- Copyright © 1990 by the History of Education Society
References
1. Carpenter, Kenneth E., ed., Books and Society in History (New York, 1983).Google Scholar
2. Resnick, Daniel P., ed., Literacy in Historical Perspective (Washington, D.C., 1983).Google Scholar
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5. For an overview of the field, see Hall, David D. and Hench, John B., eds., Needs and Opportunities in the History of the Book: America, 1639–1876 (Worcester, Mass., 1987). Articles relevant to various aspects of the field are published regularly in such journals as the Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, Printing History, and American Quarterly. Among the many notable works published during the 1980s on print culture and books outside of North America are Chartier, Roger, The Cultural Uses of Print in Early Modern France, trans. Cochrane, Lydia G. (Princeton, N.J., 1987); and Marker, Gary, Publishing, Printing, and the Origins of Intellectual Life in Russia, 1700–1800 (Princeton, N.J., 1985).Google Scholar
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10. Somewhat neglected by both Brown and Gilmore is the impact on book production of the expansion of schooling in the first half of the nineteenth century. Primers and ABC books were staples of the colonial and early national press, along with stationery, business forms, and the like. By 1820 textbooks represented the single largest category of American book production as measured by dollar revenues. According to data presented in Lehmann-Haupt, Hellmut, The Book in America: A History of the Making and Selling of Books in the United States, 2d ed. (New York, 1952), 122ff., revenues from textbooks increased nearly eight-fold from 1820 through 1850 while total revenues in the industry increased only five-fold.Google Scholar
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36. The literature on the psychological study of reading is vast and is scattered across a number of separate fields of inquiry. A good starting point is David Pearson, P. et al., eds., Handbook of Reading Research (New York, 1984). Earlier comprehensive works include Eleanor Gibson, J. and Levin, Harry, The Psychology of Reading (Cambridge, Mass., 1975); Anderson, Irving H. and Dearborn, Walter F., The Psychology of Teaching Reading (New York, 1952); and chapter 10 of Woodworth, Robert S., Experimental Psychology (New York, 1938).Google Scholar
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