From Codex to Computer

This volume emerged from the 2013 conference ‘Resurrecting the Book’, which the researcher conceived and organised to commemorate the opening of the Library of Birmingham. The ensuing publication concentrates on the materiality of the book and the timeframe deliberates on two key moments: the hand-press period when printing challenged the hegemony of manuscript production; and our own age when the arrival of the computer and the production of e-books similarly questions modi operandi. It is now a commonplace to maintain that the current technological revolution has many affinities with the upheaval that accompanied the advent of the printing press. This volume argues that the parallels, continuities and differences in the material form of the book and its production, dissemination and use at these two junctures are worth re-exploring because they are both more complex and nuanced than first appears. This volume looks, therefore, at important issues about the materiality of the book. Rather than suggest a confrontational relationship between manuscript, print and digital, it shows how different forms intersect and yet remain sui generis