Book

Smith, Emma (Emma Josephine), author.

Portable magic : a history of books and their readers / Emma Smith.

First American edition.

New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2022.

337 pages ; 22 cm

"Most of what we say about books is really about the words inside them: the rosy nostalgic glow for childhood reading, the lifetime companionship of a much-loved novel. But books are things as well as words, objects in our lives as well as worlds in our heads. And just as we crack their spines, loosen their leaves and write in their margins, so they disrupt and disorder us in turn. All books are, as Stephen King put it, 'a uniquely portable magic'. Here, Emma Smith shows us why"-- Provided by publisher.

Books -- History.

Books and reading -- History.

Book industries and trade -- History.

Books -- Anecdotes.

Books and reading -- Anecdotes.

"Originally published in by Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK., in London in 2022."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Magic books -- Beginnings: East, West and Gutenberg -- Queen Victoria in the trenches -- Christmas, gift books and abolition -- Shelfies: Anne, Marilyn and Madame de Pompadour -- Silent Spring and the making of a classic -- The Titanic and book traffic -- Religions of the book -- 10 May 1933: burning books -- Library books, camp, and malicious damage -- Censored books: '237 goddams, 58 bastards, 31 Chrissakes, and 1 fart' -- Mein Kampf : freedom to publish? -- Talismanic books -- Skin in the game: book-binding and African-American poetry -- Choose Your Own Adventure: readers' work -- The empire writes back -- What is a book? -- Epilogue: Books and transformation.

2022018062

9781524749095

9780593081839

1319345983

1

0

1

989670

1

1

002.09 Smith