| Oral | Scribal | Typographical |
| rural
direct communication sound & speech (voice & ear) speaker & audience share space/ face-to-face time limited and space bound spontaneous context-based evanescent fluid community focused no receptacle uses circular mnemonic devices (recognized) to move forward available to all members passed down generations collective memory flexible no survival communication: outward |
rural (monasteries) then urban (universities)
indirect communication written down in an object economy of scarcity controlled by religion may be sold but not as a business venture monks worked for free and scribes are controlled by the universities hand copied by a single person 1 copy = 1 text image-focused each object is unique rare and expensive beautiful and revered for its looks and manufacture read, spoken, and heard 1 book= 1 reader = group of listeners (sight, voice, and hearing) (read aloud to community) available to few owned by church institutions and read by clergy & elite fixed text (with errors) no space or punctuation not time or space bound locked up & guarded as high art not concerned with reality & the world favors intensive reading few readers permitted publication dictated by religious powers text kept in monasteries or universities texts memorized collective memory dictated by religion precarious survival communication: upward |
urban (large centers)
indirect communication written down in an object economy of abundance capitalist venture mass communication 1 copy = 1000s machine-made identical copies cheaper and more common created an industry with a specialized workforce commercial product fixed, corrected, and standardized encourages the use of the vernacular and the standardization of Europe major languages rise of dictionaries adopts a more consistent page layout new fonts text-focused small format, portable versions allows for comparison and checking of facts not time and space bound may be read aloud to others or in solitude and reflection silent individual reading favours sight favors extensive reading book may be owned by an individual used by scholars to discuss reality & the world data collected, compared and retrieved made for an audience literacy rate up and continues to increase rise of popular reading culture mass publication: ephemera (pamphlets, indulgences, short-term announcements) broadly dissiminated birth of marketing: agents, catalogues and stock lists censored by state and church texts consulted rather than memorized collective memory fixed, recorded, and consulted survival ensured by number of copies communication: inward |
History of the Book WRIT.4720
