How to Do Things with Books in Victorian Britain

by Leah Price

Book Overview

How to Do Things with Books in Victorian Britain asks how our culture came to frown on using books for any purpose other than reading. When did the coffee-table book become an object of scorn? Why did law courts forbid witnesses to kiss the Bible? What made Victorian cartoonists mock commuters who hid behind the newspaper, ladies who matched their books' binding to their dress, and servants who reduced newspapers to fish 'n' chips wrap?...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 069111417X
• ISBN13: 9780691114170
• Release Date: April 2012
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.3"