A Cultural History of Paper
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Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers with a strong interest in book history, media history, or material culture
- Scholars seeking a deeper understanding of the technological drivers behind the Renaissance, the Reformation, or modern European social change
- Deep readers who enjoy tracing the transformation of an everyday object within a grand civilizational context
- Professionals in publishing, archives, libraries, or information management who wish to see through to the essence of their field
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking light, entertaining reading or a simple introduction to papercraft
- Readers expecting a strongly narrative, personal-story-driven work of nonfiction
Reading tips
- Can be read alongside classics of book history such as The Printing Press as an Agent of Change and The Gutenberg Galaxy to build a more three-dimensional picture of media change
- While reading, pay attention to two undercurrents: the dimension of 'time' (how paper's durability influenced historical consciousness) and the dimension of 'space' (how paper facilitated the shift of centers of knowledge)
- The book involves a great deal of European history and many figures; consulting background materials as needed will make for a smoother reading experience
About the publisher
Guangdong People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher whose list spans Eastern philosophy, philosophical works, history, foreign literature, documentary literature and classical literature. Its holdings include 255 titles, with representative books such as Wang Yangming's Instructions for Practical Living, Plato's Republic, Jiang Tingfu's Modern Chinese History, Natsume Soseki's I Am a Cat, Albert Camus's The Stranger, Nazi Germany and the Philosophers: A Man's Exile, The Winter of Literature: Artists under Hitler's Rule in 1933, and the five-volume Three Words and Two Slaps. Its authors and translators include Wang Yangming, Plato, Jiang Tingfu, Natsume Soseki, Albert Camus, Ding Wei, Xu Jianxiong and Li Yumin. The publisher balances philosophical classics, historical works and translated foreign literature, with attention to both classical and documentary literature. Public information is limited, so this introduction focuses on the publishing directions reflected in its catalog.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 前言 微生物思想实验
- 第一部分 纸在欧洲的传播
- 第一章 来自撒马尔罕的纸
- 阿拉伯帝国
- 开罗的书法和字纸篓
- 在山鲁佐德的世界里
- 帖木儿和苏莱卡
- 第二章 沙沙作响
- 欧洲造纸厂的兴起
- 纸、学者和纸牌
- 档案的兴起：纸国王、办公厅和秘书
- 热那亚商人和他无声的合伙人
- 破布收集者、书写者和布道
- 第三章 广泛的实体
- 马歇尔·麦克卢汉和拉伯雷的庞大固埃
- 哈罗德·伊尼斯、邮政事业和梅菲斯特的纸片
- 纸中的世界：水印、格式和颜色
- 第二部分 版面背后
- 第四章 印刷和非印刷
- 范式陷阱：从手稿到印刷
- 白纸
- “选自××的文稿”
- 第五章 冒险家和纸
- 堂·吉诃德、印刷术和羽毛笔
- 流浪的纸、《痴儿西木传》和剃刀
- 鲁滨孙的日记、墨水和时间
- 第六章 易于察觉的排版
- 书信体小说对信纸的模仿
- 劳伦斯·斯特恩、直线和大理石花纹纸
- 印刷品的碎片化：让·保尔、利希滕贝格和摘录
- 第三部分 大举扩张
- 第七章 造纸机
- 造纸过程的机械化
- 织布机、法国大革命和信贷
- 巴尔扎克《幻灭》中的新闻界和报纸阴谋
- 抄写员的秘密：查尔斯·狄更斯和尼姆先生
- 大页纸和工厂女工：赫尔曼·梅尔维尔和造纸机
- 第八章 新闻纸和大众媒体的兴起
- 无限的原材料基础
- 报纸、纸价和臣仆
- 爱弥尔·左拉、法国《小日报》和德雷福斯事件
- 第九章 被照亮的内心世界
- 威廉·狄尔泰、历史主义和遗稿
- 亨利·詹姆斯、伊迪丝·华顿和寻找名家手稿
- 幻灯—纸和室内装饰
- 第十章 现代性的商品
- 打字纸、手工纸和白色空间
- 詹姆斯·乔伊斯、报纸和剪刀
- 威廉·加迪斯、纸化交易危机与穿孔卡片
- 莱纳尔德·戈茨、神奇写字板和纸的气味
- 后记 模拟和数字
FAQ
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About the author
Lothar Müller is an author represented in this Chinese book database by a single work, A Cultural History of Paper. His English name, nationality, birth and death dates, and other biographical details are not recorded in the database, and publicly available information is quite limited. Judging from the subject and the common classification of this representative work, Müller's writing focuses on cultural history, using paper—an apparently ordinary medium—as a thread to trace its role and significance in the course of civilization. Such an approach typically does not settle for listing dates and events, but instead begins where technology, reading habits, the spread of knowledge, and daily life intersect, turning a material carrier into a window for observing cultural change. For Chinese readers, this book offers an entry point for understanding history through the lens of media, and draws attention to how writing materials themselves help shape thought and society. Given the scarcity of biographical material, readers may best approach Müller through his work, attending to his choice of perspective and narrative style rather than rushing to assemble a complete personal résumé.
He Xiaoyi is an author about whom limited public information is available. Two works by this author can currently be identified, touching on the fields of culture and business management respectively. The representative work A Cultural History of Paper belongs to cultural writing, offering a historical and cultural examination of paper as an everyday medium, combining informative content with readability. The other work, Absolute Closing, falls under management and addresses practical topics such as sales and closing techniques. Judging from these works, He Xiaoyi's writing spans the humanities and business, covering both cultural history narration and operation-oriented business subjects; the focus is thus fairly broad, and no consistent stylistic profile can yet be drawn. As information such as dates of birth and death, nationality, educational background, and writing career is not publicly recorded, a personal biography cannot be provided at present, and readers may learn about the author's writing orientation through the two works mentioned above.
Song Qiong: publicly available information about this author is currently limited, and basic details such as biography, nationality, and dates of birth and death have not been clearly recorded. According to the library's holdings, Song Qiong has one work to date, A Cultural History of Paper, which is classified under culture. The book centers on paper as an important medium that carries civilization, and belongs to the field of cultural history writing. Judging from the choice of subject, the author attends to the historical threads and cultural meanings behind an everyday object, and tends to use a concrete item as a thread to trace its role and influence in the course of human civilization. Writing of this kind usually requires both the ability to organize historical sources and the ability to express things accessibly, presenting paper's origins, evolution, and spread while keeping general readers engaged. Since only this one work is currently known, it is difficult to judge Song Qiong's overall style and trajectory as a writer, or to confirm whether the author has long been engaged in cultural history research or writing. Readers who wish to learn more about this author can only begin with the text of A Cultural History of Paper itself, observing its narrative approach, selection of materials, and points of focus.
