Glossary of Terms: Book History
This Glossary of Terms is compiled by students, and will be an ongoing
project. To date, the following terms have been annotated:
Author
Chapbooks
Manuscript
Point
Reader
Scribe
Stereotype
for which we thank the following students:
Silvia Fehlow, Marcel Fromme, Diana Fulger, Melaine Hoehr, Lena
Hilmer, Carolin Mönter, Christina Seeliger, Alethea R. Wait, and Nils
Zumbansen
each of whom participated in the Making Books, Shaping Readers
Summer School at the University of Bielefeld, Germany, August 27th –
31st 2007
Instructors: Dr Siobhán Collins, Dr Carrie Griffin, & Mary O’ Connell,
University College Cork
Author
In the early 18th century, the definition of the term author was fairly wide; that is, the
concept of author was equated with editor, for example (cf. Harmon 45). Consequently,
the creativity of the author was undermined since editor basically implies the notion of
merely compiling texts and preparing them for publication. It was only later that author
was associated with writer, and therefore was ‘promoted’ to the realm of creativity, as it
were. In other words, the author’s “imaginative and intellectual powers in the
construction of a given literary text…” (Wolfreys et al. 13) were appreciated and took
center stage. Nonetheless, with the advent of post-structuralism, the idea of the author as
the sole creative mind behind the text has been called into question and has also become
subject to debate again (cf. Ibid). Roland Barthes, in particular, seems to endorse the
renunciation of the conventional assumption that the author is the creator of literary
texts; hence, only he or she has the power to bestow meaning on the text. In his essay
“The Death of the Author” (1968), Barthes asserts that a text consists of “quotations
drawn from innumerable centres of culture” (121). Accordingly, the writer simply repeats
already existing ideas, words, and themes, which refutes the premise that an author
creates something new. Barthes then concludes as follows: “Once the Author is removed,
the claim to decipher a text becomes quite futile” (Ibid.). This means that dispensing with
the functions of the author liberates the text from a fixed meaning; thus, the reader is
empowered to ascribe his or her own meaning to the words of the text. Now, the only
task left for the author is to compile and blend words together. Apparently, there seems to
be a tendency to deny authors the power of constructing something entirely new, which
is reminiscent of the ‘old’ equation of author and editor. All in all, it can be argued that
even today the concept of author is anything but easy to define and remains disputable.
_____________________________________________________________
References
Barthes, Roland. 1968. “The Death of the Author.” Modern Literary Theory: A Reader.
3rd. ed. Philip Rice and Waugh Patricia (eds.). London: Arnold, 1996.
Harmon, William and Holman, C. Hugh. A Handbook To Literature. 8th. ed. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 2000.
Wolfreys, Julian, Robbins, Ruth and Womack, Kenneth. Key Concepts In Literary
Theory. 2nd. ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2006.
Contributed by Marcel Fromme
Chapbook
The so-called chapbooks emerged as early as the 16th century and had their heydays in
the course of the 18th century (cf. Harmon 88). Their name derived from chapmen (i.e.
hawkers) who predominately advertised and sold these particular books. As for their
distribution, there was a high demand for those books in England as well as in America
and that is where they were most popular. Contents-wise, “Chapbooks dealt with all sorts
of topics and incidents: travel tales, murder cases, prodigies, strange occurrences,
witchcraft, fairly tales, biographies, religious legends and tracts” (Ibid.). This means that
the contents of these books appealed to the broad masses. Even abridged versions of
famous novels like Robinson Crusoe, Don Quixote, and The Pilgrim’s Progress were
published as chapbooks (cf. http://www.iupui.edu/~engwft/chapbooks.htm). All the
same, the stories often lacked quality as anonymous authors simply copied from
(bestselling) books without a license. Furthermore, the books were relatively short since
they only contained 16 to 32 pages (cf. Harmon 88). With regard to the materiality, a
chapbook was characteristically of poor quality and badly produced. That is to say, it
consisted of cheap paper, was poorly printed, and was frequently devoid of a cover (cf.
http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/britlit/cbooks/cbook1.html). However, a chapbook was
affordable even for a member of the working class, which vastly contributed to the spread
of chapbooks since literacy increased amongst the ‘lower classes’ (cf. Ibid.). At present,
it is worth mentioning that “[t]he term [chapbook] has been revived as the name for
miscellaneous small books and pamphlets” (Harmon 88). Today, especially collections of
shorter
poems
are
published
in
the
form
of
chapbooks
(see
http://parallelpress.library.wisc.edu/chapbooks/poetry/)
________________________________________________________________________
References
Harmon, William and Holman, C. Hugh. A Handbook To Literature. 8th. ed. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall, 2000.
L 390 Children’s Literature: Lecture Notes and Slides. 13th September 2007
<http://www.iupui.edu/~engwft/chapbooks.htm>
The Scottish Chapbook Project. 20 June 2002. Department of Rare Books and
Special
Collections.
14th
September
2007
http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/britlit/cbooks/cbook1.html
Parallel Press Poetry Chapbooks. University of Wisconsin-Madison. 13th September
2007http://parallelpress.library.wisc.edu/chapbooks/poetry/
Contributed by Nils Zumbansen
Manuscript
A manuscript is a book written by hand (especially those from the Middle Ages). The
term derives from the Latin words manus (hand) and scribere (write). The so-called
manuscript culture began around 1100 AD and ended ca.1500 AD with the invention of
the moveable type and the printing press. There existed two forms of a manuscript: the
scroll (prominent in antiquity) which was a rolled book made from papyrus; and the
codex, consisting of pages bound together and given a cover. The latter form will be
described in the following paragraph.
The writing material of a codex could be either paper or parchment: Parchment,
which was made from sheep or calf skin, was very expensive to produce but long lasting.
Paper, made from linen or rags, was much cheaper but not as durable as parchment.
When studying the design of a manuscript, it becomes obvious that these medieval works
were highly valuable goods. For example, wide margins are scarcely found in a
handwritten book, thereby indicating wealth and a high status in society. From a modern
reader’s perspective other constituents such as headings, titles, chapters, page numbers,
and indices are generally missing. These aspects made the reading process of a
manuscript much slower than today. Nevertheless, in order to facilitate the reading of a
medieval book initial letters were included in many manuscripts. Many a time a different
colour of ink was used for emphasizing these capital letters and they frequently
incorporated ornaments or illustrations. Additionally, a number of manuscripts opened
with a prologue which explained the theme of the present work.
The great majority of manuscripts (around 90%) do not include any information
about the author of a book. However, this is the one of the least significant aspects one
needs to know about a medieval text because writing a manuscript was separated from
authorship. The author only composed the text and, in most cases, had no control of its
production and distribution. Involved in the process of making a manuscript were mainly
the following persons: the scribe, who were paid for writing books (and often changed or
corrupted them), the binder, and the printer, who was until the 18th century also the
publisher and the seller of a book.
Since each manuscript was unique and highly expensive in its production the
early readership was predominantly aristocratic or clerical. Such early books focused on
religious texts whilst from 1350 onwards more secular texts appeared as more people got
access to books. Since manuscripts could be used by many different persons at the same
time and for different reasons, it was not unusual that it contained a conglomerate of legal
texts, recipes, orders or romances.
________________________________________________________________________
References
Mediaevum. “Information about Manuscripts”. URL: http://english.mediaevum.de/.
(visited September 10th 2007).
Vauchez, Andre ed. Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. Cambridge Clarke, 2000.
Contributed by Silvia Fehlow
Manuscript
Generally speaking a manuscript is any document that is written by hand. The word
manuscript itself derived from the Latin manu scriptus which literally means “written by
hand”. Today a manuscript does not necessarily have to be hand written anymore. Moviescreenplays are also manuscripts even though they are usually typed. Sometimes when
using the word manuscript we also refer to drafts or not yet completed versions of a text.
For example, authors hand in manuscripts to the editor who revises them.
Manuscripts have been present in numerous cultures and existed in various different
forms. There were those that were engraved in wood and those written on parchment and
paper. It is very important to note that the only way of distribution of texts was the
copying of manuscripts by hand. This, however, does not mean that there were exact
copies of one and the same text existing. Usually different manuscripts of the same text
would differ, sometimes little sometimes a lot. Scribes would sometimes change unusual
words the author chose to more common ones in order to convey the meaning more
clearly.
In the Middle Ages religious texts were mostly copied by monks in monasteries.
From there manuscripts were increasingly distributed to universities and therefore
accessible for a greater number of people. One significant change in manuscripts
concerned the form of the texts. In earlier manuscripts it was not unusual that there were
no spaces between words making the text hard to read for inexperienced readers. Later,
however, there was a great emphasis on punctuation, meant to ensure the exact meaning
of a certain text leaving little to no room for interpretation in order to convey one certain
message. Generally manuscript culture was the most important means of distribution of
knowledge until the invention of the printing press.
________________________________________________________________________
References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuscript_culture
Contributed by Lena Hilmer
Point (noun): A unit of typographic measurement that marks approximately 1/72 of an
inch.
Though Guttenberg mainstreamed movable type in the mid 15th century, the technology
of typecutting remained relatively unchanged until the late 1800s (c.f. Phinney, 1996). In
1723, the French government determined that type should be standardized. At the time,
measures of font size were determined largely by local or national custom. Around 1737,
French typesetter Pierre Simon Fournier began to standardize his punches by using a
fixed scale (cf. Pierre Simon Fournier). Approximately ten years later (ca 1783),
François-Ambroise Didot employed Fournier’s method and standardized the unit by
dividing the French Royal inch first by 12 in order to create 1 ligne, and then by 6 in
order to create on Point. Fournier’s measurement was ultimately adopted (cf.
Typographic Unit).
This measurement is still widely used in printing worldwide (with minor size adjustments
for metric and American units, as well as linguistic differences such as accented capital
letters.) Most digital fonts are created using a system that divides an inch into exactly 72
points (cf. Phinney, 1996).
References
Phinney, Thomas W. “A Brief History of Type.” 14 August 1996. Frequently Asked
Questions About Fonts: The comp.fonts FAQ. Ed. Norman Walsh. 20 September
2007.
<http://nwalsh.com/comp.fonts/FAQ/cf_28.htm>
“Point.” Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary. 2005. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.
20 September 2007.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/point>
"Pierre Simon Fournier." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 13 Jun 2007. Wikimedia
Foundation,
Inc.
20
Sep
2007.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pierre_Simon_Fournier&oldid=137917148>.
"Typographic unit." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 9 Jul 2007. Wikimedia
Foundation,
Inc.
20
Sep
2007.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Typographic_unit&oldid=143556198>.
Contributed by Alethea R. Wait
Reader
The very basic meaning of the term describes a person who reads or is able to read any
written text. The reader is an integral part of the literary world in several ways: on a
material level he is the consumer, who buys books as the products of the publishing
system and thus exerts influence on the system by demand of certain topics, styles or
genres. In the reverse, he himself is influenced by marketing strategies of the system, as
he can only read what is published and what his attention is drawn to among the masses
of new publications. The definition of reading would thus be limited to the passive
consumption of a fixed product. It does, however, also make a difference in which form
this product is consumed by the reader, that is whether a text is for example read in an
expensively produced volume with ornamentations and heavy paper, as a paperback or on
the computer screen.
On the other hand, reading is a creative process in itself, though. During this
process, the reader tries to create meaning, incorporating his own knowledge into the
understanding of the text and continuously formulating new expectations. As background
knowledge and expectations vary from person to person, every reader thus attributes a
slightly different meaning to the text. The meaning that was (possibly) intended by the
author then becomes only one interpretation among many others. In contrast to the still
prevalent notion of the author as the ultimate bestower of meaning, the reader then gets a
much more powerful position, which is at least equal to that of the author. In the extreme
it could even be said that the text itself only comes into being when it is read and given
meaning. The reader would then assert even more creative and interpretative power over
the text than the author himself. It is, however, questionable if the reader is really
completely free in his creation of meaning, or whether the text does after all limit its
range of possible interpretations and thereby also the power of the reader.
_______________________________________________________________________
References


http://www.stevencscheer.com/artofreading.htm
http://www.tformaro.com/thesis/reader3.html
Contributed by Christina Seeliger
Scribe
In ancient times, a scribe or scrivener was a public secretary (amanuensis) or clerk who
professionally copied or transcribed manuscripts and documents. This profession refers
back to the Ancient Egypt where scribes were trained in mathematics and writing
hieroglyphs. Their writing material was the papyrus, the precursor of the modern paper.
In the Middle Ages in particular, in which not every townsman was able to write, scribes
were the persons that were specially trained in reading and writing. Their task was to
write down or copy manuscripts and documents and to keep business records for the
gentry, merchants, jurists, and other upper class burgess. From the Renaissance on, a
scribe could also be a writer or journalist for a newspaper or a magazine. In reference to
book history, many scribes were personal secretaries for poets and authors who did the
writing for them. They only had to write what they were dictated by their masters and
were not allowed to add their own ideas to the author’s original manuscript. Accordingly,
scribes were an important part in the production of books as they shaped it with their
verbalism. In the chain of book production, they stood on the first scale in the line of
compiler, commentator and author. The latter only had a limited influence on their
scribes, therefore they sometimes lamented about the bad transcription of their original
manuscript after the release of their book. Nevertheless, authors and their scribes needed
to have a close relationship as authors were dependent on the skills of their employees.
As scribes did not sign their works, only a few important ones are known to book
historians today. Just recently, Cambridge scholars identified the scribe of the famous
medieval author Geoffrey Chaucer. Hence, the London scrivener Adam Pinkhurst has
written the early manuscripts of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.
________________________________________________________________________
References
Datasegment.com Online Dictionary. 2007. Datasegment.com. 13 Sept. 2007
<http://onlinedictionary.datasegment.com/word/scribe>.
Dean, Karen. “Chaucer scribe revealed: University of Cambridge scholar identifies
mystery scribe of The Canterbury Tales.” University of Cambridge Press
Releases. 19 July 2004. University of Cambridge. 13 Sept. 2007
<http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/press/dpp/2004071901>.
Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary. 2007. Merriam-Webster. 13 Sept. 2007
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/scribe>.
MSN Encarta Dictionary. 2007. Encarta World English Dictionary. 13 Sept. 2007
<http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861709700/scribe.html>.
The Free Dictionary by Farlex. 2007. Farlex Inc. 13 Sept. 2007
<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/scribe>
Contributed by Carolin Mönter
Scribe
In medieval times the ability to write was something special. Not everybody attended
school and learned how to write. Even people who were able to read did not have the
ability to write and vice versa. Before the movable type was invented every document
and book had to be copied by hand. Those copies were made by scribes. Scribes had the
ability to copy a text and illustrate it with little pictures and designs surrounding the first
letter of a paragraph and sometimes even decorating the margins of a page. Paper and ink
were very expensive and therefore scribes had to work very carefully. But even if they
did so it was a very hard job to copy a whole book.1
Monasteries had their own scribes which worked in the scriptorium2. There
monks learned the techniques of writing and illustrating books3.
Before universities existed, monasteries were the central places for learning.
Monks copied books mainly for use in worship. However, rulers and high-ranking
churchmen commissioned books from monasteries, including historical records and
Greek and Roman literature.4 Since 1350 noble households had employed scribes. They
had probably a high position among the people because the employment of a scribe was a
status symbol for the master of the house.
Since the movable type was invented the importance scribes had for the
distribution of books, letters and literature sank. The scribe as profession nearly faded
away. They still copied books of hours5 which were famous for their illustrations and
illuminations6. For copying music they were still important because those who were
educated in music were able to recognize the special format a musical piece needed to be
interpreted by the singer or performer in the right way.
_______________________________________________________________________
References
http://www.arsreplika.de/Sonstige_Zeiten/Schreibstube_15_Jh_/schreibstube_15_jh_.html
http://www.artsmia.org/education/teacher-resources/pnt-fivefacts.cfm?v=36#page1 (page 5)
http://www.babylon.com/definition/Scribes/German
http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/writing.htm
1
Even though scribe and to scribble seem to have the same roots the scribe did a very bad job if he
scribbled what he had to copy because books had to look as accurate as possible. And if we look at old
handwritings we realize they almost look like they were printed.
2
Scriptorium = a room like an office, where scribes worked.
3
If you have a closer look at the movie “The Name of the Rose” you may get an idea of the profession of a
scribe and the importance of the distribution of information and learning how to read and write.
4
http://www.artsmia.org/education/teacher-resources/pnt-fivefacts.cfm?v=36#page1
5
See: http://www.artsmia.org/education/teacher-resources/pnt-fivefacts.cfm?v=36#page5
6
See: http://www.artsmia.org/education/teacher-resources/pnt-fivefacts.cfm?v=36#page1
Special note:
Sometimes the original text was changed by mistake or on purpose. Scribes were only very seldom
controlled and therefore texts changed. The comparison of the oldest handwritings of the same text shows
differences. But the comparison can give the reader an idea where mistakes were made or the text was
changed for some reason.
Contributed by Melaine Hoehr
Stereotype
A stereotype is defined as a set of beliefs or ideas which are automatically attributed to a
person belonging to a certain social class, religion, sex, etc. When stereotyping someone,
that particular individual is being judged and classified according to pre-defined criteria,
sometimes without having got to know or even met that person, at all. A stereotype often
implies emotional involvement coming from the person stereotyping the other. Since a
stereotype is mostly regarded as something negative, the person using a stereotype is
therefore considered to have negative feelings towards those falling under the stereotype.
For example, somebody stating that ‘all gypsies steal and commit crimes’ is very likely to
dislike those coming from that particular ethnic background.
Stereotypes are also associated with clichés. For example, the phrase ‘blood is thicker
than water’, which can be termed as a cliché, can easily lead to the stereotype that people
sharing the same ethnic background must necessarily share the same behavioural pattern
and character.
Etymologically speaking, the term seems to have been coined by Firmin Didot
and initially referred to printing technology. A stereotype “was originally a duplicate
impression of an original typographical element, used for printing instead of the original”
(in Wikimedia Foundation).
In fact, in the world of printing, stereotype and cliché are interchangeable, as
cliché is nothing else than the French translation of stereotype. (cf. Wikimedia
Foundation). The transition from the initial usage of the word to its present day meaning
was made over the centuries. However, the result stayed within the same semantic field,
since the modern use of the word stereotype can be compared to a sort of ‘imprint’ that
people apply over and over again to a certain group, class, or simply to one particular
individual.
References
Social Psychology Network
http://www.understandingprejudice.org/apa/english/page11.htm
UnderstandingStereotypes
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans/programs/stereotypes/
Dictionary – Stereotype
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=stereotype
Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype (last visited 07.09.2007)
Contributed by Diana Fulger