Edited by James Raven, FBA, Fellow of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, and Emeritus Professor of Modern History, University of Essex

James Raven is Professor of Modern History at the University of Essex and a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Formerly he was Reader in Social and Cultural History, University of Oxford, and Professorial Fellow of Mansfield College. He is the author, editor and co-editor of numerous books in early modern and modern British, European and colonial history, including Judging New Wealth (1992); The Practice and Representation of Reading (1996); The English Novel 1770-1829 (2000); Free Print and Non-Commercial Publishing (2000); London Booksellers and American Customers (2002); Lost Libraries (2004); The Business of Books: Booksellers and the English Book Trade (2007); Books between Europe and the Americas (2011); Publishing Business (2014) and Bookscape: Geographies of Printing and Publishing in London before 1800 (2014).

Ann Blair, Harvard University
Sheila Blair, Boston College and Virginia Commonwealth University
Jonathan M. Bloom, Boston College and Virginia Commonwealth University
Cynthia Brokaw, Brown University
Marie-Françoise Cachin, Université Paris Diderot Paris VII
Barbara Crostini, Uppsala University
Jeffrey Freedman, Yeshiva University
Goran Proot, University of Milan
James Raven, University of Cambridge
Christopher A. Reed, The Ohio State University
Eleanor Robson, University College London
David Rundle, University of Kent
Jeffrey T. Schnapp, Harvard University
Graham Shaw, University of London
M. William Steele, International Christian University (Tokyo)
Eva Hemmungs Wirtén, Linköping University

"[A] brilliant book... illustrated with the most sumptuous photographic images of books ancient and modern." - Kathryn Hughes, The Mail on Sunday

"A fascinating and encyclopaedic history of books from the ancient worlds to digital media." - , Paradigm Explorer

"This book will become an invaluable point of departure for students new to the field, for scholars who need to venture outside their normal chronological and geographical comfort zones and - as it should be - to that elusive general reader." - John Feather, Library & Information History

"Raven... has drawn together scholarly essays offering a sweeping, erudite, and thoroughly engaging narrative... A profusely illustrated, handsomely produced intellectual history." - Kirkus, Starred Review

"Together, these fourteen essays form a thorough picture of how and why books progressed along the lines that they did. In an age when books are once again experiencing momentous changes, this well-researched reminder of their durability and timelessness is very welcome." - Eileen Gonzalez, Foreword Reviews

"This volume is a cultural biography of the book, taking a global view of its underlying function as a portable, durable conveyor of reproducible information... Other works trace the history of the book, but Oxford's treatment is a deeper, more multicultural, and more visually appealing approach." - Lesley Farmer, Booklist

"Beautifully comprehensively illustrated history of the book... the essays are stimulating and thought provoking. This is a scholarly work but its also a coffee table book intended to be widely read and accessible. This is a very well curated collection... Fascinating and beautiful." - Paul Burke, NB Magazine

"This is an excellent compilation on the world-wide history of the book... beautifully illustrated... Put it on your Christmas present list." - Prof. T.D. Wilson, Information Research

"Beautifully illustrated, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Book is a seminal and original work of meticulous scholarship" - Midwest Book Review

"A sumptuous production." - Liz Dexter, Shiny New Books