Category Archives: Book History

A Review of Martyn Lyons, A History of Reading and Writing in the Western World (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)

 As we move into the brave new world of digital books and the domination of the internet and digital media in our day-to-day life, Martyn Lyons’ new book A History of Reading and Writing in the Western World, provides us with some much-needed historical perspective. His final chapter argues that we may well be experiencing the greatest revolution in reading and writing since humans first learned to read and write; however, as Lyons’ history repeatedly suggests, ‘revolutions’ in the past (such as Gutenberg’s invention of print) have not always been as revolutionary as we might assume.

Martyn Lyons, a historian of the book based at the University of Sydney and a specialist in French history, has written an accessible, brief account of the history of reading and writing from the ancient world to the present. He provides an insightful synthesis of existing scholarship on the history of reading, writing and the book, and takes into account a variety of historiographical debates. His book is a valuable introduction to anyone interested in the topic, and a useful summary of the main areas of scholarship and contention in the history of the book. It should be noted, however, that his focus tends to be on the 18^th and 19^th century and France and the UK, more than anything. This perhaps reflects both his own interests, as well as existing scholarship.

One of the important contributions that this book makes to our thinking about the history of the book is that by focusing on the history of reading and writing, it shifts our perspective to the writers and readers in history. He also focuses on actual readers, rather than a theoretical reader, and this makes his study valuable as social history. We can see the ways in which ‘ordinary’ people engaged in the activities of reading and writing, and what these activities meant to them in their day-to-day existence. This perspective also reminds us that reading and writing existed before the printed book, and will continue after the advent of e-books, even if our engagement with these activities might shift in nature and form.

Lyons begins his book with a quick look at the ancient and medieval world, before shifting to Gutenberg and the printing revolution. He then moves through the Reformation and Renaissance, before moving on to the modern period, which he examines in some detail. All along, Lyons is concerned with capturing the range of reading and writing activity – ‘ordinary’ people and popular culture get much attention. He studies women and workers at some length. Lyons also assesses the impact of technologies, such as the industrialization of printing, on the way people have read and written.

One clear historical trend has been the democratization of reading and writing, which came to fruition in the twentieth century in the Western world. The digital revolution has perhaps amplified this democratizing trend, but as Lyons suggests in his final chapter, the non-Western world still has very high rates of illiteracy (in some areas of the world, this is in fact increasing rather than decreasing) and the digital divide is much in evidence (for some countries, any print books would be welcome).

While the book engages in some of the politics of literacy, reading and access to books, his limited focus prevents him from engaging in some of the broader political dimensions of the history of reading and writing. Notably, there is no real mention of colonialism – although Western countries, engaged in the project of empire through much of the period under examination, used literacy, education and print as a means of ‘knowing’ and subjugating colonial populations, as well as attempting to undermine and end traditional societies.

On the whole, however, Lyons’ book is a significant contribution to the history of the book and an excellent starting point for those interested in knowing more about the subject.