Open Access<b>Aileen Fyfe.</b> <i>Steam-Powered Knowledge: William Chambers and the Business of Publishing, 1820–1860</i>. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012. 313p. $50 (ISBN 9780226276519).
Author(s) -
Cynthia Harbeson
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
rbm
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2150-668X
pISSN - 1529-6407
DOI - 10.5860/rbm.14.1.398
Subject(s) - publishing , engineering , management , media studies , library science , art history , art , political science , sociology , law , economics , computer science
Steam-Powered Knowledge: William Chambers and the Business of Publishing, 1820–1860 is an exploration of the emerging technologies in the mid-nineteenth century that led to a rise in the availability of low-cost books—cheap print, as it was called. New technologies such as the steam-powered printing press and stereotype plates converged with the emergence of railways and steamships. With these new techniques, books could be produced and sold at a significantly lower cost, making them accessible to a wider audience. A virtuous cycle was created; inexpensive books led to a rise in literacy in England that in turn increased the . . .