Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Biography of a Book
DUE: Thursday, September 27th 2018
4-5 pages/ 1000-1250 words
For our first unit, “Reading Books,” we have been exploring the format (its physical features)
impact acts of reading. For this assignment, choose a text that you are familiar with (and have
preferably read) that has been printed more than once. Once you have chosen your book,
research how its format has changed over time (think about: cover, title page, type, colophon,
binding, colors, etc…) A good way to start researching is to conduct a Google image search
using the title of the book. If you are looking at a book in the public domain (published in the US
prior to 1923), I strongly suggest archive.org.
As you are looking at different editions, consider how these changes might reflect:
--different markets (for example: US, British, Canadian, etc.)
--different imagined audiences
--different time periods, especially for books published some time ago;
--the fame of a book, (for example: awards, reviews, and so on.)
--printing technologies over time
--different potential genres (for example: is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein science fiction?
A “classic”? How do the different format’s communicate different potential genres?)
**Grab images of the books (an easy way is to use screen capture when you are doing online
research; you can also, of course, take photographs in bookstores or libraries).
Once you have conducted your research, write a 4-5 page account that discusses:
--what you have found in the form of description a the covers and their changes
--how these changes might appeal to different reading audiences
--how these changes create different expectations and reading experiences
--how these changes enhance or detract from the content