D’ENCRE ET DE PAPIER. Une histoire du livre impriméImprimerie Nationale Éditions

Three specialists in books and publishing (Olivier Deloignon, Jean-Marc Chatelain and Jean-Yves Mollier) recount the long and complex history of a prodigious object, fruit of the spirit and meeting of countless skills. Based on the most recent knowledge and a rich and unpublished iconography, they remind us that, from the 42-line Bible to the 21st century, the book has never ceased to revolutionise writing and reading practices, to disrupt languages and the world of images, and to make a material and ideological mark on societies, imaginations and memories. They explain how print runs and editions have multiplied continuously, making and breaking intellectual or literary, industrial and financial fortunes. Finally, they restore with subtlety and vigour the major role of the printed book at a time when digital publishing could replace the unshared reign of the printed book on access to and dissemination of thought.