Some thoughts on the history of the written word in Devon and the wider world from speech through script to print and hypertext |
This set of papers derives from series of talks, articles and other papers given over the years during my life as a local studies librarian and as a historian of the book. They are being brought together to provide a survey of the spread of the written word over the past five millennia. Because of their origin they are not scholarly articles and are not referenced, nor have they been fully updated, but it has been possible to include internet links in a way that was not available when I started half a century ago. Many of the illustrations were gathered in the 1970s for a series of lectures to students working for the Library Association examinations and their immediate source is not now easy to trace. While the scope is international, coverage becomes less intensive the further one travels from Exeter, Devon and London. I will struggle to keep abreast of developments in the later sections and volunteer contributors are welcome.
Ian Maxted
In lockdown, August 2020
This page last updated 24 October 2020