Studying printed books as physical objects can reveal not only how books were produced, but also how their design and layout features emerged and came to convey meanings. This concise and accessible introduction to analytical bibliography in its historical context explains in clear, non-specialist language how to find and analyze clues about a book's manufacture and how to examine the significance of a book's design. Written by one of the most eminent bibliographical and textual scholars working today, the book is both a practical guide to bibliographical research and a history of bibliography as a developing field of study. For all who use books, this is an ideal starting point for learning how to read the object along with the words.

"No one writes more knowledgeably or brilliantly about textual criticism than Tanselle." --"Washington Post" Textual criticism--the traditional term for the task of evaluating the authority of the words and punctuation of a text--is often considered an undertaking preliminary to literary criticism: many people believe that the job of textual critics is to provide reliable texts for literary critics to analyze. G. Thomas Tanselle argues, on the contrary, that the two activities cannot be separated. "These short, lucid, well-written, "humane" lectures are essential reading for graduate and undergraduate students concerned with texts of any kind requiring critical attention--and for their teachers." --"Review of English Studies" G. Thomas Tanselle is Vice President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and Adjunct Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

Studying printed books as physical objects can reveal not only how books were produced, but also how their design and layout features emerged and came to convey meanings. This concise and accessible introduction to analytical bibliography in its historical context explains in clear, non-specialist language how to find and analyze clues about a book's manufacture and how to examine the significance of a book's design. Written by one of the most eminent bibliographical and textual scholars working today, the book is both a practical guide to bibliographical research and a history of bibliography as a developing field of study. For all who use books, this is an ideal starting point for learning how to read the object along with the words.