The Work of Print

"The Work of Print traces a shift in the very definition of literature, from one that encompasses the material conditions of the production and distribution of books to the more familiar emphasis on the solitary author's ownership of an abstract text. Printers' manuals, tracts on typography, legal documents, and booksellers' autobiographies reveal that in the seventeenth century, print workers conceived of their roles as central to the production of literature. Maruca's readings of these documents alongside traditional works of fiction and authors' correspondence show that the claims of print-workers and booksellers were part of a struggle for ownership and control as the concept of author as proprietor of his or her intellectual property began to take hold in the mid-1700s, gradually eclipsing print workers' contributions to the process of textual creation."--book jacket.