Description: This is a book that will be of interest to those who study the history of the book, intellectual history of early modern Europe, and the relation between politics and ideas.
Brief description: Henri-Jean Martin is professor of history at the Ecole Pratique des Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
Review Quotes: The text has been lucidly translated by Paul Saenger and Nadine Saenger and is issued in an illustrated paperback at an affordable price. Its thesis is broad in its implication and is argued clearly and with conviction . . . A thought-provoking and ambitious work.
--Adrian Johns, Journal of Modern History