In many of my courses, whenever I find even the slightest excuse, I will discuss the book. It’s history, the technical obstacles to the printing press, the revolution in scriptum manū introduced by Alcuin, marginalia as a form of mnemonic, the introduction of the index, quires, Grec du Roi, l’affaire des placards, 1/444 of the king’s foot & pica, Peter Ramus, et al.1
At some point, later in the semester, I will leave them with this: the book belongs to and fosters a particular kind of politics.
At the very least, it prompts very good conversations.
Footnotes
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I don’t often, alas, have the chance to explore with them the metaphysical connection between typeface/font & wine. ↩