Sunday, January 4, 2009
Books in Colonial North America
The earliest colonist came to America primary for two reasons – to escape religious persecution and to find economic opportunities unavailable to them in Europe. Most of the books they carried to them to the New World were religiously oriented. Moreover, they brought very few books at all.
There were other reasons early settlers did not find books central to their lives. One was the simple fight for survival. In the brutal and hostile land to which they had come, leisure for reading books was a luxury for which they had little time. In addition, books and reading were regarded as symbols of wealth and status and therefore not priorities for people who considered themselves to be pioneers, servants of the lord, or anti-English colonists.
The first printing press arrived on North America shores in 1683, only 18 years after the Plymouth Rock landing. It was operated by a company called Cambridge Press. Printing was limited to religious and government documents. The first book printed in the Colonies appeared in 1644 – The Whole Booke of Psalms, sometimes referred to as the Bay Psalm Book.
The Early Book Industry
After the War of Independence, printing became more central to political, intellectual, and cultural life in major cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. To survive financially, printers also operated as booksellers, book publishers, and sometimes as postmasters who sold stationery and even groceries. A coffee house or tavern often was attached to the print shop.
The era was alive with political change, and printer/bookshop became clearinghouse for the collection, exchange and dissemination of information.
The earliest colonist came to America primary for two reasons – to escape religious persecution and to find economic opportunities unavailable to them in Europe. Most of the books they carried to them to the New World were religiously oriented. Moreover, they brought very few books at all.
There were other reasons early settlers did not find books central to their lives. One was the simple fight for survival. In the brutal and hostile land to which they had come, leisure for reading books was a luxury for which they had little time. In addition, books and reading were regarded as symbols of wealth and status and therefore not priorities for people who considered themselves to be pioneers, servants of the lord, or anti-English colonists.
The first printing press arrived on North America shores in 1683, only 18 years after the Plymouth Rock landing. It was operated by a company called Cambridge Press. Printing was limited to religious and government documents. The first book printed in the Colonies appeared in 1644 – The Whole Booke of Psalms, sometimes referred to as the Bay Psalm Book.
The Early Book Industry
After the War of Independence, printing became more central to political, intellectual, and cultural life in major cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. To survive financially, printers also operated as booksellers, book publishers, and sometimes as postmasters who sold stationery and even groceries. A coffee house or tavern often was attached to the print shop.
The era was alive with political change, and printer/bookshop became clearinghouse for the collection, exchange and dissemination of information.
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