Welcome to the first episode of Book History, Illuminated! To kick off the podcast, Leah tries (and fails - sorry!) to define what she means by "book", and explains what book history is and why you should care.

If you're new to book history, listen to this episode for the background info you'll need for the following episodes.

Intro theme samples speech from the trailer for Lane Smith's "It's a Book". Check the trailer out at www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4BK_2VULCU.

Resources cited in this episode include:The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing, 1450-1800 - Lucien Febvre and Henri-Jean MartinThe Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man - Marshall McLuhanAn Introduction to Bibliographical and Textual Studies - William Proctor Williams and Craig S. Abbott (Leah has some trouble citing this one correctly in the podcast - oops)Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts - D. F. McKenzie