Circa 800 A.D., Celtic monks prepared handwritten and hand-illustrated manuscripts that feature the four Gospels, a fragment of Hebrew names, and the ‘Book of Columba’ in a work known as The Book of Kells. Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland has these pages on permanent display. By the way, Dover Publications sells, The Book of Kells: Selected Plates in Full Color, edited by Blanche Cirker (1982). Just do a subject search on this search page.
Wood block printing was one way in which books were printed before Johannes Gutenberg (circa 1398-1468) invented printing via a movable type method. About 1455, he printed 200 copies of the (Gutenberg) Bible.
In the nineteenth century, people were scandalized when the publication, “Godey’s Lady’s Book,” edited by New Hampshire born, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, was referred to simply as “The Book.”
Why, everyone knew that the words, “The Book” were reserved for the Holy Bible, a book that was held dear in homes across early New England, and the book in which family genealogies were often saved.
Little girls learned their numbers and letters by embroidering them on Girlhood Samplers. Often, the inscriptions mention God, or prove an awareness of their own mortal fate. One kind of curious notation is “Christ is my Nation.” The word “nation” doesn’t quite seem to fit, unless one thinks of Christianity as a “nation of believers.”
The Bible was both a common and a sacred book. All other books came second. I once knew a family of Quakers who owned a dairy farm. The children were not allowed to do anything else on Sunday, except read the Bible. Of course, there is more than one version of the Bible as well as other Scriptures that are never included in the main Bible.
Jump ahead to the twentieth century. There are books galore! Everyone, famous in life, or not, writes an autobiography or about his or her war experiences. Novels are written: some great; some lousy. History is rewritten to suit the political agenda of whomever is writing the book. Books are a tool of expression and any new book competes in the marketplace with all other books, whether terrific or sub-par.
In 1985, I wrote my first draft of a book I wanted to put together on the topic of quilt care. I manually typed it on a “state of the art” typewriter, using “correction tape” to undo typing errors. Twenty years later, I published the first book on the subject as a print book. Now, almost five years later, my book on quilt and textile care is offered as an e-book. How far I have come on my personal journey of learning, and how far technology has come, as well!
Now, in 2009, I can move entire paragraphs around with the push of a few keys. I can format photos, making them the size I want, removing scratches and dings, adjusting their colorations, and formatting an entire, large book into a new entity called an “e-book” or “electronic book.” I can independently create a book, do my own layout, and choose what will be said and presented. The freedom is exhilarating!
Amazon.com sells a product called a “Kindle,” as most of you know. That device is great for downloading print books without photos that are not very long. No one has yet invented a “Kindle” that can handle color photos, nor the lengthy kind of books I produce. My e-books are sold on disc because they simply would not work as “downloads.” I could compromise and shorten the text and make the photos smaller, but I don’t want to do that. I want to provide the best I can provide for the reader.
There are a lot of reasons to like e-books on discs.
1) Navigation through the document is a breeze.
2) Thumbnail pages appear along the left side bar so that you can easily scroll and click on a previous or future page.
3) Word search is easy with a global word search function.
4) The disc is easily stored.
5) Pages can be printed. I do not disable that feature. I ask that people print one copy for their own personal use. If someone wants to cheat and break the copyright law by illegally distributing my work, I figure that’s between them and their own conscience. I don’t write book for the thieves. I write books to share good information.
6) If I were to print the same quality of information in a print format, the upfront costs of printing would be staggering, and then, I’d have the pressure of selling them to try to recoup my investment.
7) For books that share information (non-fiction), e-books are grand. I love making them and feel that I offer a high-quality product at a reasonable cost.
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications – Our list of e-book offers is growing. Check the home page of our website for more details.
