Review: The Enlightenment and the Book

Abstract

The research question addressed by this book is: how did the particular characteristics of Scottish Enlightenment book culture itself part of a complex international phenomenon arise from the conditions of publication within which its authors worked? The answer, Richard Sher holds, is a 'complex and dialectical' (p.6) one: 'Enlightenment book publishing ... was [an] ... activity that occurred within the economic, technological, legal, and intellectual contexts of the day' (p.7). Book culture in the Scottish Enlightenment was 'remarkably collaborative' (p.607), requiring the cooperation of authors and publishers, but also competitive, in that 'authors and publishers exhibited personal and professional rivalries, entertained mutual suspicions, and vied among themselves for critical acclaim and pecuniary gain' (p.607). Traditional literary history focuses on authors; Sher shows how authors were part of a tight-knit network in which publishers also played a crucial creative role. The activities of publishers such as Andrew Millar, William Strahan, Thomas Cadell and the much-maligned William Creech, Sher argues, were of great importance for the evolution of the Enlightenment, both in Scotland and in the countries where Scottish thought was diffused and impacted most strongly: England, Ireland and North America.