This reader is the most comprehensive selection of key texts on twentieth and twenty-first century print culture yet compiled. Illuminating the networks and processes that have shaped reading, writing and publishing, the selected extracts also examine the effect of printed and digital texts on society. Featuring a general introduction to contemporary print culture and publishing studies, the volume includes 42 influential and innovative pieces of writing, arranged around themes such as authorship, women and print culture, colonial and postcolonial publishing and globalisation.

Offering a concise survey of critical work, this volume is an essential companion for students of literature or publishing with an interest in the history of the book.

This reader is the definitive introduction to the growing field of Publishing. Students new to the field or searching for a context for their own research will find everything they need here. * Helen Marshall, Anglia Ruskin University, UK *
Print Cultures is a bold and generous gift to the field. Readers will find seminal essays juxtaposed with surprises in each of the nine carefully curated sections, making it ideal for the classroom. I look forward to discussing this magnificent compilation with our graduate students for years to come, and the future of the book is brighter because of it. * Kyle Schlesinger, University of Houston-Victoria, USA *

Caroline Davis is senior lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, in the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies, where she teaches print culture, book history and publishing studies. She is the author of Creating Postcolonial Literature: African Writers and British Publishers (Palgrave, 2013) and the co-editor of The Book in Africa: Critical Debates (Palgrave, 2015). Her recent articles have appeared in the Journal of Southern African Studies, The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing and Book History. She previously worked at Oxford University Press and Oxford University Centre for Humanities Computing.