Textbooks and print culture

Abstract

This study addresses the transformations in text rendering and overall editing organization, as well as the changes in the graphic makeup of textbooks, resulting from the transition from scribal reproduction to movable type printing. Observation of characteristics related to these aspects in canonical works, intended for scholastic use, revealed substantial differences between books produced in the scribal culture period—irrespective of changes arising from the introduction of typographic editions at that time—and works produced in the print culture period. These differences indicated the need for both narrowing and expanding the concept of textbook, so as to overcome the limitations imposed by definitions primarily based on textbook use in the school setting. Textbooks produced from the 16th century onwards were found to be shaped by an interaction between early developments of modern didactics and the dissemination of new processes for text and image reproduction. Novel features emerging from this interaction included the subordination of contents to a program to be taught, as well as to the manner these contents should be taught; new text configurations, not limited to simple linear sequences (continuous prose); use of graphic resources; and an interaction between text and image guided by didactic purposes intrinsic to this printed product. The investigation points to the possibility of achieving unprecedented precision in redefining the concept of textbook—one also taking into account the material and graphic characteristics which typify this product as a specific editorial genre.

Textbooks; Textbook design; History of education