The Book and the Machine: Printing and the Appeal of Technology in the Early Modern World through the Collection of Mark Andrews
- Oct. 2, 2026 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
- Henderson Hall, Rutherford South, North Campus
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As part of The Science and Engineering of Machines: An Exhibition of Machine Books, 1472 to 1800, Bruce Peel Special Collections is excited to welcome Scott Mandelbrote (Fellow, Director of Studies in History, and Perne Librarian, Peterhouse Faculty of History, University of Cambridge) for a special lecture.
The books in the exhibition allow one to evaluate both the development of the technology of printing itself, particularly changes in illustration practices, and the role printed books played in creating markets for technology in a world of secrets and restrictive practices.
This talk will walk through items in the Andrews collection that demonstrate changes in the making of machine books and consider the audiences those books were intended for. It will explain the appeal of technological solutions to different sectors of early modern society and the demographic, economic, and scientific constraints on achieving the sorts of change that the authors of books envisaged. It will consider how legal and cultural change (in the world of print as well as that of technology) helped to deliver differential outcomes in different parts of early modern Europe and helped to change the global environment through the application of technologies for warfare, mills, waterworks, and steam. - Audience
- Community, Public
- Category
- Arts, Culture Lectures, Seminars
- Keywords
- Library Engineering