ABSTRACT
The assertion of the active role of the book people in this entire culture–building enterprise rests on several well-understood principles and widely employed practices of book people since virtually the inception of the printed book. A more complicated case, now demanding not only the judgments marking the gatekeeper role but also a weightier involvement, turns on the authentic publisher's close knowledge and in-depth understanding of the literature of a specific body of knowledge. These editorial judgments and practices have been the case since the early days of the printed book. This approach was taken to lay bare the crucial hypothesis of the utterly pivotal and necessary role that Gutenberg's invention of printing and the printed book had in the epistemological shaping of the culture of the West and the rapidity with which this culture was subsequently formed into what might be called the early-modern synthesis. The renascence of the fifteenth century was saved by Gutenberg's creation of the printed book.
