ABSTRACT
In this chapter I shall look at how the technological changes in printing that occurred between the 1860s and 1890s not only dramatically changed the look, the price and the availability of books and periodicals but also changed the way they were written and the way they were read. I’ll begin by briefly describing these technical innovations. Don’t worry about all the details. Just try to grasp something of the significance of each change. I’ll then go on to discuss the ways in which authors and publishers reacted to the changes – in particular the authors and publishers of Dracula, The Awakening and Heart of Darkness. This new dispensation, by the way, did not end in 1900. In essence, the printing and publishing system that was created between the 1860s and 1890s survived until the early 1970s. (As with chapter 8, you may notice that some of the illustrative examples I use come from the 1900s rather than the 1800s.) As you read this chapter, you should gain a sense of how the world of books and publishing was revolutionized by the end of the nineteenth century, and of how the three novels studied in part 2 fit into this new context.
