ABSTRACT
As I argued in the previous chapter, the influence of technical or practical writing on the evolution of English prose has long been ignored [e.g., 1, 2]. Scholars who have traced the development of English have focused on humanist writing, the canon of works of most interest to literary historians [e.g., 3, 4]. Similarly, the influence of technical writing on the development of the English paragraph has never been considered, even though the first printed English technical books (1490) illustrate concepts of the paragraph first described by Alexander Bain in 1866. Paragraphs can be found in 12th century English how-to manuscripts, but tracking the emergence of the paragraph in the first printed how-to books provides a method of examining a wide range of books from 1473 onward. The fruits of the printing press provide a story of the development of English prose from multiple genres. Exclusion of a broad range of writing to describe the early development of English prose has created a distorted history, even though, as the venerable Douglas Bush noted, “Plain prose was the natural medium for most kinds of utilitarian writing, and most writing was utilitarian” [5, p. 192]. Therefore, in this chapter, I have three goals:
1. To show, with the use of examples from the first printed technical books, that paragraphs as we know them today existed in England in the late 15th century and continued to occur and develop during the 16th and 17th centuries;
2. To broaden the history of the English paragraph by describing the role of technical writing in early English paragraphs; and
3. To show the influence of Ramus’ rhetoric on the paragraph, not just tech - nical writing in general. Ramus’ influence produced attractive, organized, printed texts exhibiting careful format and page design.
