The Information Revolution in Early Modern Europe

‘This engaging synthesis tracks an ‘information revolution’ across early modern European culture, from commerce and politics to many fields of learning and genres of personal writing. More than printing it was paper that fuelled both the explosion of information and many practices of managing it that have proved remarkably enduring.’ Ann Blair, Harvard University

‘Words and numbers, scrawled by ink-black fingers on the milled remains of rags, became a promise never quite fulfilled: to forget nothing and to make rational decisions based on ‘information.’ Paul Dover’s entertaining book shows how necessary it is to understand this history.’ Arndt Brendecke, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

‘Dover brings together a dizzying array of recent scholarship on information in early Europe - from the business of paper mills to scientists’ data collection, from dusty state archives to flaming pamphlet wars. His analysis of information revolution during the age of paper offers insights for the present on every page.’ Randolph C. Head, University of California, Riverside

‘Paul Dover’s brilliant and erudite book traces the origins of our modern information society, and how it grew in a world of scholars, administrators, lawyers, merchants, and archivists. Before computers, there was a revolution in the uses of paper, and, with all its glory and pitfalls, Dover shows how it worked and created the foundations of our own very complicated modern information world. His learned and entertaining work is a must read for all those interested in information, computing, the news, and the history of communication.’ Jacob Soll, University of Southern California

‘With this book, Dover unveils a very important aspect of early modern history, making it invaluable to all major libraries. … Essential.’ D. L. Tengwall, CHOICE

‘Every reader will find some vivid detail in this learned and lively overview of the early modern information age.’ Helen Smith, Renaissance and Reformation