''Gutenberg in Shanghai: Chinese Print Capitalism, 1876–1937'' is a non-fiction book by Christopher Alexander Reed, published in 2004 by the

University of British Columbia Press The University of British Columbia Press (UBC Press) is a university press that is part of the University of British Columbia. It is a mid-sized scholarly publisher, and the largest in Western Canada. The press is based in Vancouver, British Col ...

. The work focuses on how entities in China took the style of press printing that had been used in Western countries. It is distributed in the United States by

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

Background

The author studied at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

for his PhD and made a thesis, published in 1998. This thesis was used to create this book. The sources used originate from China and from Western countries. Sourcing from the People's Republic of China was a large component used to develop the first chapter. The author did not use sourcing from Japan. The author used documents in archives,Shiao, p. 716. documents from missionaries, works of fiction, interviews with people who worked as apprentices in print operations,Janku, p. 444. memoirs, trade organization documents, and other primary sources as a means of referencing the work. The interviews had been conducted in the 1950s. Ling A. Shiao of St. Mary's College of California described some of the sourcing as "difficult-to-find".

The first chapter "Gutenberg’s Descendants: Transferring Industrialized Printing Technology to China, 1807-1930," stated that the initial efforts to do printing in China did sell well because compatible fonts that looked pleasing in Chinese languages had not yet arrived. "Sooty Sons of Vulcan," the third chapter, described the industry as it developed in Shanghai. Unions and collective groups used to manage the industry are described in the fourth chapter.

Commercial Press The Commercial Press () is the first modern publishing organization in China. The Commercial Press is known for its academic publishing and translation work in humanities and social sciences, as well as the '' Xinhua Dictionary''. History In ...

, World Books, and

Zhonghua Book Company Zhonghua Book Company (), formerly spelled Chunghwa or Chung-hua Shu-chü, and sometimes translated as Zhonghua Publishing House, are Chinese publishing houses that focuses on the humanities, especially classical Chinese works. Currently it ha ...

are described in the fifth chapter.

Reception

Tani E. Barlow of the

University of Washington, Seattle The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Unite ...

stated that the work is "a generous, learned book", and that the illustrations provided in the book were done "lavishly". Barlow praised how the work is "helpful" in finding solutions to "the problems that confront cultural historians." Reviewer Andrea Janku described the book as "coherent and unique", and "very readable and valuable". Shiao described the work as "pioneering", with the "focus on technology and business organizations" being the "most significant contribution".Shiao, p. 714.

References

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Also at
Project MUSE

Notes

External links

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Gutenberg in Shanghai
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University of British Columbia Press books Books about China 2004 non-fiction books University of Hawaiʻi Press books History books about printing

Background

Contents

Reception

See also

References

Notes

Further reading

External links