| Long after Gutenberg, the "second revolution of the book" of the nineteenth century dramatically altered the publishing world in France. The expansion of the reading class combined with cheaper forms of book production transformed the book into an increasingly democratic medium. Books were multiplying but they were also changing, with the mechanization of book production throughout the century. Consequences to changes in the production and circulation of the book began to appear and the literary world both adapted and reacted to evolutions in its object of transmission. Against the backdrop of the industrialization of the book in France between 1830--1940, this dissertation studies shifting attitudes towards the book in the literary sphere. Through the analysis of a selection of encounters between literature and book love, it considers the emergence of the phenomenon of literary bibliophily, defined as the process through which the literary sphere endeavors to elevate and glorify the book. A series of thematic chapters on bibliophile narratives, the livre de peintre and the surrealist book explore the various ways in which literature invests the book with new value. The case studies are connected through their shared aim of rehabilitating an object widely considered to have been rendered banal through overproduction and from "bookish tales" to the luxury illustrated book to surrealist books, new approaches to the book strive to raise it above its increasingly subordinate status in modern culture. |
