This course in intended to survey the evolution of the book in South Asia, from the manuscript to the digital form. Beginning with the Buddhist and the Jain books, the course will examine the rise of the Hindu book in the first millennium CE and the coming of the Islamic and Christian books in the second millennium. The history of the printed book will be covered extensively with special emphases on major centres of print culture such as Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, as well as other centres such as Goa, Tranquebar, Serampore, Colombo, Lucknow, Dacca, Lahore, Benares etc.
Week 1: The coming of the manuscript book—the material form of the pothi—the rise of Buddhism and Jainism—the coming of manuscript culture in Hinduism
Week 2: The Sanskrit cosmopolis; the vernacular revolution; the empowerment of regional courts; the coming of the Islamic book
Week 3: Illumination, calligraphy, binding: the book arts; sites of textual production; the socialization of the manuscript
Week 4: The coming of the Christian book: missionary initiative in Goa and Tranquebar
Week 5: the coming of the Company: early printing in the three Presidency cities: Calcutta, Bombay, Madras
Week 6: Serampore and the Baptist Mission Press
Week 7: Printing for Fort William College; the Calcutta School-Book Society
Week 8: Printing in Calcutta: from Battala to College Street; the importance of being Ishwarchandra Bidyasagar
Week 9: The lithographic route; printing in the Hindi heartland; Benaras, Lucknow and the cantonment towns
Week 10: New centres of print: Dhaka, Lahore, Colombo; the north-east
Week 11: Surveillance and the Raj: from Nil Darpan to Mukunda Das
Week 12: Print nationalism
Week 13: Printing in English: the cases of OUP and Macmillan
Week 14: Publishing after independence
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