”Med coleurt omslag” : färgade, dekorerade och tryckta omslag på svensk bokmarknad 1787-1846. En bokhistoria

Sammanfattning: The aim of the dissertation is to examine the significance of the paperbound book on the book market as part of the history of consumption. It is an examination of the materiality of the book, in which the form and function, economics and distribution of the binding during the last century of the hand-press era are studied. The intention has been to show that the ready-bound book was a means for the actors on the book market to increase the sale of books in the decades around 1800, and that the ready-bound book as a product was an important component in the development of the book market towards a modern consumer market. Through the selling of ready-bound books the book change from being an intermediary good to a consumer good. The study is based on a text-sociological view of the book formulated by D. F. McKenzie (1986). The book circuit model put forward by Adams & Barker (1993) has been interpreted as a socio-economic explanation for the existence of the book. The changing conditions for publishing and the legal, cooperative and economic systems of production and distribution in Sweden are analysed and discussed to show how the binding became an essential element in the marketing of the book and how the publisher within this process became an independent actor on the book market. With the introduction of the printed wrapper the main functions of the title page, that is marketing and labelling was moved from the title page to the exterior of the book. The materiality of the paper bound book made it an efficient substrate and medium for text, colour and printed ornament. The coloured decorated and printed wrappers were the counterpart to the printed calicoes of peoples clothing and the wallpapers of the interiors that saw the light on the market at the time. Marketing through ornament, colour and content became keys to selling books. The study of contemporary book action catalogues shows that the paperbound book became a common commodity in libraries of the early 19th century. A material shift took place were the leatherbound book was replaced by the paperbound book. Paperbindings were affordable, functional, and aesthetically varied in comparison to other types of bindings. English summary 18 pp.