Printing and prophecy
Subtitle: prognostication and media change, 1450-1550
By: Jonathan Green
Series: Cultures of knowledge in the early modern world
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 265
ISBN-13: 9780472117833; 9780472027583
Subjects: Prophecy; Books; Christianity; Predictive astrology; History
Description: Printing and Prophecy: Prognostication and Media Change 1450-1550 examines prognostic traditions and late medieval prophetic texts in the first century of printing and their effect on the new medium of printing The many prophetic and prognostic works that followed Europe's earliest known printed book---not the Gutenberg Bible, but the Sibyl's Prophecy, printed by Gutenberg two years earlier and known today only from a single page---over the next century were perennial best sellers for many printers, and they provide the modern observer with a unique way to study the history and inner workings of the print medium. The very popularity of these works, often published as affordable booklets, raised fears of social unrest. Printers therefore had to meet customer demand while at the same time channeling readers' reactions along approved paths.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p.         ) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: printing and prophecy; title: The Sibyl's book; title: Prophets in print; title: Prophets and their readers; title: Visions of visions: functions of the image in printed prophecy; title: Practica teütsch; title: Fear, floods, and the paradox of the practica teütsch; title: Conclusion: the prophetic reader.