Everyday Life in the German Book Trade

“Selwyn’s work makes a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the book trade and publishing world during the Aufklärung in Prussia. Apart from what we learn about the specific career of Nicolai, we gain many insights into how books came into existence, what tactics prospective authors used, the joys and sorrows of the publishers and booksellers, how various governments attempted to monitor the book trade, the nature of book piracy, and a host of other matters. Selwyn’s excellent skills as a writer allow her to describe these issues in an engaging way . . . It is a marvelous piece of work—a delight to read.”

—John D. Woodbridge, Trinity International University

“Thanks to remarkably thorough documentation, Selwyn can offer an extraordinarily detailed exploration of the entire scope of Nicolai’s practice—his contacts with authors, the production process itself, his distribution and sales system. The resulting work depicts the behind-the-scenes process that explains the triumphs of many of Germany’s greatest classical writers.”

—C.L. Dolmetsch CHOICE

“Friedrich Nicolai—bookseller, publisher, author, and Aufklärer—would have approved of this book. Like many of the volumes he published and sold in a career spanning the rise of a self-conscious modern German public, it enlightens and informs, eschewing the latest philosophical and literary fancies for sober, solid, and comprehensive analysis. Pamela E. Selwyn has digested an enormous amount of archival material, including a significant proportion of letters in the Nicolai Nachlass, to provide an in-depth look at the German book trade in the second half of the eighteenth century, seen through the prism of one of the most protean figures of the era.”

—Benjamin W. Redekop American Historical Review

“This is a well-researched, well-written contribution to the literature on Friedrich Nicolai.”

—Pamela Currie MLR

“Everyday Life in the German Book Trade is welcome as the first detailed account by a book historian of Nicolai as a publisher. It ‘aims to present a rounded picture of Nicolai’s life as a bookseller and publisher’ — and succeeds admirably.”

—Bernhard Fabian Times Literary Supplement

“[Selwyn’s] splendid book does full justice to this central Enlightenment figure while at the same time giving a thorough and engaging picture of the ins and outs of the German book trade in the second half of the eighteenth century.”

—Johan Van Der Zande Central European History

“None of it lends itself to easy summary, but time and again the reader is provided with skillful vignettes which give a lively picture of the work and working conditions of an exceptional eighteenth-century German publisher.”

—Bernhard Fabian Times Literary Supplement

“Moreover, Selwyn has returned to the archives, so that her study is a significant new contribution, not just a reworking of published material.”

—Arnd Bohm Eighteenth-Century Studies

“Selwyn therefore is very successful in giving a vivid picture of the everyday life of the publisher and bookseller Nicolai, the first extensive treatment of this most important Enlightenment figure in the English language. Not the least of its merits is the full use of the archival material on which it is based.”

—Johan Van Der Zande Central European History

“[H]er splendid book does full justice to this central Enlightenment figure while at the same time giving a thorough and engaging picture of the ins and outs of the German book trade in the second half of the eighteenth century.”

—Johan Van Der Zande Central European History

“Brimming with facts, Selwyn’s study is a substantial contribution to the history of books and literature. It is also an entertaining and well-written book.”

—Marie-Luise Spieckermann Sharp

“But she has certainly done her job well in a first book that is both well-written and well-grounded in manuscript collections drawn from all over German-speaking Europe.”

—Charles Inrao H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences

“Occasional repetitions in the presentation do not detract from the outstanding quality of Selwyn’s study.”

—Holger Hanowell ECCB: Eighteenth Century Current Bibliography