American Antiquarian Society
185 Salisbury Street
Worcester, MA 01609
United States
In this lecture based on his latest book On Paper: The Everything of its Two-Thousand Year History, Nicholas Basbanes provides an eclectic and far ranging cultural history of the ubiquitous material that is the basis for printed materials, armed conflicts, packaging, sanitary supplies and so much more. In a starred review, Publisher’s Weekly called On Paper an “engrossing, essential book that no book lover should be without.” This lively talk will explore how paper has and continues to shape our world since its creation over two thousand years ago.
Nicholas A. Basbanes is the author of A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year when it was published in 1995. He has also Patience & Fortitude: A Roving Chronicle of Book People, Book Places, and Book Culture; Among the Gently Mad: Perspectives and Strategies for the Book-Hunter of the 21st Century; Every Book Its Reader: The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World; Editions & Impressions; and A World of Letters. An award-winning investigative reporter during the early 1970s, Basbanes was literary editor of the Worcester Sunday Telegram from 1978 to 1991, and for eight years after that wrote a nationally syndicated column on books and authors. He was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship to support his latest book On Paper: The Everything of Its Two Thousand History.
