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Authors and their public in ancient times : $b a sketch of literary conditions and of the relations with the public of literary producers, from the earliest times to the fall of the Roman EmpirePutnam, George Haven

History

Authors and their public in ancient times : $b a sketch of literary conditions and of the relations with the public of literary producers, from the earliest times to the fall of the Roman Empire

Name: Authors and their public in ancient times : $b a sketch of literary conditions and of the relations with the public of literary producers, from the earliest times to the fall of the Roman Empire
Author: Putnam, George Haven

Putnam, George Haven

Authors and readers -- History; Authorship -- History; Books -- History -- To 400; Literature, Ancient -- Appreciation; Literature, Ancient -- Criticism, Textual; Literature, Ancient -- Manuscripts

In the preparation of this brief record, which makes no claim to
scholarly completeness, or to be anything more considerable than a
sketch, I have found myself hampered by lack of adequate classical
knowledge and by the lack of familiarity with the works of even the
more important of the Greek and Roman writers. It is doubtless the
case, therefore, that I have failed to discover or to utilize not a few
passages and references that would have a bearing upon the subject; and
I shall be under obligations to any scholarly reader who will take the
trouble to call my attention to such omissions.

I have given, in a brief bibliography, the titles of the more important
of the books upon the authority of which my sketch has been based. I
desire, however, to express my special indebtedness to the following
works, the full titles of which will be found in the bibliography:
Clement’s _La Propriété Littéraire chez les Grecs et chez les Romains_,
Schmitz’s _Schriftsteller in Athen_, Géraud’s _Les Livres dans
l’Antiquité_, Birt’s _Das Antike Buchwesen_, Haenny’s _Schriftsteller
und Buchhändler im alten Rom_, and Simcox’s _History of Latin
Literature_.

As is indicated by the titles in the list of authorities cited, the
writers who have given attention to the relations of authors of
antiquity with their readers, have been almost exclusively German or
French. I shall be well pleased if this brief study of mine may serve
as a suggestion to some competent American or English scholar for the
preparation in English of a comprehensive and final work on the subject.

  G. H. P.

    NEW YORK, November, 1893.




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CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER                                           PAGE

  I. THE BEGINNINGS OF LITERATURE                    1
   1. PRELIMINARY                                    1
   2. CHALDEA                                        5
   3. EGYPT                                          10
   4. CHINA                                          21
   5. JAPAN                                          38
   6. INDIA                                          43
   7. PERSIA                                         47
   8. JUDÆA                                          49

  II. GREECE                                         54

  III. ALEXANDRIA                                   127

  IV. BOOK-TERMINOLOGY IN CLASSIC TIMES             149

  V. ROME                                           163

  VI. CONSTANTINOPLE                                282

  INDEX                                             297




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PRINCIPAL WORKS REFERRED TO AS AUTHORITIES.


BARTHELÉMI, J. _The Travels of Anacharsis the Younger._ London, 1832.

BECKER, W. A. _Charicles, or Illustrations of the Private Life of the
Ancient Greeks._ Trans. by F. METCALFE. 7th Edition. London, 1886.

---- _Gallus, or Roman Scenes of the Time of Augustus._ Trans. by F.
METCALFE. 8th Edition. London, 1886.

BERGK, T. _Griechische Literatur Geschichte._ Leipzig, 1852.

Authors and their public in ancient times : $b a sketch of literary conditions and of the relations with the public of literary producers, from the earliest times to the fall of the Roman Empire

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