The volume is designed as an introduction to scholarly research on the book, approaching it as the basic and leading medium in early-modern and modern communication systems. The various aspects of the book medium are analyzed from a wide range of perspectives - the history of printing, the book and its relation to other media, social and economic factors. A further major concern is to provide an outline of basic approaches to a theory of media as a starting-point for a future theory of the book that has yet to be developed.