★作者上一本著作《The Notebook》授出8國版權，並獲《旁觀者》、《新政治家》和《紐約客》選為年度圖書。

A smart, charming history of books and the book trade, by the critically-acclaimed author of The Notebook.

How are books made? You might picture a solitary author, surrounded by crumpled drafts or eking out a single coffee over a laptop in a café. Yet transforming literary ideas into published books is a road paved with editors, printers and booksellers – and an industry from the middle ages, whose story reveals a hidden history of thinking and working.

In Page Turners, Roland Allen delves into the history of the book trade, from the first book fairs and Gutenberg’s revolutionary presses to the modern landscape of titanic advances, literary superstars and the quiet desperation of the midlist. From China to New York, the Renaissance to Romantasy, Page Turners is an evocative account of a trade which has shaped cultural life for centuries.

Roland Allen is the author of The Notebook, which was a Book of the Year in New Yorker, New Statesman and Spectator. He also works for Thames & Hudson’s Skittledog imprint. He has written about subjects as diverse as bicycles and bread, kept a diary for decades and enjoys stationery a little too much. Author is well-connected in the media and across publishing.