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book printing book
Painting of a person with a headscarf reading a newspaper, with blue and white text overlaid reading: How the middle class learned to read.
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book printing
book printing Impressio Librorum (Book Printing), plate 4 from the Nova Reperta (New Inventions of Modern Times), c. 1580–1605, engraving by Theodoor Galle after a drawing by Jan van der Straet, c. 1550; in the British Museum.

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book, published work of literature or scholarship; the term has been defined by UNESCO for statistical purposes as a “non-periodical printed publication of at least 49 pages excluding covers,” but no strict definition satisfactorily covers the variety of publications so identified. Although the form, content, and provisions for making books have varied widely during their long history, some constant characteristics may be identified. The most obvious is that a book is designed to serve as...

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