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Barrett, T.H. (2011) 'The Woman Who Invented Notepaper: Towards a Comparative Historiography of Paper and Print.' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 21 (2). pp. 199-210.

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Abstract

Comparative writing about the history of science and technology in different cultures tends to assume that differences in the ways in which these cultures write their histories are not important. But this is unlikely to be the case. The comparative lack of historical writing about printing in China by European standards should not in itself lead us to conclude that print only played a minor role there, any more than the tendency to downplay the importance of paper among historians of the European book means that its use in Europe was less significant than in other cultures. That in China the relative balance of the historical record is the opposite of the one that we tend to assume on the basis of the European experience is demonstrated here by contrasting the dearth of information about early printing with the commemoration even of relatively marginal cultural figures through the traditional Chinese historiography of paper making. But only tentative suggestions can be made as to why these differences in historical writing may have occurred.

Item Type: Journal Article
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > School of History, Religions & Philosophies > Department of History
Subjects: Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Z004 Books. Writing. Paleography
ISSN: 13561863
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186311000186
Date Deposited: 24 Mar 2025 15:53
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/43693
Funders: Other

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