THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Teological Library Association 54 CRITICAL REVIEW Volume 3, Number 2 • December 2010 Te Oxford Companion to the Book Michael F. Suarez, S.J. and H. R. Woudhuysen, eds. Te Oxford Companion to the Book. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. 2 vols.: 1327 pp. $325.00. Hardcover. ISBN: 9780198606536 (set). O n frst looking into Te Oxford Companion to the Book several questions quickly present themselves. Does its appearance now in 2010 represent a summing up of a medium of communication that has had a noble, four-thousand-year history, but which inevitably must step aside as the digital revolution advances, blurring at best and even calling into question, as it marches forward, the distinctions among physical formats that have shaped our culture for so long? Are editors Suarez and Woudhuysen seeking to both elegantly and elegiacally pay their penultimate respects to the book as material object before it disappears from the everydayness of life, saying, in efect, this is the way we were? Or does this Companion attest that the book as we have known it yet has a future? Addressing the question of editorial perspective is worthwhile, and there is much to say about this aspect alone, but it is only one of several lenses through which this major undertaking may be viewed and appreciated. Te Oxford Companion to the Book is, by any measure, a stunning accomplishment. No less in the beauty of its production as a two-volume, boxed set than in its wide-ranging, authoritative content, the Companion pays homage to the inestimable importance and impact that recorded texts in all their manifestations have had on societies and cultures the world over throughout history. At 1,327 pages and weighing just under 11 lbs., this “companion” is not for the beach or the backpack. But on a shelf within easy reach it will travel marvelously with anyone who is seeking reliable information about any aspect of the book: its history, production, dissemination, infuence on culture, and much in addition. Beftting its subject, the Companion is an exemplar of book making. Quarter bound in a vivid burgundy with gold lettering and with richly patterned, decorative endleaves and high quality, glossy paper, it gives evidence of consummate care in every aspect of its production. In short, it has curb appeal. Oxford has also published an electronic edition under its Digital Reference Shelf banner (not seen), but one can easily imagine the initial impression of the digital version on the part of the interested student or scholar being much diferent, less impressive if you will, than its print counterpart. Inside its covers, the set consists of over 5,000 A-Z entries, preceded by ffty-one essays, of which nineteen are thematic studies and thirty-two histories of the book from a national or regional vantage point. Te essays occupy about two-thirds of the frst volume with the much shorter A-Z entries taking up the rest of volume one and all of the second. To produce the remarkable breadth and depth of information about the book, past and present, the editors assembled a team of associate and assistant editors, essayists, and contributors, altogether numbering nearly 400 scholars and practitioners. Among them are professors of literature, book and cultural historians, antiquarian booksellers, librarians, special collections curators, archivists, and typographers. In their introduction the editors clarify that “book” in the title is a synecdoche of sorts, the one standing for the many (x). Tus newspapers, maps, music, prints, etc. are not excluded. At the same time, while recognizing the