Science and technology in Italian movable books: the Turin case (19th-20th centuries)

Abstract

During the 19^th century and the first half of the 20^th, in Italy movable books on scientific and technological subjects were mainly of the anatomical type. They were mostly concentrated between the 1890s and the first two decades of the 20th century, in the wake of the industrial revolution and positivist empiricism. Useful, clear and cheap, these books make knowledge within everyone's reach, thanks to their illustrations with flaps. Looking at the overall picture, a ‘Turin case’ emerges: in fact, more than two thirds of the Italian titles found are published in Turin by five publishers, Lattes, Paravia, the Unione Tipografico-Editrice, Casanova and Rosenberg & Sellier. The contribution reconstructs their production of scientific and technological movable books, identifying their characteristics, titles and editions.