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Is the printed book in its final chapter?

Throughout the ages, the printed book has been a symbol of culture, wisdom and the dissemination of learning. After Johannes Gutenberg invented moveable type in the mid-fifteenth century, the book became an essential household object, and its value was often considered in terms of its physical quality as well as in terms of its content. Well-made books are more than just text; they are themselves works of art which many, myself included, would argue improve the experience of reading. Centuries on, books are seemingly everywhere: printed book sales topped £3.4 billion in 2013. Here in Oxford, there are over fifteen different bookshops, including many second-hand traders like Oxfam and St Phillips, while the Bodleian gives students access to over 11 million volumes.

Why, then, do so many articles appear heralding the end for the book as we know it? The undeniable growing trend towards electronic or audio books has no doubt worried many traditionalists. In 2013, printed book sales fell by 5% compared to a 19% rise in digital products. E-book sales on Amazon have been outstripping those of physical books since 2011. The impact on bookshops has been severe, with the number of independent bookshops in the UK falling below 1000 earlier this year, mostly due to a combination of falling sales and competition with online sites. 

The problem is that, in terms of pure practicality, the e-book wins hands down. It can store hundreds of different books and is light and easy to transport. It saves paper, doesn’t tear or stain and is considerably less expensive in the long run. For a younger generation, particularly students, these factors often outweigh sentiment, nostalgia or the pleasure of page-turning. Even more competitive are sites such as Project Gutenberg, which boasts “over 46,000 free e-books”, presenting the reader with the bare bones of the text and nothing more. Not very aesthetically pleasing, but particularly handy when used in conjunction with the ‘Ctrl-F’ function during essay writing. Gutenberg might have been amazed or appalled (possibly both) at what publishing was to become, but he is an apt figurehead of a project which aims to increase the availability of literature.

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Is the decline of the printed book therefore irreversible? And, more importantly, does it matter? Vinyl records, VCRs and cassette tapes all had their time and were superseded, yet the art they recorded has not been diminished. If printed books were also one day to exist only as antique collectibles, their literature would by no means be lost. What would be lost is the romance of reading: the beauty of the illustrations, the almost irrational comfort of feeling a book in your hands and the satisfaction of closing it with a snap when you’re done for the night. But I fully accept that these are sentimental reasons which may find little place or sympathy in the commercial practicality of the digital age.

The future of the physical book may not in fact be as bleak as the doomsayers would have you believe. Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival earlier this year, Tim Waterstone, the founder of the high-street chain Waterstones, argued that the rise of the e-book is already stalling and that apocalyptic predictions regarding print were “garbage”. Printed book sales still vastly outstrip those of electronic books and, despite the net decline in bookstores, 26 independent retailers opened in the UK last year.

It may be hoped that there will always be readers who cherish a work enough to invest in a physical copy of it. But the most important concern should be that books be made readily accessible to all, and that as many people as possible should have the opportunity to engage with the great wealth of literature in the world. The encouragement of reading is more essential than the preservation of the book, and e-readers should be welcomed as a valuable means of achieving this aim.

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