Book production in Europe 1450 - 1800

Our project named "Global Historical Bibliometrics" aims to produce a database that covers bibliometrical data on the one hand over an area geographically and periods as wide as possible eventually contains worldwide historical data on current and historical stocks and production of handwritten or printed materials used for human communication. Such data may be very interesting because the production and accumulation of "books" can be used as a proxy of the production and accumulation of ideas - an important variable in for example endogenous growth theory (Kremer 1993).

Also, the demand for books will to a large extent be determined by the level of literacy in a given society. In short, the production of books is linked to a number of variables that are used in new growth theory, such as human capital and knowledge production. The numbers of manuscript and printed books produced in a given society are, in brief, complex measures of economic performance and of societal capabilities, and therefore a valuable guide to the study of long-term economic change.

The final goal, which is the quantification of global "book" production over time in this database Global Historical Bibliometrics makes it possible to address some of the big debates in the (economic) history of the world. The database Global Historical Bibliometrics and its contents are freely accessible for research purposes to people from over the world by means of the World Wide Web.