I believe someone commented on books available in a average home, but doesn't that depend on the printing technolog? How cheap and easy are books for the society to produce?
Realistically, the sources for the poor (those people not so well-off that they can spend their hard earned money on a book) to get a book from would be: the government and the Temples. Both probably being some form of propaganda.
However, the with newspaper in Oblivion, it suggests that printing for the masses is common in big cities.
I suppose what it comes down to is: what sorts of books would the average person/family in the city have and what sorts of books would a rural (farming) person/ family have?
Religious books/pamphlets
Cooking and 'how to' Books
handwritten journals
and books handed down through the family
Hi KimJ. Welcome to Silgrad Tower
I believe that was my comment, which I made to "
Fiddler on the Roof". We also started talking about printing technology over PMs actually, which made me recall a community-made Morrowind model of a Printing Press. I ported it yesterday and sent to him, and it'll be used in his Soluthis claim of a library or bookstore.
To me it stands to reason there are printing presses in the world of Elder Scrolls since books are low in cost and found in numerous identical copies. But even their low cost is a high cost to a poor person who might not know how to read either, so back when I said an average person I meant middle-class or thereabouts.
I wholeheartedly agree with your list, good work on that! I especially liked the
'how to' books suggestion, where I got the impression you were thinking of something along the lines of a Farmer's Almanac. I would've never thought about that. It'd probably require quite a bit of research for someone who would write such a book, to find out how things were done in the real-world middle ages. I hope someone goes the distance and does though. Their research could also yield valuable tips for the modelling department on new tools or other objects that make sense and would make homes, farms and other locations more interesting.
So, thanks for opening up the discussion, I look forward to following it.
Well in real life, the printing press was invented in 1400s (i think) which seems to me to be about the same level of technology as you'd expect to find in oblivion.
Maybe you should make a book shop that doubles as a publisher? Then you could put a printing press in the basement, and for a small fee (dependant on price of book), you can have any book in the game copied.
or better yet your own book made
I think in cities printing presses and the like woul dbe found but still be an expensive tool... whereas the books able to be quickly made would not necessarily unless old/rare ones... anywhere else it would be the time consuming hand-copied or hand written type of codicies, scrolls, and books
An expensive tool? The printing press completely dominated literature as soon as it was invented. It could take years to handcopy and illustrate a single manuscript, but with a printing press you could have several copies within a number of days.
Plus, almost every settled location in Silgrad is close enough to a large city that there would only be a very small amount of handmade books, because it is much more efficient to print books.
books were made in sets of 250, because that's how large the stack was for paper. You'd do a page at a time, and experienced printsmen could do 250 identical pages in an hour.
So working 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, they could make 250 copies of a 30 page book. If they worked for 2 weeks, 250 copies of a 60 page book, 3 weeks a 180 page book, ect. And that's assuming they're lazy (6 hours a day!? they could start at 8 and be done by 2)
So it perfectly explains the huge amount of books, why commoners have them, ect.
here's the wikipedia article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press
I thought it was an expensive tool to buy or have made for you? or am I wrong?
I mean it is less expensive but less efficient to hand copy
but more expensive to acquire yet more efficient to print
right? :confused:
Ahh in that respect you're right, it would be more expensive to make or buy, but i don't think it's expensive enough that it would be rare. The efficiency with which it churns out books turns a large profit.
Plus, it's basically a modified wine press, and there are plenty of those in oblivion.
Cost also depends on if you're paying the monk who spent 5 years making one bible minimum wage... Figuring $5 a hour, a 50 hour work-week, works 40 weeks a year, x 5 years = $50,000 to make one book.
Unless the monk is a slave.
Still, explains why only rich people had books
What about the government's position on them? Saying they are relatively easy to make (being a converted wine-press) is one thing but satisfying the government that you won't print anything they don't like is another.
What's the political landscape like? Are there dissenters or rebels who could/would advertise the king's (or whoever the ruler is) faults, injustices, and bad decisions?
And Yes, Razorwing, I was thinking of the Farmer's Almanac, giving information about the planting seasons and what to plant when, what dates the rivers flood.
how bout to publis hyour own books :bananarock:
