Over two parts, 69 leading scholars, librarians and archivists come together to analyse the development of the book in Scotland from the early seventh century BCE to the 1707 Union, from depictions of books in carved stone monuments to the printing presses of Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow producing pamphlets and receipts used for everyday business at the end of the seventeenth century.

Part I: Foundations, Production and Expansion establishes the overall boundaries of manuscript and printed book history in Scotland across this millennium and sets the making of books within the wider cultural contexts at play, both at home and abroad. Scots were highly mobile across this one-thousand year period, moving for education and religious reasons, establishing businesses abroad and bringing home new styles and technology. This focused study adds to the narrative of an outward-facing emergent nation, rich in the written word and in a culture of reading, authorship and art.