Andrew Pettegree

Andrew Pettegree is a historian of books and media whose research follows how texts are produced, collected, circulated, and sometimes lost. He co-wrote The Library with Arthur der Weduwen, another historian at the University of St Andrews. Basic Books published the work under the fuller title The Library: A Fragile History. Moving from the ancient world to modern public institutions, the authors examine private collectors, monastic holdings, changing literary taste, philanthropy, bookmobiles, and the practical pressures that can scatter a collection. Their central distinction is between fragile collections and the durable idea of a library, which successive generations repeatedly rebuild for new purposes. Pettegree is professor of modern history at St Andrews and has also written about the early modern book trade and reading during conflict. The Library suits readers interested in institutions as living social arrangements, shaped as much by ordinary users, money, fashion, and neglect as by celebrated founders or rare manuscripts.