Paul Keen is Professor of English at Carleton University.

• 1. The ocean of ink: a long introduction; 2. Balloonomania: the pursuit of knowledge and the culture of the spectacle; 3. Bibliomania: the rage for books and the spectacle of culture; 4. Foolish knowledge: the little world of microcosmopolitan literature; 5. Uncommon animals: literary professionalism in the age of authors; 6. The learned pig: enlightening the reading public; 7. Afterword: a swinish multitude: the tyranny of fashion in the 1790s; 8. Works cited.

'Keen's book is the product of a deep reading of the archive of the past, with impressive results.' David Simpson, European Romantic Review

Paul Keen is Professor of English at Carleton University.

• 1. The ocean of ink: a long introduction; 2. Balloonomania: the pursuit of knowledge and the culture of the spectacle; 3. Bibliomania: the rage for books and the spectacle of culture; 4. Foolish knowledge: the little world of microcosmopolitan literature; 5. Uncommon animals: literary professionalism in the age of authors; 6. The learned pig: enlightening the reading public; 7. Afterword: a swinish multitude: the tyranny of fashion in the 1790s; 8. Works cited.

'Keen's book is the product of a deep reading of the archive of the past, with impressive results.' David Simpson, European Romantic Review

Paul Keen is Professor of English at Carleton University.

• 1. The ocean of ink: a long introduction; 2. Balloonomania: the pursuit of knowledge and the culture of the spectacle; 3. Bibliomania: the rage for books and the spectacle of culture; 4. Foolish knowledge: the little world of microcosmopolitan literature; 5. Uncommon animals: literary professionalism in the age of authors; 6. The learned pig: enlightening the reading public; 7. Afterword: a swinish multitude: the tyranny of fashion in the 1790s; 8. Works cited.

'Keen's book is the product of a deep reading of the archive of the past, with impressive results.' David Simpson, European Romantic Review