Baywood's Technical Communications Series, Series Editor: Charles H. Sides

From the Preface
"Tebeaux's approach to her material makes the book necessary reading for all people interested in technical communication, whether they be scholars, teachers, or practitioners. She examines Renaissance how-to books through the lens of the central issues of contemporary technical writing. She shows how these early writers created effective books by using the same principles that contemporary writers use, principles such as audience analysis and adaptation, readability, the plain style, formatting, and visual aids to clarify technical description.

Tebeaux's analysis of the texts' use of these strategies contributes in many ways to our understanding of technical discourse. One of the most intriguing is her discussion of the evolution of modern formatting conventions that helped make texts readable.

Another important contribution to our understanding of the history of technical writing is Tebeaux's analysis of Bacon's contributions to the rise of the plain style.

This is an important book, a classic in the field. While its primary audience will be specialists in technical communication, specialists in other areas ranging from literacy theory, history of publishing, theory of textuality, to Renaissance prose will find it instructive. Furthermore, The Emergence of a Tradition both fills a scholarly void and provides a model for this kind of historical scholarship. As Tebeaux suggests in her conclusion, researchers can apply her methods to studies of other historical periods, cultures, and types of technical communication."

Emergence of a Tradition provides a broad brush picture of technical communication as it emerged and developed during the English Renaissance, the first period of printed English books. It examines and traces the development of a number of procedural books that explained how to perform tasks important to the daily lives of people in Renaissance England."
From the Preface
Written by Michael G. Moran, University of Georgia

ABOUT THE BOOK
Forms of technical writing that were popular during the 1475-1640 period include books on medicine, farming, estate management, home management, cooking, silkworm production, military science, navigation, and recreation. These books show that their writers were aware of the importance of shaping content to the technical needs and literacy levels of the intended readers. These first printed English technical books show remarkable examples of page design to aid the readability of the work and the accessibility of the content, much of which was read for reference.

Examining books on different topics as these appeared during the Renaissance allows us to see developments in the use of graphics, the shift from orality to textuality, the expansion of knowledge, and rise of literacy, particularly among middle-class women readers, who were an important audience for many of these books. Changes in English Renaissance technical books provide a new, and as yet largely unexplored means of viewing the Renaissance and the dramatic changes that emerged during the 1475-1640 period, the first years of English printing.