«an engaging work of "book history as anatomy" ... each of the contributors to Book Parts finds their own metaphorical vocabulary to describe the relationship between book part and main text.»

James Waddell, Times Literary Supplement

«...a Gray's Anatomy for the bookish»

Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

«For making us think about the elements of which a book is comprised, and making us reflect on their long histories - and for doing so with intelligence, learning and wit - this book is to be greatly welcomed...It is rarely less than fascinating and sometimes hugely entertaining.»

Mathew Lyons, The Author

«Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.»

M. C. Cohen, CHOICE

«Duncan and Smyth contextualize their undertaking with an unusually self-conscious introduction that does not spend time giving us synopses of each chapter ... There is little need to speak of the whole collection when it is this well edited and each part feels in concert with the others ... It is the drama of this shadowy realm that Smyth and Duncan's collection, both in whole and in part, demonstrates for us.»

Nicholas D. Nace, The Book Collector

«a vast body of expertise... engrossing, inviting, and, surprisingly, often entertaining»

Libraries: Culture, History, and Society

«Book Parts is a lively and wide-ranging contribution to book history and will surely prove to be a standout introduction (and inducement) to bibliographical scholarship»

Caroline Curtis, The Library

«Rich, odd, interesting»

Ian Sansom, The Spectator