Marking Time
Over the last six centuries, humans have used books to interact with and interpret the passage of time. Texts have allowed artists and book owners to locate themselves in time, observe the passage of time, and to collapse time. From a medieval prayerbook called a Book of Hours that would have been consulted multiple times per day throughout the liturgical year; a tunnel book documenting the coronation parade of Queen Victoria in 1838 CE; to an artist’s book that relays facts about phenomena that occur every minute of the day, these examples represent the diverse ways in which humans have used books to mark time.
Emma P. Holter
