In a message dated Wed, 19 Jun 2002 12:54:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, David Dyer-Bennet <dd-b at dd-b.net> writes: > At least in this world, patronage didn't last much into > the wide marketing of books, did it? At least as a > primarily financial relationship? What's the book > technology in Dragaera at various periods? Are they > doing printing yet? Is literacy widespread? I seem to > remember that it is. Vlad had a rather poor education by Dragaeran standards, yet thinks nothing of heading to the local bookstore for some impulse buying. This indicates a fairly high literacy rate among [non-Teckla] Dragaerans. Easterners are another matter (see _Teckla_). Both Vlad and Paarfi mention books being "published" which implies the existence of printing presses (if not movable type) in the Empire and at least some Eastern kingdoms. In _Orca_ and FHYA we see underground newspapers, indicating a significant amount of literacy among the poorer classes. --KG