The notion of an ‘author’ is, it might be argued, a relatively recent development. Investigators from various fields have attempted to describe the historical conditions underpinning its construction. R. Chartier, The Order of Books, Ch. 2 frames the questions and negoiates arguments involved.
Chartier, Roger; tr. by Lydia G. Cochrane
The order of books : readers, authors, and libraries in Europe between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries
Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1994
Van Pelt Library. Z1003.5.E9 C4713 1994
Chartier, Roger; tr. by Lydia G. Cochrane
The Authors Hand and the Printers Mind: Transformations of the Written Word in Early Modern Europe
Cambridge, UK : Polity Press, 2013
Van Pelt Library. Z124 C43 2014
Rare Book & Manuscript Library - Furness Shakespeare Library (Van Pelt 628). Z124 C43 2014
Chartier, Roger, ed.; tr. by Lydia G. Cochrane
The Culture of print : power and the uses of print in early modern Europe
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1989
Rare Book & Manuscript Library - Furness Collection. Z124 .U83 1989
Van Pelt Library. Z124 .U83 1989
McKitterick, David
Print, Manuscript and the Search for Order, 1450-1830
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003
Van Pelt Library. Z124 .M39 2003
Rare Book & Manuscript Library - Furness Collection. Z124 .M39 2003