The novel is an it-narrative following the experiences of a copy of The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
The History of a Book was written by Annie Carey and published in 1873 by Cassell, Petter & Galpin in London.
[1] Carey was an author of the it-narrative, a genre of Victorian literature giving the stories of objects; she earlier wrote Autobiography of a Lump of Coal; A Grain of Salt; A Drop of Water; A Bit of Old Iron; and A Piece of Old Flint (1870).
[2] Carey's novel follows a copy of The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe as it is being made.
[6] An article in Graphic recommended the novel for readers interested in the history of publishing and praised its historical view of the printing press "from the rude types of Gutenberg ... to the Walter or Marinoni machines".