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Basel humanists shaped religious discourse beyond the Reformed sphere through their collections of exempla, short narratives designed to illustrate a moral or doctrinal message. Because scholars of early modern exempla typically focus on either Lutheran or Catholic exempla collections, the role of Reformed compilers as mediators between confessions has been obscured. This article uses methods from the field of digital humanities and corpus linguistics to examine the lasting influence of Theodor Zwinger (1533–1588), Conrad Lycosthenes (1518–1561), and Johannes Herold (1514–1567) on Lutheran and Catholic exempla collections in a newly quantitative way. Using the concordance software AntConc, this study identifies numerous citations that demonstrate that Zwinger and Lycosthenes facilitated confessional cross-pollination of exemplary narratives from the mid-sixteenth through the early eighteenth century. Although citations of Zwinger, Lycosthenes, and Herold are more frequent in Lutheran exempla collections, the existence of several Catholic editions of Zwinger's Theatrum vitae humanae indicates that Catholic readers also valued Zwinger's work. This examination showcases the vital role of Swiss humanists in cross-confessional networks of information exchange and religious discourse in early modern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February of 1895 the first American bestseller list appeared in the inaugural issue of the Bookman under the unassuming title of "Sales of Books During the Month." Though scholars have used the Bookman list as a reference point in studies of reading trends there has been no sustained consideration of its specific form and influence. This article seeks to supply both providing an institutional history while also locating the bestseller phenomenon within a larger turn of the century publishing context including early experiments in advertising. Focusing on the first ten years of the Bookman list from 1895–1904 this analysis relies in part on a database of every title which appeared on the list during that time comprised of over 21000 entries. This approach allows for new perspectives on how questions of homogeneity and simultaneity inherent to bestseller discourse played out across turn of the century American landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I discuss the fate of six 15th-century books from the collection of Polish bishop and bibliophile Józef Andrzej Załuski (1702–1774). I aim to trace the migrations of incunabula in the 18th century before the mass movements of books in response to the suppressions of religious convents. An analysis of unexploited provenance materials, such as ownership and reading marks, will make it possible to determine the methods of the bishop-bibliophile and the ways by which he acquired valuable collections for the Załuski Public Library (one of the largest in Europe at the time), which he co-managed with his brother. I will moreover answer the question of what factors caused these volumes to survive to this day, unlike most of volumes from Załuski's book collection, which were burnt shortly after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The words τὸ πρῶτον in Heraclitus B1 have been subjected to competing construals, yet this dilemma, and its stakes, are almost never discussed. We argue that the common translation of ἀκούσαντες τὸ πρῶτον , 'when once they have heard it', faces insurmountable philosophical, stylistic, and linguistic objections. We make a new case for the alternative construal, 'after they have heard it for the first time'. This yields a linguistically better account of the Greek, and a philosophically more satisfying one in the broader context of B1 and Heraclitus' thought. Finally, we examine the larger programmatic implications of the small phrase τὸ πρῶτον for Heraclitus' book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concept of reification in John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Reification refers to the situation where human activity and its products dominate and control human beings, appearing as objective entities governed by natural laws. Steinbeck's novel portrays the effects of reification through the story of tenant farmers who are forced off their land by banks and large-scale agro-industrial exploitation. The article highlights the environmental malpractice, debt, and the dehumanizing nature of corporations in the novel. It also explores the lack of collective action and political consciousness among the farmers, as well as the resilience and resourcefulness of the Joad family. [Extracted from the article]

This article delves into the world of collecting, collections, and collectors during the nineteenth century. It focuses on the English inclination to amass objects and the intricate networks that arose from this practice. The article explores how collecting encompassed a wide range of objects and served as both a material and intellectual pursuit, reflecting a desire for organization and display. It also delves into the connections between collecting and empire, material culture, natural history, and the origins of museums. The essays in the special issue cover various topics, including gender dynamics in collecting, the role of travel writing in understanding Japanese culture, and the intellectual practice of music collecting. The text further examines different aspects of collecting and curating in the nineteenth century, such as the aesthetic value of tobacco in gardens, the legacy of botanical illustrator Anna Atkins, the literary function of museums, the Ottoman Imperial Museum, the material and emotional aspects of collecting, and the curation of texts in a digital archive. The essays shed light on the complexities and contradictions inherent in collecting and curating, emphasizing the importance of critically examining these practices. [Extracted from the article]

Cizhen yadiao is a massive qu anthology compiled and engraved by the Hudongtang bookstore in Nanjing during the early Wanli era. This work consists of nine volumes that could be printed and sold respectively; later, they were put together and reproduced into one catalogue with continuous page numbers as a new book entitled Cizhen yadiao. The anthologizing concept of the book is centered on the core of "qu"--the combination of sanqu and dramatic songs, southern songs and northern songs, folk songs and literati lyrics, thereby representing a distinctive characteristic of "songbook and qu library" for use in popular singing. The editorial principle of Cizhen yadiao lies in the classification of occasions, putting similar songs together according to various life scenes in order to make a glossary to satisfy readers' multiple demands. The book's features and selection strategies might be connected with the cultural consumption of the prostitutes' song-singing entertainment in Nanjing during the late Ming. From the perspective of book history and the history of drama, Cizhen yadiao can provide us with a new way of thinking about research on anthologizing and the development of the qu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to understand the idea of readership and access to printed books in colonial South India, responding to print and missionary interventions in nineteenth-century Kerala. The paper would ask, how does one work with traces of reading in the text and construct its beyond with interest in this history, paying heed to its entanglements in desires and fears of and from the same activity of reading? Is there a potential affective space in this history, accounted by the reader between divisions of the material text and the liminalities of reading events scattered in its time and space? The paper envisions methods to study reading and its lives by imaginatively and symbolically locating "readers" and "respondents" to the changes within the nineteenth-century missionary printing exercise. The study understands the coming of Vidyasamgraham or The Cottayam College Quarterly Magazine, published between 1864 and 1867 to have set the pace for both knowledge dissemination and the making of rational modern "reading" subjects in nineteenth-century Kerala. The serialization of The Slayer Slain throughout its eight issues will be read alongside the selected entries of Vidyasamgraham to ask questions about how reading was conceived, its locations, and the nature of the book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important artillery manuals of the 15th century is the Feuerwerkbuch. The treatise was one of the first European didactic technical texts, intended for both artillerymen and their employers. After circulating in manuscript copies for over a hundred years, the text was first printed in 1529. By 1619 it had been published thirteen times in total, making it exceptional among military manuals published in Central Europe at that time. The content of the work has been studied by various medievalists and codicologists to date, but they were not usually concerned with later transformations of the publication. The aim of this paper is to characterise the changes in this work between the late Middle Ages and the beginning of the Thirty Years' War and to trace its publication history and its publication relationship to other educational texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Michael Camille (2000, 216) suggests that medieval images are "not the reflection of some external view of this world but the beginning and foundation of a process of thought." This article suggests that the audience to London British Library Royal MS 14.E.iii used haptic interaction with the codex as a way of uniting physical and spiritual sensory perception. In this way, the manuscript's audience utilized a process that we might today define as "embodied reading," in which the reception of a given narrative is enhanced through the stimulation of multiple sensory modalities. Building upon new work by Kathryn Rudy that focuses on the damage caused by touching, rubbing, and kissing religious manuscripts, I argue that the same "damage-by-loving-touch" can also be seen in two miniatures in Royal 14.E.iii. In each example, the audience's targeted touching of the Grail table mirrors the way in which characters within the text touch (and are subsequently healed by) the same object. By extension, this suggests that the lessons (and potential benefits) of accessing the Grail were understood to be applicable to the manuscript's audience: the owners of Royal 14.E.iii treated the manuscript as if it was a devotional text, physical contact with which allowed them to participate in the events of the narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyses Ejaz Rahim's historiographical epic poem Garden of Secrets Revisited (2020) to explore the synergy between the overarching concept of "Big History" (regarded as good knowledge) and the integrative nature of "Consilience." Building on the idea of William H. McNeil, David Christian further expostulates the concept of "big history" in his essay "What is Big History?" where he draws on and elaborates the term "consilience" coined by E.O. Wilson, who initially envisioned it as "a return to the goal of a unified understanding of reality." The in-depth analysis of Rahim's epic seeks parallels between Christian's idea of big history by using the consilience of multiple disciplines of knowledge to understand the common themes that shape the world. Marnie Hughes-Warrington's deliberations on the concept of philosophical and universal history in poetic form, expressed in her book History as Wonder (2019), are triangulated with the ideas of Christian and Jacques Derrida to pursue the argument through a bricolage of theoretical positions. This paper finally develops the thesis that the concept of consilience underpins the methodology of long history by emphasizing an interdisciplinary approach to human history. A critical study of Garden of Secrets Revisited, therefore, provides a nuanced understanding of the ethical implications of the experience of reading big history along with an engagement with Derrida's propositions in Specters of Marx (1994), where he regards the experience of history as an ethical understanding of things. The study intervenes critical scholarship on the strength of its argument that historiographical poetry as a powerful and transformative sub-genre has the potential to reconnect history, ranging from humanities to natural sciences, with a universalist vision underlying the concept of big history that may help reach the objective historical truth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Perífrasis. Revista de Literatura, Teoría y Crítica is the property of Universidad de los Andes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article introduces a collection of essays that explore the contributions of early modern women from England, France, and Italy in the fields of science, book history, and art history. The essays highlight the importance of reading the works of well-known women writers and considering canonical works by male artists from gendered perspectives. The topics covered include the advocacy for transspecies friendship in the works of Madeleine de Scudéry, the concept of joining in Margaret Cavendish's writings, the interpretation of Tintoretto's painting Tarquin and Lucretia, and the exploration of queer and trans approaches to the study of early modern women and gender. The article also includes an essay on the experiences of a free Black woman in Spain and reviews of museum exhibits and books on early modern women's studies. The editors express their gratitude to the contributors, reviewers, and readers of the journal as their term comes to an end. [Extracted from the article]

The history of publishing in Poland encompasses many issues associated with the emergence and dissemination of printed books. Of fundamental significance to the study of these issues are the records of the publishing output: while we have nearly complete, though still underexamined, records of this output for the period from the 15th to the 18th century, documented in bibliographies and catalogues, the situation is worse when it comes to the 19th and 20th centuries, until the outbreak of the Second World War. In this respect, what we need is not only a continuation, but a radical intensification of bibliographic work. This concerns works published in the Latin, Cyrillic, Hebrew and Greek scripts, as well as musical notation. Polish book scholars have devoted a lot of attention to the beginnings of printing in Poland. The historiography concerning various typographic workshops located in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is rich; however, it still requires further extensive studies. Scholars have also been interested in phenomena influ- encing the content structure of printed publications, such as publishing privileges (in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), censorship and restrictions imposed by the partitioning powers and later by Poland’s communist authorities, as a result of which Polish publications had to be printed abroad and an independent publishing movement emerged. The scholars’ research interests have also focused on books as products of printers and publishers and on the publication of written works. Scholars have examined both the various components of the book (title page, printer’s signet, stemmata, etc.) and its editorial composition as a whole. Their undoubted achievements in the studies of the history of publishing in Poland are significant, yet in many areas they need to be continued and expanded (one important task is the edition of sources for the study of the history of Polish publishing) and to investigate the phenomena that stem from developmental tendencies in modern book studies.

This article challenges the prevailing belief that Indian print culture emerged in the nineteenth century by exploring the participation of Indians in print culture in the late eighteenth century. It reveals that Indians were actively involved in print culture as both readers and patrons, contributing to periodicals, reading newspapers, and handling official documents. Subscription publishing, a method that limited risk and raised funds in advance, gained popularity in India, with Indian names appearing on almost half of the extant lists of subscribers to books published in India during the eighteenth century. The article argues that this early Indian experience with print laid the foundation for its later proliferation, contradicting the notion that Indian print culture only emerged after the arrival of foreign institutions. [Extracted from the article]

Jordan Alexander Stein's book, "When Novels Were Books," explores the relationship between the material qualities of books and the experience of character in Anglophone novels. Stein argues that the size, shape, and organization of a book can have a profound impact on readers' perceptions of character and their own sense of self. The book's argument is of interest to those studying book history and material texts, as it highlights the importance of considering the material aspects of literature. Stein's thesis challenges the notion of authenticity in literature and invites readers to question their own artificiality. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses Kathleen Lubey's book, "What Pornography Knows: Sex and Social Protest since the Eighteenth Century," which explores the history of pornography and its connection to social justice. Lubey argues that pornography can be a site of social protest and challenges the assumption that it is inherently misogynistic. She examines the evolution of a midcentury bawdy novel, "The History of the Human Heart," and its various editions, highlighting how the editing process shaped the portrayal of sex scenes and gender dynamics. Lubey's book offers a new perspective on the history of pornography and its potential for feminist discourse. [Extracted from the article]

In this article, relying on Readex's electronic database 'Early American Newspapers, Series 1, 1690–1876: From Colonies to Nation', I use the evidence of newspapers to construct a picture of the encyclopaedias most mentioned in British North America and the early United States during the period before 1790. I begin by explaining my methodology and reviewing other approaches to studying the American market for encyclopaedias before 1790. Then, working on the assumption that mentions of encyclopaedias in newspapers roughly represent interest in encyclopaedias, I attempt to quantify Americans' evolving interest in different encyclopaedias and kinds of encyclopaedias. Lastly, having sketched out the landscape of encyclopaedias in eighteenth-century America, I consider the uses to which they were put. Among other conclusions, I argue that, despite assertions to the contrary by encyclopaedists and their publishers, encyclopaedias functioned less as substitutes for private libraries than as complements to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

David Elliston Allen was a highly regarded botanist and historian of natural history who made significant contributions to the field. He joined the Society for the History of Natural History in 1967 and served as its President from 1978 to 1981. Allen's work focused on regional consumer tastes, the social history of natural history, and the history of botany. He published numerous books and articles on these topics, shedding light on overlooked figures and perspectives in the field. The document also mentions a forthcoming posthumous publication titled "Brambles of Ireland" by the National Botanic Gardens. Additionally, a list of Allen's publications and contributions is provided, covering a wide range of subjects such as the Victorian fern craze, the history of veterinary medicine, natural history in the eighteenth century, and the struggle for specialist journals in the nineteenth century. This comprehensive list would be valuable for library patrons conducting research on the history of natural history in Britain. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Slawistik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the importance of gaining knowledge in book history for early-career special collections librarians. It highlights the challenges of finding educational opportunities in this field and suggests that a practicum can be a valuable way to learn practical book history. The author shares their experience designing a practicum at their workplace, the Wangensteen Historical Library, and describes the three units they focused on: scholarly reading, seeking out connections with professionals, and creating a digital resource. The article concludes by emphasizing the accessibility of introductory texts and the value of building professional relationships to learn from experts in the field. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines the surprisingly prevalent incidence of contemporary handstamps impressed upon the final leaf of Restoration playbooks. These are all circular and contain either individual letters or are bisected and contain a combination of letters and numerals. As they are demonstrably not part of the printing process, they have not attracted the attention of textual editors; but as this article shows, neither are they markers of ownership that would interest scholars researching provenance. We identify the marks as being the stamps of letter receivers; in particular, receivers (James Magnes and Richard Bentley) who were also stationers involved in the publishing of the plays we examined. The presence of these stamps suggests that Magnes and Bentley served not only as publishers and booksellers, but as distributors of the playbooks they produced. The presence of these stamps thus has implications for the distribution of Restoration playbooks through the English postal system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional book distribution was central to political mobilization in the localities during the English Civil Wars. A contextual approach, building up a picture from print and manuscript sources such as journals, reveals the multiple ways in which books circulated, through a case study of Devon and the south west. In contrast to recent emphasis on activist publishers, these sources highlight the significance of book distribution by puritan clergy. Book distribution in Devon was dominated by the unmatched south-western network of the London publisher Francis Eglesfield (publisher of Robert Herrick's Hesperides). However, the political agency of book distribution lies beyond the conventional book trade with the activities of local ministers, exemplified by John Bond of Exeter, Thomas Larkham of Tavistock, and John Syms of Sheepstor and Plymouth. Their distribution efforts provided multiple routes by which books reached their political audiences and created opportunities for political participation in parish communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the history of medieval paper in England, noting that most of it was imported and very little has survived. The introduction of paper in the early fourteenth century and the impact of printing at the end of the fifteenth century are discussed, highlighting how paper allowed more people to become writers and readers. The article also touches on the psychological impact of paper on the literary imagination and the ambivalence between paper and parchment as writing supports. The author's research is based on a systematic census of manuscripts in Cambridge University Library, but the lack of surviving archives in England poses a challenge. Another text discusses the formats and origins of medieval manuscripts, focusing on agenda or oblong formats found in Cambridge manuscripts. The author criticizes previous sources for their lack of information on formats and discusses the use of agenda formats in accountancy and music. The origins of medieval paper are briefly mentioned, with Italy dominating in the early fourteenth century and French papermakers gradually taking over. The importance of watermarks in determining the source of paper is emphasized, with examples provided from manuscripts in the Cambridge University Library. Another text discusses the author's analysis of watermarks found in manuscripts and their significance in determining the origin and age of the paper. Examples of different watermarks and their potential origins are given, such as Italy, France, Germany, and Switzerland. The importance of paper evidence in studying the history of papermaking and its impact on the printing industry is also mentioned. The author points out some errors and inconsistencies in the book [Extracted from the article]

Robin Myers, a prominent figure in the world of books and archives, passed away on her 97th birthday. She was a respected member of the Bibliographical Society and served as its first female president. Myers had a passion for collecting books and autograph letters, and she used her extensive knowledge to teach others about book collecting. She also played a significant role in preserving and promoting the archives of the Stationers' Company. Myers was known for her talent for friendship and her elegant writing style. She leaves behind a legacy of publications and fond memories among her many friends. [Extracted from the article]

Late 19th-century Singapore is considered the centre for the printing and distribution of Muslim-Malay lithographed texts in the Malay archipelago. In 1890, the island's print output was approximately six million pages, with many of these printed from lithography. Thus informed, our recent readings of Singapore's role in regional histories of the printed book tend to locate its prominence along contemporary, national lines – this is anachronistic. The island, historically, was neither nation nor state, but a British colonial settlement. Singapore's advantageous geographical position certainly established it as a prominent site for book production and distribution. However, the existing corpus of lithographed publications, printed at multiple localities, indicate a broader range of regional locations involved in Muslim printing. These texts, from mushaf to syair, often feature printed defects and paratextual marks on their pages. Informed by approaches from analytical bibliography and printing history, the materiality of these marks and defects can be 'read' to identify specific print production techniques. These, in turn, suggest printing methods that were common in British and Dutch territories, and beyond – an indication of the mobility of techniques, materials, and practitioners within the lithographic trade, and the collaborative nature of print enterprises in the Malay world. By discussing these printed marks, this article will (a) re-situate and revise our understanding of interactions and practices within the Muslim-Malay lithographic printing trade; and (b) posit the notion that late 19th-century Singapore is not the locus, but one of several sites of significance within a regional 'constellation' of printing activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of history of science has evolved and diversified over the past few decades, encompassing not only the natural sciences, medicine, and mathematics, but also the social sciences, humanities, and the study of the relationship between science and technology. The discipline has embraced inter- and transnational perspectives, as well as postcolonial and decolonial aspects. The history of science has become an interdisciplinary field, exploring the relationship between science and other forms of knowledge. This special issue aims to highlight the diversity and vibrancy of current research topics and approaches in the histories of science, including the history of the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, communication practices, digital history, and the role of technology. The contributions also demonstrate the connections between histories of science and other fields of historical research, such as gender history, colonial history, media history, and environmental history. [Extracted from the article]

Marcy J. Dinius's book, "The Textual Effects of David Walker's 'Appeal': Print-Based Activism against Slavery, Racism, and Discrimination, 1829–1851," explores the impact of David Walker's pamphlet, "An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World," which called for Black liberation. Dinius examines five adaptations of the pamphlet over a twenty-year period, analyzing the materiality of the text and its influence on Black and Indigenous rhetorical and print cultures. The book highlights the interconnectedness of these texts and their role in advocating against slavery and racial discrimination. Dinius's work contributes to the field of Black bibliography and emphasizes the importance of preserving and studying these texts in the face of censorship and the erasure of marginalized voices. [Extracted from the article]

The book "Women's Labour and the History of the Book in Early Modern England" edited by Valerie Wayne explores the question of whether women have a book history in early modern England. The book utilizes a range of new original sources and analysis to provide a resounding answer that women did indeed have a significant role in the book trade and cultural life during this period. The book is praised for its successes but also acknowledges its limitations, particularly in terms of its focus on English borders and its definition of "woman." Despite these constraints, the book is considered an essential piece of women's history and book history for future scholars and students. [Extracted from the article]

Giancarlo Petrella's book, "Scrivere sui libri: Breve guida al libro a stampa postillato," serves as a guide to annotated early printed books, known as postillati. The book is divided into three chapters that explore the history of annotated books, ownership traces and provenance, and reading evidence. Petrella provides numerous examples and a solid methodological approach to understanding the material history of books and reading. While the book may have some flaws, it is an important and indispensable work in the field of marginalia studies, particularly in Italy. [Extracted from the article]

This article considers the fugitive slave narrative as an important episode in the history of the book. It notes the multiple editions to which many of these books ran, and the difficulty of determining a comprehensive bibliographic record of publication. We establish this bibliographic record for Moses Roper's autobiography, Narrative of the Adventures and Escape of Moses Roper from American Slavery , whose sixteen editions were published between 1837 and 1849 in English and Welsh, in what the article identifies as six phases of publication. The article argues for the documentary importance of the paratextual material and visual imagery folded into each edition as extensions of the autobiographical record and, therefore, moments of historical redefinition that respond to the material, economic, social, and cultural conditions of production. This includes the capacity of Black writing to establish spheres of Atlantic print culture other than Anglophone. The article shows that the bibliographic surfeit of nineteenth-century Black writing exemplified by Roper's work provides an untapped biographical resource in which important clues to the biographies of their authors, and of their families in slavery and in freedom, lie hidden in plain sight. Bibliographic attention to Roper's work therefore reveals the novel ways in which the book was systematized as a form of archival practice at a time when it was necessary to travel light, and the public sphere provided one of the few hopes of establishing a durable record of the author's personal and family history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the study of medieval book fragments and the growing field of digital fragmentology. It explores the various ways in which fragments of manuscripts have been repurposed and collected over the centuries, from being used in decorative art to being studied in schools and private collections. The article also highlights the importance of cross-disciplinary work and the use of digital images and software in fragment studies. It includes case studies on the resequencing of broken books, approaches to Arabic manuscript fragments, and critical threads in manuscript fragment studies. The authors hope that this collection of essays will spark conversations and broaden participation in the field of fragmentology. [Extracted from the article]

This study examines the "life" of an eighteenth-century private library that migrated from Spain to New Spain in 1765 and returned, greatly reduced, back to Europe in 1772. The collection's owner was José de Gálvez (1720–1787), a reformist Spanish statesman and recently appointed royal inspector of the Mexican viceroyalty. Standing at the crossroads of book history, the history of reading, and political history, this piece examines the library and its books from both a material and intellectual perspective. It relies on "Thing Theory," a methodological approach that opens avenues for further research on human-object relations in the Atlantic world. Examining the interplay between the owner, his ideas, his biography, and his book collection, this study expands book history's geographies and proposes a new narrative about the global dimensions of the Enlightenment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bruce Holsinger's book, "On Parchment: Animals, Archives, and the Making of Culture from Herodotus to the Digital Age," explores the history and significance of parchment as a writing surface. The book covers a wide range of topics, including the physical qualities of parchment, its role in literature and theology, and its impact on animal populations and the environment. Holsinger's writing is informative, interpretive, and poetic, making connections across various disciplines and time periods. The book is accessible to both general readers and scholars and provides a valuable resource for studying parchment in medieval manuscript studies and beyond. [Extracted from the article]

Hannah Ryley's book, "Re-using Manuscripts in Late Medieval England: Repairing, Recycling, Sharing," explores the ways in which books were repaired, recycled, and made to endure in fifteenth-century England. Ryley argues that manuscript reuse should be seen as an act of care rather than destruction, as it protected and preserved living textual cultures. The book examines the making of parchment, the recycling of parchment leaves, marginalia and doodles, and the secondhand book trade. Ryley's work challenges the field to broaden its understanding of book value beyond monetary terms and emphasizes the principles of conservation and sustainability in the late medieval book trade. [Extracted from the article]

"Shomotsu, insatsu, hon'ya: Nitchūkan o meguru hon no bunkashi" is a comprehensive volume of essays that explores the historical study of commercial publishing in pre-1900 East Asia, with a focus on Japan. While the majority of contributors concentrate on Japan, the volume aims to create space for Japanese-speaking scholars to engage with Chinese, Korean, and Japanese book histories. The book examines the history of "bookshop editions" published by commercial print shops and bookstores in Tokugawa Japan, Song-Qing China, and Chosŏn Korea, highlighting the diversity and interconnectedness of the commercial book in premodern East Asia. However, readers should be aware that the volume devotes more pages to Japan than to China or Korea. Overall, the book provides a valuable resource for researchers interested in East Asian book history and encourages comparative studies across the region. [Extracted from the article]

This article, titled "Introduction," explores the interaction between manuscript and print in late imperial China. The essays included in this issue focus on case studies in drama, fiction, and morality books, examining how different texts were transmitted and received in various media. The authors highlight the variability of ideological messaging and the transformative effects of different textual producers and patrons. The essays demonstrate that the transmission of texts during this period was complex and cannot be easily categorized, suggesting that it was an age of convergence culture. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses a book titled "Teaching the History of the Book," edited by Matteo Pangallo and Emily B. Todd. The book aims to provide practical advice on curriculum, course, and lesson design for teaching the history of the book. It is divided into four parts and covers a range of topics, including conceptualizing the teaching of book history, using book history in other courses, and resources for teaching book history. The book emphasizes interdisciplinary, collaborative, and diverse approaches to teaching the history of the book. While there are some gaps in coverage, the book is praised for its valuable insights and pedagogical practices. Another book mentioned in the article is "The JAB Anthology: Selections from the Journal of Artists' Books, 1994-2020," which explores a wide range of issues related to artists' books and includes essays by various authors and artists. The Journal of Artists' Books provided a platform for critical inquiry into artists' books and sought to redefine the medium. The anthology reflects the engagement of artists and writers with the book as a form of creative expression and addresses pressing issues of our time. [Extracted from the article]

"Informatica: Mastering Information through the Ages" by Alex Wright is a book that examines the history of information organization and challenges the notion that information overload is a new phenomenon. Wright takes readers on a historical tour of various cultures' innovations in response to increasing amounts of information. The book covers topics such as early accounting systems, medieval libraries, and the rise of smartphones and social media. While the book has some weaknesses, it provides a useful introduction to the field of information organization and may be of interest to those studying library or book history. [Extracted from the article]

"Print Culture, Agency, and Regionality in the Hand Press Period" is a collection of essays that explores the role of print outside of major cities during the hand press period. The essays cover a range of topics, including the experiences of female printers, the relationship between print and regional identity, and the circulation of print materials. The collection also addresses the need for further research in areas such as women's agency, the impact of print on enslavement and abolitionist causes, and the intersection of print and critical theory. Overall, the book expands our understanding of non-metropolitan print activities and is a valuable resource for researchers in the field. [Extracted from the article]

Este artículo hace un cuestionamiento al significado típico del término incunable. Primero porque las fechas que lo definen no tiene un fundamento sólido. Segundo porque definirlo desde la temporalidad excluye una serie de elementos que son claves para el nacimiento y la fijación del libro. En 1982, el historiador norteamericano Robert Darnton, en su célebre artículo, extendió la historia del libro más allá del objeto ampliándola a los circuitos de la comunicación y a los diferentes agentes relacionados con su producción y usos, a saber: autores, editores, impresores, proveedores, vendedores, lectores y encuadernadores (1982). Esta revisión bibliográfica recupera otras aristas que también definen al incunable pero que han sido desatendidas e intenta abordar el nacimiento del libro desde los circuitos de la comunicación y no solo desde la temporalidad. Igualmente, reúne hechos, discusiones y definiciones que se conocen poco en el idioma español, y que permitirán a especialistas y divulgadores tener una mayor claridad sobre los libros del siglo XV = This article questions the typical meaning of the term incunabula. Firstly, because the date that defines it does not have a solid foundation. Secondly, because defining it from temporality excludes a series of elements that are key to the birth and establishment of the book. The American historian Robert Darnton, in his famous article, extended the history of the book beyond the object, extending it to communication circuits and the different agents related to its production and uses, namely: authors, publishers, printers, suppliers, sellers, readers, and bookbinders (1982). This bibliographic review recovers other aspects that also define the incunabulum but that have been neglected and attempts to address the birth of the book from the circuits of communication and not only from temporality. Likewise, it brings together facts, discussions and definitions that are little known in the Spanish language, and that will allow specialists and communicators to have greater clarity about the books of the 15th century.

Socialist artist, wood engraver, and writer Clare Leighton transformed the interwar wood engraving revival from a niche movement within fine book publishing into an everyday art for the people when in 1935 she brought out with leftist publisher Victor Gollancz her authored and illustrated Four Hedges: A Gardener's Chronicle. Read alongside Country Matters (1937), a second illustrated countryside book that Gollancz commissioned from Leighton, Four Hedges becomes a key 1930s text because it realigns modernist values associated with the wood engraved productions of small presses with the more democratic values of mass-reproduced trade books. Combining feminist biography, close reading, and modernist and middlebrow book history, this article argues that the wood engraved books that Gollancz commissioned from Leighton contribute to rather than resist or exist outside of the radical 1930s once they are located within Leighton's rural arts practice and Gollancz's publishing ventures, including his publication of George Orwell's legendary urban documentary, The Road to Wigan Pier (1937). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of the "public sphere" and the Enlightenment are closely related to the networks of publishers involved in print culture. In Britain, a key question is whether diversity (in terms of nationality) in publishing increased over time. In this paper, we use large-scale library catalog data and a class of models known as Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) to investigate the extent to which an 18th-century network of publishers in London was homophilous with respect to nationality, and specifically investigate whether those with close publishing connections to Scotland formed a separate group or if they were simply integrated into the London book market. As there is little external information on the majority of publishers, we generate node and edge attributes from the catalog data itself. The results suggest that social processes were deeply involved in the decisions behind copublishing and collaborations and that there is indeed a significant positive effect on tie formation if both nodes are "Scottish" publishers, though this lessens over the century. We find that other important factors in tie formation are edgewise shared partners and similarity in patterns of genres published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The library of the Pauline monastery of Budaszentlőrinc was plundered and burnt down by the Ottoman troops after the Battle of Mohács, and according to current research, all volumes of this grandiose collection perished in the fire. This study draws attention to the existence of a surviving codex. The volume is a 13th-century Latin Bible richly decorated with initials and miniatures that was produced in a Parisian workshop and is currently held in the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp under shelfmark M. 17.3. The study reviews the international scholarly literature related to the codex and clarifies an episode of its provenance: based on the Turkish entry (previously incorrectly identified as Arabic) on folio 247r, it was seized by the Ottoman forces in 1526 and not in 1546. From a codicological perspective, it clarifies the inconsistencies of the foliation, supplements the list of entries found in the volume, and ascertains the mutilation of the pages. It also provides further evidence to support the hypothesis that the codex originally consisted of two volumes and links the rebinding to the Flemish merchant Gillis de Grave operating in Ancona. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amazon has radically changed the publishing world. And this transformation is so profound that everything done before by the publishing industry today is seen as the product of an apathetic industry, chronically indifferent to change. Nothing could be further from the truth, as this text tries to highlight, and in an attempt to demystify this view, it recovers four moments and areas of the past history of publishing, all with transformative effects that still influence our practices: labor, intellectual property, Christmas celebrations and mass consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]