The Printed Book in the Post-Incunabula Age, 1500-1540
Reformation Studies Institute University of St Andrews
3-5 September 2008

The period 1500-1540 is the least well studied in the in the early history of printing. The surviving books of the 15th century, the incunabula age, have been subjected to minute investigation, and now a comprehensive composite study (the I-STC). The later 16th century is the subject of numerous specialist bibliographies. The forty years between represent the awkward age: the period of adolescence when the printed book was approaching but had not reached full maturity; and when the industry experienced a period of stagnation, before the vast expansion of the reading public in the later 16th century. The book had not yet fully evolved as the mature artefact, with title-page, date and place of printing that we associate with the printing of the Hand Press Book era. This itself introduces elements of difficulty for the book specialist, since so many of the books published are undated, necessitating complex bibliographical analysis to place them correctly. The experience of this period was also very different in different parts of Europe, as the Reformation reshaped the industry in Germany, but not elsewhere. This conference, by drawing together leading specialists in book culture from different parts of Europe, will compare these diverse experiences of print, and examine how the book industry faced the challenge of the re-structuring that followed the first exuberant age of experimentation. It will also chart the growth of a pan-European book market, as print groped its way towards the robust business model that would underpin its later spectacular success. This conference will take place from the 3rd to the 5th of September and is sponsored by the British Historical Society and Brill publishing. Speakers will include:

Professor Marie-Luce Demonet
(Directrice, Centre d'Études Supérieures de la Renaissance, Tours)

Professor Andrew Pettegree
(St Andrews, Head of the School of History)

Dr Neil Harris
(Insegna Bibliologia all'Università degli Studi di Udine)

Dr David Shaw
(Secretary, Consortium of European Research Libraries/British Library)

Dr Malcolm Walsby
(St Andrews, Project Manager, U-STC project)

Dr Hanno Wijsman
(Faculteit der Letteren, University of Leiden)

Dr Alexander Wilkinson
(Director, Centre for the History of the Media, University College, Dublin)

Magali Vène
(Paris, BNF, Réserve des livres rares)

Dr. Hans-Jörg Künast
(Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Buchwissenschaft)

University of Wisconsin—Madison, Memorial Library
Grants-in-Aid for Residential Research

The Friends of the University of Wisconsin—Madison Libraries is pleased to offer a minimum of four grants-in-aid annually, each one month in duration, for research in the humanities in any field appropriate to the library’s collections. The purpose is to foster the high-level use of the University of Wisconsin—Madison Libraries’ rich holdings, and to make them better known and more accessible to a wider circle of scholars. Awards are $2,000 each, or $3,000 for those traveling from outside North America.

Memorial Library, the university’s principal research library is distinguished in almost every area of scholarship. It boasts world-renowned collections of:

• history of science from the Middle Ages through the Enlightenment

• pseudo science and medical and scientific quackery

• the largest American collection of avant-garde “Little Magazines”

• a rapidly growing collection of American women writers to 1920

• Scandinavian and Germanic history and literature

• Dutch post-Reformation theology and church history

• French political pamphlets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

• many other fields

Generally, applicants must have a Ph.D. or be able to demonstrate a record of solid intellectual accomplishment. Scholars and graduate students who have completed all requirements except the dissertation are also eligible.

The grants-in-aid are designed primarily to help provide access to UW—Madison library resources for people who live beyond commuting distance. Preference will be given to scholars who reside outside a 75-mile radius of Madison. The grantee is expected to be in residence during the term of the award, which may be taken up at any time during the year.

Applications are due 1 February of any year. For application forms or more information, click here, or write to Friends of the University of Wisconsin—Madison Libraries, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 990 Memorial Library, 728 State St., Madison, WI 53706, or contact the Friends at 608-265-2505; fax: 608-265-2754, E-mail: friends@library.wisc.edu.

Bibliographical Society of America
New Scholars Program

The Bibliographical Society of America each year invites three scholars in the early stages of their careers to present twenty-minute papers on their current, unpublished research in the field of bibliography as members of a panel at the annual meeting of the Society, which takes place in New York City in late January. The New Scholars Program seeks to promote the work of scholars who are new to the field of bibliography, broadly defined to include any research that deals with the creation, production, publication, distribution, reception, transmission, and subsequent history of texts as material objects (print or manuscript). Papers of New Scholars are published in the December issue of the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America as part of the proceedings of the annual meeting.

Junior (i.e., untenured) faculty and graduate students at the dissertation level are eligible, as are professional librarians, members of the book trade, and book collectors who are at the beginning of their careers. Candidates should submit a letter of application, an abstract of not more than 250 words, and a curriculum vitae. Graduate students should also submit a letter of recommendation from their dissertation director. For submissions to be considered for the following January, materials should be received by July 31. Please address and send applications (preferably via email) to:

New Scholars Program
Bibliographical Society of America
P.O. Box 1537
Lenox Hill Station
New York, NY 10021
email: bsa@bibsocamer.org

New Scholars selected for the panel receive a subvention of $600 toward the cost of attendance at the annual meeting and a complimentary one-year membership in the Bibliographical Society of America. For further information on the Society's website.

Some New Books About Books From the British Library

The New Testament 1526 A Facsimile
Edition translated by William Tyndale
Introduction by David Daniell

This volume is a complete facsimile of William Tyndale’s pioneering translation of the New Testament from Greek into English, held at the British Library, and only one of the two last copies remaining in the world.

Publishing September 2008
Co-published with Hendrickson Publishers, USA

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Books as History
The Importance of Books Beyond Their Texts
David Pearson

This text explores books from the Middle Ages to the present day to show why books may be interesting beyond their texts. Books can develop their own individual histories, which provide important evidence about the way they were used and regarded in the past, and which make them an indispensable part of the fabric of our cultural heritage.

Publishing June 2008
Published in N America by Oak Knoll Press

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Book Trade Connections
From the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Centuries
Edited by John Hinks and Catherine Armstrong

This ninth volume of the Print Network series contains twelve chapters from scholars working on the connections between the parties involved in the production of print artefacts, from author to printer, publisher, bookseller and reader.

Publishing June 2008
Published in North America by Oak Knoll Press

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Small books for the Common Man
A Descriptive Bibliography
Edited by John Meriton with the assistance of Carlo Dumontet

The hundred years prior to the mid-19th century saw a flowering of ephemeral publishing. This book is an analytical bibliography of the National Art Library’s collection of literary ephemera of the period: histories, tales, verse collections, primers and alphabets.

Publishing October 2008
Published in North America by Oak Knoll Press

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A Nation of Readers
The Lending Library in Georgian England
David Allan

This pioneering study explores the origins, organisation and impact of book clubs, reading societies, subscription libraries and circulating libraries in Georgian England, together with the opportunities increasingly offered to readers by a variety of other collections.

Published April 2008
Distributed in USA by U of Chicago Press

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Typeforms A History
Alan Bartram

This book is the long-awaited successor to the classic An Atlas of Typeforms, the great visually-led history of type which Alan Bartram and James Sutton produced in 1968. Nearly 75 different types are shown in their original metal forms, and placed in their historical background. Alan Bartram explores the correlation (or lack thereof) between the printed letterform and its parallel form in sculpture, engraving and other public spaces.

Published 2007
Published in North America by Oak Knoll Press

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The Design and Printing of Ephemera in Britain and America 1720 – 1920
Graham Hudson

This book discusses ephemera as an aspect of design history, showing how function, process and period have affected the changing appearance of leaflets, tickets, posters, trade cards and other ephemera. Richly illustrated, this is a book for collectors, students, design historians and all those with an interest in the visual arts.

Published February 2008
Published in North America by Oak Knoll Press

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Fairs, Markets and the Itinerant Book Trade
Edited by Robin Myers, Michael Harris and Giles Mandelbrote

From the Frankfurt book fairs in the 16th century to the Farringdon Road barrows in the 20th, fairs and markets have played a crucial role in the circulation of books. In this volume, leading book historians investigate the presence of the book trade in the streets and public spaces of Europe.

Published 2007
Published in North America by Oak Knoll Press

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Literary Cultures and the Material Book
Edited by Simon Eliot, Andrew Nash and Ian Willison

The wide range covered by the thirty contributors to this book, from across the globe, is evidence of growing international interest in book history.

Published 2007
Distributed in USA by U of Chicago Press

Full catalogue available here.

California Rare Book School

Need to learn more about rare books and manuscripts this summer? This August the California Rare Book School (CALRBS) is offering 8 week long courses including:

Special Collections Librarianship
Descriptive Bibliography
The History of the Book in Hispanic America
Books of the Far West
Preservation Stewardship of Library Collections
Book Illustration: Processes to 1900
Book Collecting: History and Techniques

CALRBS courses are taught by expert faculty and take full advantage of the unique collections of rare books, manuscripts and archival materials housed in greater Los Angeles. There is still space in all this summer's courses.

To see a schedule of classes, detailed course descriptions, faculty bios and application procedures please click here. Facebook members can access the CALRBS group page here.