G
Gadd (Ian)
Bath Spa University College
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and the early modern book trade.
‘The time has now come when the English printer and the English publisher must take their due places in the national estimation. Hitherto the Author has had it all his own way.’ So wrote Edward Arber in 1875 in the introduction to his magisterial Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London, 1554-1640. With the publication of the first volume of the Dictionary of National Biography ten years later, Arber could claim at least partial victory on behalf of printers and publishers, as it included brief entries on the booksellers Thomas Adams and Edward Aggas, and the printers John and Edward Allde. However, the rationale for inclusion was often dependent on an individual’s association with an author; a number of Elizabethan and Jacobean printers and booksellers were included in the old Dictionary primarily because they printed or published a Shakespeare play or poem, regardless of whether they were significant members of the trade in their own right.
Over a century later, scholarship has moved much closer to fulfilling Arber’s hopes. Our knowledge of the early modern book trade has advanced tremendously; Arber’s Transcript is now just one of a number of key reference works that have transformed research into printing and publishing in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, ranging from the activities and membership of London’s book trade guild through to exhaustive catalogues and facsimiles of the printed output of the period. Moreover, bibliographical scholarship has undermined traditional assumptions about the relationship between an author and an individual printer or publisher, revealing that the printing and publishing of books in early modern England was far more complicated than was ever indicated by a book imprint. Similarly, research into the economics of the trade has demonstrated that some of the most important printers and publishers were not individuals whose names necessarily feature on literary imprints.
This paper will explore how these significant advances have informed the coverage that the new Dictionary will give to members of the early modern book trade. It will show how the emphasis has shifted from an individual’s relationship with literary works to a greater awareness of the wider commercial context, and how the new Dictionary will include new or expanded entries on newsbook publishers, on women printers and publishers, and on members of the book trade in Wales, Scotland, Ireland and further afield. It will also argue that while the new Dictionary has clearly benefited from these developments in scholarship, the Dictionary itself has provided an opportunity for scholars not only to revisit established figures of the trade but also to explore the lives of lesser-known men and women, enabling us to ask new and more penetrating questions about the early modern book trade.
Ian Gadd was a Research Editor at the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography between 2000 and 2002, where his editorial responsibilities covered a wide range of historical and literary figures. He was also the Associate Editor for all entries concerning members of the book trade between 1500-1640. He is currently a lecturer in English at Bath Spa University College. His research interests focus on the London book trade of the early modern period.
Galinier-Pallerola (Jean-François)
Institut catholique de Toulouse, France
Romans pour la jeunesse catholiques et laïcs : quelles valeurs proposées aux jeunes lecteurs ?
Les chercheurs se sont intéressés jusqu'ici aux choix des héros et des thèmes des romans de jeunesse en soulignant la "frontière" constituée par le fait religieux à travers les différences entre les livres des éditeurs catholiques et ceux des éditeurs laïcs à la fn du XIX° s. Mais qu'en est-il lorsqu'on se plonge dans leur lecture ? En comparant les ouvrrages d'un éditeur catholique, Mame, recommandé par l'évêque de Tours, et ceux de Hachette, favorisés dans la fourniture des livres de prix quand la III° République entreprend de combattre l'influence de l'Eglise, l'enquête recherche les valeurs proposées aux jeunes lecteurs à travers les mentalités, les caractères et les attitudes des personnges romanesques. On aurait pu croire à une grande homogénéïté de celles-ci, après des siècles d'influence catholique sur la société, il n'en est rien. Les romans de l'éditeur catholique véhiculent un message de résignation et de sacrifice, surtout pour les jeunes filles, qu'on ne trouve pas dans les ouvrages de l'éditeur laïc.
Jean-François Galinier-Pallerola, ancien agrége des universités et ancien maître de conférences des universités à l'université de Bordeaux III, docteur en histoire, est l'auteur d'un livre sur "La religion en Andorre XVI°-XIX° s." (C.N.R.S. / P.U.M., 1990). Son domaine actuel de recherche se déplace de l'époque moderne à l'époque contemporaine et concerne la production littéraire catholique, de livres de théologie aux romans, en France aux XIX° et 1ère moitié du XX°s. Devenu prêtre, diplomé en théologie et droit canonique, il enseigne l'histoire à la faculté de théologie de l'Institut Catholique de Toulouse.
Galloway (Francis) and Venter (Rudi MR)
University of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa
Quest for a framework to map a book publishing industry in transition.
In the African context the South African book publishing industry can be singled out as a rare indigenous accomplishment. The 1990s constituted a Rubicon era for this industry that had to cross the border from functioning in a colonial and apartheid context to operating in the arena of a fledging post-apartheid democracy. Ten years after the dawn of the so-called “new South Africa” this transition can be appraised. Book publishing in South Africa, from the advent of colonialism up to the socio-political transformation of the 1990s and the consolidation of democracy during the early 2000s, have been directly shaped by factors related to the economic, political, institutional and technological systems of the country.
The main thrust of the paper is the quest for a theoretical framework that can accommodate the influence of the changing dynamics of the economic, political, institutional and technological systems that impact on the field of cultural production (Bourdieu) and the institution of book publishing. Evan-Zohar’s view of “dynamics plus heterogeneity” is adopted and parameters such as transformation and blurred borders between activities and institutions as well as the idea of interdependencies (i.e. “systemicity”) are taken into account as the basis of the conceptualization of a “publishing system”. A model is tabled for the “South African book publishing system” and the application possibilities of this model for analysing the dynamics of the book publishing environment are demonstrated.
Dr Francis Galloway is a senior lecturer in and coordinator of the Publishing Studies Programme in the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Her research interests include the publishing history of individual authors and publishing houses; the relationship between publishing philosophy, poetics and cultural identity; and the role of statistical trends in book history.
Mr Rudi MR Venter is a junior lecturer in the Publishing Studies Programme of the Department of Information Science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Currently he is completing a Master’s dissertation on the publishing system of Afrikaans fiction, focussing on the production and publishing house profiles of fiction titles aimed at the adult market during the period 1990 – 2003.
Gants (David L.)
University of New Brunswick, Canada
Presswork vs. composition : assessing measures of printing house productivity.
Abstract
In his 1929 essay “Edward Allde as a Typical Trade Printer,” R. B. McKerrow observed that there are two ways to estimate printing house productivity, “either from the point of view of the compositors or of the pressmen, assessing it either in pages of type composed or in sheets of paper printed.” Subsequent bibliographical scholarship has followed McKerrow’s formulation: W. Craig Ferguson employed composition totals when analysing Valentine Simmes’s house, for example, while Peter Blayney’s examination of Nicholas Okes’s capacity relied upon edition sheet total. To date, however, no attempt has been made to compare these two units of measurement and assess what they each reveal about the conditions of early modern printing.
My paper, based upon a physical examination of at least one copy of every title known to have been printed in 1616, is a quantitative analysis of the London book trade in that year. I begin by using the twin axes of edition sheet and composition totals to evaluate the output of every active printer and bookseller/publisher. I then further appraise printing house production according to the format, language, subject, type face and body of the books produced. Finally I use the results of these analyses to compare and contrast presswork and composition as measures of printing-house productivity as well as overall market trends.
Out of this study comes a number of valuable insights into the tools of book history and the London book trade in general. For example, composition and presswork figures tend to produce similar results when examining medium format books (such as quarto and octavo), but diverge quickly when looking at small and large formats. A similar divergence appears when comparing the output of printers who used a pica body almost exclusively (Edward Allde and John Legat), those who rely most heavily on an english body (John Beale and William Stansby), and those who use both in equal numbers (Nicholas Okes and Thomas Snodham). This work also helps contrast the business practices of printer-publishers like William Jaggard against those of trade printers such as William Stansby or Felix Kingston.
David Gants is the Canada Research Chair in Humanities Computing at the University of New Brunswick. He is the Electronic Editor for the forthcoming Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson and the Director of the Early English Booktrade Database.
Résumé
Dans son article de 1929 « Edward Allde as a Typical Trade Printer » R. B. McKerrow a observé qu'il y a deux manières d'estimer la productivité des maisons d'impression, « either from the point of view of the compositors or of the pressmen, assessing it either in pages of type composed or in sheets of paper printed ». Les études bibliographiques continuent d'utiliser la formulation de McKerrow : En analysant l'imprimerie de Valentine Simmes, W. Craig Ferguson a utilisé la capacité de composition pour diriger sa recherche, mais Peter Blayney a seulement compté les feuilles d'édition pour évaluer la capacité d'impression de Nicholas Okes. Jusqu'ici, cependant, aucun examen compréhensif n'emploie ces deux unités de la mesure au même instant pour évaluer les conditions des industries de l'édition et de l'imprimerie du 17ieme siècle en Angleterre.
Mon article, basé sur un examen physique d'au moins une copie de chaque titre imprimé en l'année 1616, analyse quantitativement les échanges de livre à Londres de l'année en question. Je commence par employer des totaux de feuilles et de compositions d'édition pour évaluer la production de chaque imprimeur et libraire/éditeur actif. Je continue mon évaluation avec les facteurs textuels comme le format du livre, la langue, le sujet, les caractères typographiques et les collections produites. Enfin j'emploie les résultats de cette recherche pour comparer et contraster le « presswork » et la composition comme facteurs de la productivité des maisons d'impression mais aussi les tendances économiques du marché britannique.
Mon étude produit un certain nombre d'options valables pour les études de l'histoire du livre et du commerce bibliographique de Londres en général. Par exemple, la composition et les totaux de « presswork » produisent les résultats semblables quand on examine les formats du livre moyens réservés (comme le quarto et l'octavo), mais divergent rapidement en regardant de petits et grands formats. Une divergence semblable est évidente en comparant le rendement des imprimeurs qui ont employé par fois un corps cicéro (Edward Allde et John Legat), de ceux qui se fondent le plus fortement sur un corps britannique (John Beale et William Stansby), et de ceux qui emploient ces deux corps en nombres égaux (Nicholas Okes et Thomas Snodham). Ce projet contribue aux contrastes des procédures de gestion des imprimeurs-éditeurs comme William Jaggard contre ceux des imprimeurs commerciaux comme William Stansby ou Felix Kingston.
David Gants est le président de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en lettres et sciences humaines computationnelles à l'Université du Nouveau Brunswick. Il est le rédacteur électronique pour la prochaine édition de l'œuvre de Ben Jonson publiée par Cambridge University. Il est aussi le directeur du « Early English Booktrade Database ».
Garcia (Joëlle)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Catalogues et prospectus de libraires et d'éditeurs : un fonds méconnu de la Bibliothèque nationale de France
Publishers' and booksellers' catalogs and leaflets : unknown collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Résumé
Le fonds des catalogues de libraires et d’éditeurs conservé à la Bibliothèque nationale de France sous la cote générale Q10, rassemble, à ce jour, environ 190 000 pièces. Ce fonds dont le document le plus ancien date de 1638 s’accroît chaque année d’environ 4000 fascicules français ou étrangers (principalement européens, ainsi que nord et sud américains), provenant soit du dépôt légal, soit de dons des services de la BnF ou de dons extérieurs de particuliers ou d’autres bibliothèques. Un inventaire pour la période 1811-1924 vient d’être publié. La collection de prospectus, constituée de la même façon, rassemble près de 120 000 pièces. Ces fonds, méconnus malgré leur couverture chronologique et géographique sans équivalent, sont pour l’historien du livre une source d’une richesse encore largement inexploitée.
Joëlle Garcia, archiviste-paléographe, dirige le Service de Documentation sur le Livre, la Presse et la Lecture à la Bibliothèque nationale de France. Elle est en charge de la contribution française pour la bibliographie internationale d’histoire du livre et des bibliothèques (ABHB).
Abstract
The collection of publishers’ and booksellers’ catalogs housed in the French national library (marked as Q10) represents some 190.000 items. This specific collection, dating from 1638 to nowadays, keeps increasing with 4000 French or foreign (European, North or South American) brochures coming each year from legal deposit or donations from librarians or collectors. An inventory of the part of these catalogs published between 1811 and 1924 has been recently released. A collection of leaflets, created in the same way, contains about 120.000 items. These quite unknown collections have a chronological and geographical coverage that make them a valuable ressource for the book historians, still mainly unexploited.
Joëlle Garcia, archiviste-paléographe, runs the Section on Documentation about History of Books, Press and Lecture in the French national Library. She is in charge of the French contribution to the International Bibliography of the History of the Printed Book and Libraries.
Geller (Sherri)
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
Readers following instructions and mangling the text : responding to the editorial commentary in William Baldwin's A Mirror for Magistrates.
A Mirror for Magistrates was an influential literary work, inspiring two prequels and other contributions to the ghost complaint genre and providing source material for early modern history plays. This compilation was considered a good enough read to be published eight times from 1559 to 1610, in six different forms. The versions of the Mirror published after the death of William Baldwin, the editor/compiler and primary author of the first two versions, are largely a response to Baldwin’s instructions for revision and expansion, instructions that appear in Baldwin’s pseudo-nonfictional frame story. Some who take the instructions to heart seek to “perfect” the Mirror by writing prequels, while others add complaints and reorganize the original Mirror. These readers of Baldwin’s Mirror apparently do not recognize that Baldwin’s frame story is an elaborate ruse, and that by abiding by some or all of Baldwin’s instructions, they are disrupting Baldwin’s political maneuvering and structuring principles, rather than improving the text.
Baldwin’s two slim quartos in 1559 and 1563 contain nineteen and twenty-seven complaints respectively, and a frame story that poses as an ancillary account of the process of composition but is an integral part of the fiction. Editors in 1571, 1578, and 1587 rearrange and add complaints, moving, deleting, and rewriting segments of the frame in the process. The 1610 editor produces a bulky quarto with over ninety poems and excises Baldwin’s frame. Lily Campbell, the Mirror’s 1938 editor, excludes the 1610 Mirror from what she designates as the Mirror tradition, claiming that only the versions from 1571 to 1587 (the third through the seventh) abide by Baldwin’s instructions. I will demonstrate that if one views Baldwin’s instructions as basically a nonfictional guide for future editors, as many critics have, the 1610 Mirror fits into the tradition as Campbell defines it even though this editor’s alterations depoliticize and mangle the text nearly beyond recognition.
The nineteenth- and twentieth-century reception history of the Mirror indicates that critics have not noticed that all the editors from 1571 onward intervene in the frame at times ineptly and with little regard to narrative coherence or interest. Critics attend primarily to the Mirror’s complaints, as if alterations to the frame beginning in 1571 are inconsequential and only those in 1610 are pertinent to a reading of the text. Consequently, the early modern (mis)reading of Baldwin’s innovative frame continues in modified form into the twentieth century.
Sherri Geller, Assistant Professor o fEnglish, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837, USA.
Genz (Marcella)
Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida
Licentious and incendiary : abolitionist publications in ante-bellum Alabama.
The militant abolitionist movement in the United States did not begin to coalesce until the American Anti-Slavery Society, founded in 1833, pledged, as their official agenda, an immediate end to slavery in the United States. The Society began to distribute, with the help of agents and lecturers, vast quantities of abolitionist materials throughout the United States. Alabama, admitted into the Union in 1819, had become by 1835 the largest cotton-growing state in the nation and had ambitious plans to increase its commercial prosperity and stature, all of which were based on a culture of slavery. This campaign, introduced by the American Anti-Slavery Society, to oppose slavery would become an impediment to Alabama in reaching that goal. Within two years of the founding of The Society, the governor of Alabama, John Gayle, in his annual address to the state legislature noted that immense numbers of "tracts, misrepresentations and pictures" were being distributed to slaves in the South for the purposes of creating dissatisfaction with their condition and inciting rebellion against their masters. Gayle specifically blamed Arthur Tappan of New York, one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society, and his "infuriate demoniac" associates for flooding the country with licentious and incendiary publications in the name of freedom of opinion and liberty of the press and plotting the ruin of a particular way of life. This paper looks specifically at the various publications that were being circulated by the American Anti-Slavery Society to slaves in Alabama and the agencies by which these publications reached slaves for whom reading was an illegal and punishable activity. The paper also explores how the use of print can be used to deconstruct and bring down, rather than form, a social and political world through the spread of contrary ideologies.
Marcella Genz is on the faculty of the School of Information Studies, Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.
Gerson (Carole)
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada
Crossing oceans, crossing borders : English-Canadian writers in Europe
Au-delà des frontières et des océans : les écrivains canadiens-anglais en Europe.
Abstract
My research on authorship for the History of the Book in Canada/ Histoire du livre et de l’imprimé au Canada prompts the following question: are there discernible patterns of trans-Atlantic sojourning and migration in the professional lives of Canadian authors? In the 1850s, the Nova Scotia-born humourist Thomas Chandler Haliburton (ASam Slick@) moved permanently to London after establishing a firm connection with Richard Bentley as his publisher. For the next generation of English-speaking Canadians, the natural direction of migration was south, to join the burgeoning literary and publishing industries of the US (Boston, New York, and Philadelphia). Nonetheless in the1890s two prominent Ontario-born authors followed Haliburton=s example of expatriation: Gilbert Parker relocated in London, while marriage to an Anglo-Indian prompted novelist Sara Jeannette Duncan to settle in India before spending the end of her life in England. England also attracted restless authors who tired of the US, such as Charles G.D. Roberts. A different trend prevailed during the late 1920s, when ambitious young Canadian writers hob-nobbed with Americans in Paris (Morley Callaghan boxed with Hemingway, and John Glassco visited Gertrude Stein). During the 1960s, yet another pattern emerged when several prominent Canadian-born authors, including Margaret Laurence, Mordecai Richler, and Norman Levine, each lived in England for long periods. Two other writers, Mavis Gallant (who writes in English) and Anne Hébert (who wrote in French) made permanent homes in Paris. While living abroad all these authors retained their Canadian identity, writing frequently about Canada and Canadians. Yet over the same period of time (1850-1990), many other Canadian authors published with British or French houses, without leaving their home country.
Using recent biographies and editions of these authors’ letters, as well as newly discovered advice guides for Canadian authors (issued in the 1920s and 30s), this paper will investigate the following questions: were Canadians attracted to their country’s European parent nations in order to facilitate publishing opportunities? To engage with more established literary milieus? Or for reasons that were primarily personal? Are gender, ethnicity, and social class relevant factors? Is it possible to discern general patterns of trans-Atlantic sojourning, or is each case unique? Bourdieu’s analysis of the literary field inevitably pertains to my theoretical framework, as does research by Richard Brodhead, Nathalie Heinich, and others on the status of the author and author-publisher relations. Where appropriate, comparisons will be drawn between anglophone and francophone Canadians. Immigrant authors from England and France (Susanna Moodie, John Metcalfe) and transient authors (Louis Hémon, Brian Moore, Bharti Mukherjee) may also figure in the discussion.
Résumé
Mes recherches sur la fonction d’auteur pour l’Histoire du livre et de l’imprimé au Canada / History of the Book in Canada m’ont amenée à me poser la question suivante : peut-on identifier certains courants et tendances dans les pratiques d’émigration et les séjours transatlantiques des écrivains canadiens au cours de leur vie professionnelle ? Durant la décennie 1850, l’humoriste néo-écossais Thomas Chandler Haliburton (« Sam Slick ») s’établit à Londres, après avoir noué des liens solides avec son éditeur Richard Bentley. Pour les Canadiens d’expression anglaise de la génération suivante, c’est vers le sud que s’effectua le mouvement naturel de migration, afin de se rapprocher des milieux littéraires américains et d’une industrie du livre en plein essor, à Boston, à New York ou à Philadelphie. Toutefois, durant la décennie 1890, deux auteurs de renom, nés en Ontario, s’expatrièrent en Angleterre, suivant en cela l’exemple de Haliburton. Le premier, Gilbert Parker, s’installa à Londres, et la seconde, la romancière Sara Jeannette Duncan, se rendit d’abord en Inde, à la suite d’un mariage avec un Indien d’ascendance anglaise, avant de finir ses jours en Angleterre. L’Angleterre attira également des écrivains, lassés des États-Unis, qui ont la bougeotte, tel Charles G. D. Roberts. Durant les années folles de la décennie 1920, de jeunes écrivains canadiens remplis d’ambition se mêlèrent aux Américains à Paris (Morley Callaghan se bagarra avec Hemingway, et John Glassco rendit visite à Gertrude Stein). Puis, au cours des années 1960, ce fut au tour de plusieurs écrivains canadiens importants, parmi lesquels figurent Margaret Laurence, Mordecai Richler et Norman Levine, d’aller vivre en Angleterre durant de longues périodes de temps. À la même époque, deux autres écrivaines faisaient de Paris leur demeure : la Canadienne-anglaise Mavis Gallant et la Québécoise Anne Hébert. Tout en vivant à l’étranger, ces écrivains sont restés attachés à leur identité première et ont souvent écrit sur leur pays et leurs concitoyens. Néamoins, durant cette période de près d’un siècle et demi (1850-1990), nombre d’auteurs canadiens, sans aller vivre à l’étranger, ont publié leurs œuvres auprès d’éditeurs britanniques ou français.
Au moyen de biographies récentes, de correspondances littéraires, de même que de guides à l’intention des auteurs canadiens des années 1920 et 1930 récemment redécouverts, je tenterai, dans ma communication, de répondre aux questions suivantes : les Canadiens se tournaient-ils vers leur mère-patrie dans l’espoir d’améliorer leur accès à la publication, dans le but de se mettre en contact avec des milieux littéraires mieux établis, ou pour des motifs d’ordre personnel? Le sexe de ces écrivains, leur appartenance ethnique ou leur classe sociale sont-ils des facteurs pertinents ? Les séjours et migrations transatlantiques correspondent-ils à des tendances ou courants généraux, ou chaque cas est-il unique ? Mon cadre théorique inclut l’analyse que fait Bourdieu du champ littéraire, de même que les travaux de Richard Brodhead, de Nathalie Heinich et d’autres théoriciens sur le statut de l’auteur et de la relation auteur-éditeur. Des comparaisons seront faites entre Canadiens de langue anglaise et française chaque fois que la chose sera appropriée. Des auteurs immigrés d’Angleterre et de France (Susanna Moodie, John Metcalfe) et des écrivains de passage (Louis Hémon, Brian Moore, Bharati Mukherjee) pourront aussi être intégrés à mon étude.
Ginger (E. M.)
Octavo Editions
Octavo Editions
E. M. Ginger is senior editor with Octavo Editions.
Gruber Garvey (Ellen)
New Jersey City University
Making books / making history : historiography and national identity in 19th-century scrapbooks and extra-illustrated books.
Late nineteenth-century Americans intervened in print culture from very different positions of cultural, social, and economic power. My paper contrasts two practices whereby readers reused existing printed books as the bases for new works. First are scrapbooks made from printed books, with more ephemeral matter pasted over them, obliterating the existing book – sometimes a respected work like a collection of sermons – with ephemeral clippings from the popular press. Such scrapbooks reveal people in parallel activity to the commercial realm, adapting commercially produced popular culture artifacts to create their own uses from them, and maneuvering between the mass produced and the handcrafted. Some such scrapbooks contained selections evidencing readers’ interests and literary choices. But other scrapbook makers created alternative histories, homemade compilations on women’s suffrage or African American experience, for example. Members of those groups saw articles about their groups or interests in the daily press; only by saving those clippings in scrapbooks could they be sure that history would survive as a more permanent form, even if as unique artifacts which might not circulate, and whose preservation was precarious.
Rural, poor and middle class Americans and those who compiled their own histories from the margins predominated among those who reused printed books to make scrapbooks that snatched the ephemeral materials from the press and preserve them. These groups found reading material or particular materials expensive or hard to obtain; their work of saving it and organizing the cheaper ephemeral matter allowed them a place in print culture, and gave them books that belonged to them or asserted a history that belonged to them. But the second group, principally wealthy men, was profligate with printed matter as they reconstructed books in another way, making extra-illustrated or grangerized books. They took apart existing books and, inserted pictures, autographs, and other material with some relationship to them, and often had them expensively rebound. Extra-illustrated books change a book that was initially published primarily as a written work into a frame or armature for the compiler’s collection of visual images and foreground the compiler’s taste and wealth. Although grangerizing had begun as a British fad, American grangerizers often asserted the value of American literature as they took apart and augmented specifically American texts – encyclopedias of American authors or books about visits to American authors. Collecting and extra-illustrating thus not displayed wealth, leisure, and taste, but marked national territory and its importance. Scrapbooks might be passed around among family and friends, but extra-illustrated books were displayed to other collectors through clubs and associations, enhancing status within a community of other book collectors and grangerizers and creating social connections, through which the books acquired social value. The makers’ access to preserving institutions made their preservation more likely.
This paper contrasts these very different interventions in print culture to in relation to their makers’ access to the ability to leave socially and politically influential records.
Ellen Gruber Garvey is Associate Professor, Department of English, New Jersey City University, and holds a 2003-4 NEH Fellowship at the Massachusetts Historical Society. She is the author of The Adman in the Parlor: Magazines and the Gendering of Consumer Culture, 1880s to 1910s (Oxford), winner of SHARP's Book History Prize, 1997. Her current book project is entitled Scrapbooks, Scissorizing and Book Destruction and Reconstruction: Interventions in Print Culture.
Guilbaud (Juliette)
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (IVe section), Paris
Le trafic des livres jansénistes entre la France et les Pays-Bas.
Je propose un exposé sur le trafic de livres jansénistes ou d'inspiration janséniste entre le royaume et les Pays-Bas. Cela englobe plusieurs aspects qui me semblent dignes d'intérêt :
-- les envois clandestins de livres depuis la France, notamment après l'exil d'Antoine Arnauld qui réunit tout un cercle à Bruxelles, favorable aux idées jansénistes (on cherche, par exemple, à se procurer des éditions originales des Pensées de Pascal ; des individus comme Mlle de Joncoux, ou Mme de Fontpertuis, ont joué un rôle important dans ces trafics) ;
-- les envois se font également en direction de la France, via des centres-relais, tels Rouen, pour des livres imprimés aux Pays-Bas et interdits en France, mais que les libraires (comme Guillaume Desprez lui-même) cherchent à se procurer ; dans ce cas, on peut remarquer que le contrôle des autorités est relativement "lâche" puisque certains de ces ouvrages arrivent à leur but, mais pas tous.
-- enfin peut être mis en évidence le phénomène des contrefaçons, là encore assez "subtil", puisque certaines semblent avoir été tolérées par les contrefaits eux-mêmes (c'est le cas de Desprez, avec certaines éditions bruxelloises de la Bible dans sa traduction par Sacy) ; ou au contraire, plus ouvertement contestées (autres éditions de la Bible, éditions hollandaises des Pensées de Pascal) et l'objet de procédures officielles de contestation pour obtenir réparation.
Juliette Guilbaud prépare une thèse sur le livre janséniste, sous la direction de Frédéric Barbier, à l’Ecole pratique des hautes études (IVe section). Elle est membre du Centre de recherche d’histoire du livre de l’Enssib (Lyon).
Gupta (Abhijit)
Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India
A missionary against the Raj : the strange case of Rev. James Long and Nil darpan.
This paper will try to provide an account of the remarkable publishing history of Nil darpan (The Indigo-Planting Mirror), a five-act Bengali play written in 1860 by Dinabandhu Mitra. This play was written to draw public attention to the oppressive indigo trade carried out in Bengal by British planters and was translated into English and published by the Rev. James Long in 1861. Though he was connected only tangentially to the book trade, there was probably no one in Bengal who was so centrally concerned with vernacular printing and publishing as Rev. Long. He compiled the first-ever bibliography of printed Bengali books in 1855 (A Descriptive Catalogue of Bengali Works), a unique list which covered approximately 1,400 books and pamphlets, but excluded the wide range of books which fell under category of ‘erotic subjects’. Long acted as an unofficial clearing-house of books in the Indian languages, with books being sent to him from all parts of India which he would then bring to the ‘notice of Europeans on various grounds’. During the 1850s and 1860s, he compiled a number of ‘Returns’ on vernacular literature, procured vernacular books for various government and departmental libraries and was even asked to select and supply Bengali books for Oxford University.
When Nil darpan was brought to his notice in 1861, Long lost little time in arranging for its translation and publication. Five hundred copies of the book were printed later that year from the press of C.H. Manuel in Calcutta. Intriguingly, a government official, W.S. Seton-Karr, then became instrumental in having the book distributed to the British community at government expense, under the official frank of the Post Office. Subsequently, a case for libel was brought against Long by the planters, who had been portrayed in the play in a justifiably poor light. After a highly charged and controversial trial, Long was found guilty and sentenced.
In the paper, I will primarily cite material from the transcripts of the trial to show how print—both in the vernaculars and in translations—was playing an increasingly unpredictable role in colonial Bengal. In the case of Nil darpan, we see a number of conflicting agendas at work as far as the supposed role of print is concerned. This is particularly marked in the case of the British government and the missionaries, who often found themselves opposed on the question of printing in the vernaculars.
Abhijit Gupta is Lecturer, Department of English, Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India.