St Andrews, 3rd-5th September 2008

The period 1500-1540 is arguably 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; the later 16th century is the subject of numerous specialist bibliographies. The forty years between represent a transitional period when the printed book was approaching but had not reached full maturity; 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 evolved towards the robust business model that would underpin its later spectacular success.

For further details on cost and registration procedure please contact the conference organiser, Graeme Kemp (gk6@st-andrews.ac.uk). The Conference is hosted by the School of History and the AHRC Universal Short-Title Catalogue project.

Additional sponsorship has been provided by the British Academy and the publishers Brill of Leiden.

Brilliant logician and rhetorician, belligerent and controversial pedagogue, conceited logic-chopper and attacker of Aristotle: these are just some of the opinions held about the scholar Petrus Ramus (1515-1572). The Petrus Ramus Conference 2008 will provide a forum for fresh discussion and debate on this controversial figure, inviting scholars from all academic backgrounds to come together to share their expertise. The conference aims to encourage interdisciplinary discussion not only of Ramus, his works, and influence, but also to situate this discussion in the wider context of early modern history, thought, intellectual development, and culture.

The conference will take place in St Andrews under the auspices of the School of English at the University of St Andrews, in conjunction with the School of History and the St Andrews ‘History of the Universities’ project on the weekend of 14th June 2008. Plenary speakers are Dr Howard Hotson (University of Oxford), Professor Peter Mack (University of Warwick), and Professor Dr Kees Meerhoff (Universiteit van Amsterdam). Continue reading this post…

On 21 November 2007 the completion and publication of the French Book Project was celebrated at a reception hosted by Lyon & Turnbull, Auctioneers, in Edinburgh. The event was attended by over 150 people including the French consul general, the Minister for Europe, trustees of the National Library of Scotland and many past members of the project team and representatives from the University of St Andrews and the School of History. The launch of this ten-year project has also been marked by a series of lectures in France and by an exhibition of sixteenth century French books in Edinburgh.

The French Book Project team has celebrated the end of the project with the publication of their Short Title Catalogue: French Vernacular Books: Books published in the French language before 1601.

The work will be published as a two volume catalogue containing details of all books published in the French language before 1601: a total of 51,753 entries. This publication is the culmination of a twelve-year research enterprise, during which the project team have worked in libraries all around France, and in fourteen other countries. All told the project has documented surviving copies of books in over 1,700 libraries worldwide: a total of around 185,000 located copies. #

Project Director Professor Pettegree confirms the significance of the projects findings:

This publication will transform our knowledge of the French book world, and of the reading preferences of French men and women in the sixteenth century. The milestone publications of leading authors such as Rabelais, Ronsard, Bodin and Montaigne will be placed in their proper context as we reveal the mass of small anonymous pamphlets that engaged the interest of readers and brought steady profts to their printers.

Many of these pamphlets have been unearthed by the project team for the frst time and are extremely rare: almost half the books listed in the short title catalogue survive in only a single library. Many of these are in libraries outside France, vindicating the decision to embark on a worldwide search.

Publication of the Catalogue will be launched by the publishers, Brill, at the Rare Book room of Amsterdam University Library on 1st November, and at the premises of Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh on 21st November. In addition Project Manager Dr Malcolm Walsby will introduce the book to a French audience at events in Paris and Lyon during the week 12-16th November.

The St Andrews French Project team has also now won a substantial further grant to fund a successor project. This grant, of £670,000, will fund work towards a successor project: a Universal Short Title Catalogue of all books published in Europe before 1601. This work will have two strands. Firstly, the project team will orchestrate work to address areas of the European book world not presently covered by a modern survey of publishing output. Secondly, the project team will seek to reach agreements with other national bibliographical surveys to join in a shared electronic interface that will allow access, and shared searching, of all these database repositories. This project is intended ultimately to create a common resource that will be the frst point of access for information on all books published before 1601 anywhere in Europe (around 500,000 editions).

The grant makes provision for two staff positions and one fully funded project studentship. Dr Malcolm Walsby, presently Manager of the St Andrews French Project, will be the project manager of the Universal Short Title Catalogue, responsible for the day to-day management of the project in France and St Andrews. The post of technical manager is intended for Philip John on completion of his doctoral dissertation. Meanwhile application will be sought for the project studentship, which is to undertake work on Latin books published in Paris, 1500-1540.