Past Events
Past Events
2024-5
Term Two
Week 8 - Thursday 27th Feb, 5pm
Prof Brenda Hosington. 'Creating a Catalogue: From the 'Renaissance Cultural Crossroads' to the 'Stuart and Commonwealth Cultural Crosscurrents' catalogues of translation'. This talk will present some of the ups and downs of creating the 'Renaissance Cultural Crossroads Online Catalogue of Translations Printed in Britain (1473-1640)' and some of the changes marking the newly completed 'Crosscurrents Catalogue of Printed Translations in Stuart and Commonwealth Britain (1641-1660)'.
Week 3 - Thursday 23rdJanuary at 5pm in FAB 5.49 (English hub)
Prof Paul Botley, 'Early modern asterisks and the censorship of printed letter-collections'. Prof Botley will be giving a talk on the history of the asterisk and its role in censorship, inspired by findings from the Leverhulme funded Baudius Project from which he has recently returned. He will also answer any questions on the broader project/ the practicalities of such a project.
Term One
(Week 3) Tuesday 15th October, 5.05pm (ECLS hub on 5th floor)
Dr Li Ren-Yuan (Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of History and Philology / the Director of IHP Archives) "Early Commercial Publishing and Reading Practices in China: Responses to the Early Information Age". This talk introduces my ongoing research on the transformation of reading practices in China during the emergence of commercial publishing, facilitated by woodblock printing. I will approach to this issue in two ways. First, I examine this issue from the readers' perspective. Starting in the 12th century, the term "reading methods" became common as scholars debated what constituted proper ways to read. By the 14th century, practical reading guides appeared, and the meaning of "reading" began to shift. I argue that these discussions on "proper" reading methods were in response to changes in the textual transmission environment at the time and prompted further reflection on reading practices.
Second, I explore this issue from the perspective of publishers, using an example of reading aids created for a famous history book. Faced with information overload, editors and compilers of the time devised various methods to help readers manage the growing volume of content, such as charts, indexes, and different layouts and fonts. These adaptations to printed codices altered how readers interacted with texts and continued to evolve into the late Chinese imperial period.
From this research, I attempt to compare the discussion of information overload (Too Much to Know!) in the book history of early modern Europe with a similar situation in China during the rise of early commercial publishing.
2023-24
Term 3
WEEK 8 --Tuesday 11th June, 5.15pm (FAB 5.49), "Textual Transgressions: Mistakes, Forgeries & Censorship".
A series of 10min talks from researchers across the Faculty.
Dr Floris Verhaart(ECLS and Renaissance Centre) -"The forgery that never was: Jean Hardouin (1646-1729) and the alleged forgery of classical literature":Jean Hardouin became notorious for arguing that virtually all of classical literature had been forged in the Middle Ages by a cabal of atheistic Benedictine monks. I will introduce Hardouin's thought and writings and will very briefly point out its relevance for eighteenth-century textual scholarship and for the present day, especially post-communist Russia.
Dr William Rupp(Liberal Arts) –“’A prodigy of one kind or another’: William Henry Ireland, the Shakespeare forgery scandal, and the desire for authenticity”: In 1795/6 the English literary world was rocked by the discovery of a trove of documents, written in Shakespeare’s hand, that answered many burning questions about the Bard’s life, his writing, his thinking, and his morals. The only problem: they had all been forged by William Henry Ireland. In this talk, a short re-examination of one of the great forgery stories allows an examination of not only the motives of one forger but of the desires of the wider public to know with certainty details of the man who had been placed as the English language’s greatest author. It also looks to critical elements relating to how English identity was being (re)created at the end of the eighteenth century.
Dr Jessica Wardaugh(SMLC) -"Fakes and Fantasies in French Print Culture, 1880–1900"-In 1883, Parisian shopowner René Pineau paid typesetters to modify a political manifesto so that it would advertise hats rather than Napoleon. Pineau’s playful text was just one of a multitude of fakes and parodies on the walls of towns and cities across France in the late nineteenth century, following the liberalizing press laws of the 1880s that had transformed print culture and censorship. Exploring these texts within a wider culture of counterfeits, this short talk will offer some new perspectives on the relationship between politics, consumerism, and fantasy in fin-de-siècle France. A censored poster and counterfeit coin will also be brought along!
Dr Anna Lanfranchi (SMLC) -“Concealed translations, authorship, and copyright in Fascist Italy”, discusses examples of the C20th. Italian translation rights trade for Anna's forthcoming book.
Week 2 -- Tuesday 30th April, 5.15pm (FAB 5.49).SHOW AND TELL
Dr David Coates(SCAPVC)"The Material Traces of Britain’s Amateur Theatrical Past (1780-1914)".
In this show-and-tell session, David will share his private collection which contains an array of materials that document a history of amateur theatre in Britain pre-1914. It includes playbills, acting manuals, newspaper cuttings, prints and manuscript items. Alongside this he’ll discuss a range of findings from archives and collections across Britain and the USA to highlight the historiographical challenges of using some of this material and of researching the amateur theatrical past.
Prof Ralph Hanna(Oxford)"The Book History I do".
Ralph Hanna is Professor Emeritus in Palaeography at the University of Oxford. He has published widely on medieval manuscripts and texts and spends his time rooting around in libraries. His recent books includeIntroducing Medieval Book History: Manuscripts, their Producers and their Readers(Liverpool, 2013) andLooking at Medieval Books: Learning to See(Liverpool, 2023) and he will be discussing his work and materials, as well as approaches and practice.
Term 2
Week 8 - Tuesday 27th February, 5.15pm (FAB 5.49)
In collaboration with theCentre for Global Jewish StudiesLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new windowand the Centre for Renaissance Studies, Manuscript and Print Cultures group has invited Sofer Mordechai Pinchas to come and offer a scribal ‘show and tell’, with materials. He will also talk about the history of Jewish scribing, showing us some examples of writing with the opportunity for participants to have a go!https://www.sofer.co.uk/education
Week 3 -- Tuesday 23rd of January 5.15pm in FAB 5.49 (the student hub in English)
All staff and students are welcome to join the Manuscript and Print Cultures Network for our next session, a reading and discussion group based on this pieceLink opens in a new window Link opens in a new windowon Scribal Relics and the Authorial Body. It would be great to hear what everyone makes of the arguments there, and how it intersects with their own work. We hope to see you there – no prior knowledge needed.
Term One
(Week 8) Tuesday 21st November, 5.15 – 6.45pm in FAB 5.49 (ECLS student hub).
“Pedagogy, Play, Primers and Print”. Speakers from across the network will give 8-10min talks on a variety of research relating to the topic of pedagogy, play, primers and print.
Nancy Haijing Jiang on a bilingual Middle English and Latin primer of the Book of Hours.
Clive Letchford From Playful Badger to Printed Book - 16th school exercise books.
John Gilmore on c18th schoolboy notebooks.
Jen Baker Transgressive Pedagogy in contemporary Gothic pop-up books.
Week 2 -- MaPC Meet and Greet -- Wednesday 11th October, 5-6pm ONLINELink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window
Join us for an informal introduction to MaPC and to meet and greet other scholars interested in this area.