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THESE ARE
auspicious times for Book History, with several multi-volume
national histories of the book projects under way, not
least in Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland,
and the United States. Helpful as they are in accounting
for the history of the book in a national context, it
is becoming increasingly clear that one of the most
fruitful areas for future research will be those areas
in which these histories can be seen to intersect.
Alongside
a growing understanding of the importance of print culture
to the way in which nations imagine themselves has arisen
a sense of the important role played by books, periodicals,
and newspapers in the transmission of culture across
borders.
While a number
of recent publications go some way towards mapping the
importance of the book trade to cross-border relations,
much work remains to be done. What is more, most Anglophone
discussions of the international book trade have been
restricted to the colonial and postcolonial markets,
while international relations between the British and
Continental book trades in the post 1800 period have
gone relatively unexplored.
In July 2007
the British Academy announced its support for a project
to provide an infrastructure in which to explore and
to develop new methodologies for the analysis of transnational
material culture. 'Transnational Histories of the Book'
will begin with a series of symposia which will take
place throughout 2008-2009, around three major themes:
The Continental
Book Trade (May 2008)
Tourism
and Travel (October 2008)
The Print
Culture of War (March 2009)
Involving
participants from a number of scholarly disciplines,
the project will also seek to open a dialogue between
academics and others, not least archivists and curators.
Although the principal focus will
be on European Anglophone culture, problems of multi-lingual
exchange will also be explored throughout the life of
the project.
The project
web site will be launched in Autumn 2010.
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