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On Thu, 2007-22-03 at 12:28 +0000, Barbara Bordalejo wrote: > Although Jim's phrasing in his message (which I think he intended to > be private) might be interpreted in the way Germaine suggests, I > think that there is an important observation behind it. I studied > under Thomas Tanselle and his influence pursues me to this day, so I > consider bibliographical and codicological studies a very important > part of textual scholarship. > History of the Book, however, is currently being debated (perhaps > because we lack a clear definition of what it is) and this is a whole > other issue. As some of you know, Peter Shillingsburg organized a > round table in Leicester yesterday in an attempt to answer "What is > book history?" Those of us who were able to attend found a > challenging panel of serious scholars considering this question. If I > understood correctly (those who were here are invited to point out > whether I misunderstood something), Sukanta Chaudhuri gave a precise > definition of the subject by stating that it referred to non-material > aspects of the book such as trade and circulation, the history of the > publication process, pricing, etc. I liked the definition, though I > have to say, for myself, I would never consider making this the main > part of my work. I would only be interested in book history defined > as before, as I am interested in typography: as a contribution to a > much larger exercise in textual scholarship which could benefit from > this knowledge. > In a way, I am grateful for Jim's message, as it is giving us the > opportunity to discuss our positions around this subject. Not having been at the roundtable, I can't comment directly--but it seems to me the non-material definition is unfortunately limiting. I prefer the study of texts as cultural objects. It seems to me that the great power of Book History in the last fifteen years or so has been the way it managed to overcome aspects of the culture wars from the 1990s by turning the discussion among philologists, textual scholars, and less materially oriented theorists and critics to a less zero sum argument than it once had been: now we are at least arguably working towards a common end. > > Best, > > BB > > > > On 21 Mar 2007, at 21:44, Warwick Gould wrote: > > > Dear Germaine: I don't think this shard is 'against Bibliography', > > or even the History of the Book, imaginatively conceived. I know, > > like, respect and greatly admire Jim Mays as a noble, clinical, > > scrupulous editor who would always extol the connexions between a > > seriously conceived, McKenzie-ite Historical Bibliography and Book > > History against the dulled edge of an anxiety-of-theory-driven, > > cultural-studies inspired surrogate. Ever WG > > > > Professor Warwick Gould FRSL, FRSA, FEA > > Director, Institute of English Studies, > > School of Advanced Study, University of London, > > Room 304, Senate House, Malet St > > London WC1E 7HU > > +44 (020) 7862 8673 (voice) > > +44 (020) 7862 8720 (fax) > > www.sas.ac.uk/ies <http://www.sas.ac.uk/ies> > > > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________ > > > > From: The list of the European Society for Textual Scholarship and > > the Society for Textual Scholarship on behalf of Germaine Warkentin > > Sent: Wed 21/03/2007 19:00 > > To: [log in to unmask] > > Subject: Re: History of the Book Masters Degree > > > > > > > > "discursive guff from the dulled edge of cultural studies" -- wow, > > do I ever want to cite that! I have a chapter in the book I'm > > writing called "Against Bibliography" and this particular shard is > > priceless. Permission granted? Contributions from others are > > warmly encouraged; I have been collecting good and bad jokes about > > bibliography/book history for some months now. cheers, Germaine > > > > -- > > ********************************************************************** > > * > > Germaine Warkentin // English (Emeritus) > > VC 205, Victoria College (University of Toronto), > > 73 Queen's Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1K7, CANADA > > [log in to unmask] (fax number on request) > > ********************************************************************** > > * -- Daniel Paul O'Donnell, PhD Chair, Text Encoding Initiative <http://www.tei-c.org/> Director, Digital Medievalist Project <http://www.digitalmedievalist.org/> Associate Professor and Chair of English University of Lethbridge Lethbridge AB T1K 3M4 Vox: +1 403 329 2378 Fax: +1 403 382-7191 Homepage: http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/