DOCSLIB.ORG

What, How and Why: Accessing Incunabula at Senate House Library, University of London K.E

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
What, How and Why: Accessing Incunabula at Senate House Library, University of London K.E CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by SAS-SPACE What, How and Why: Accessing Incunabula at Senate House Library, University of London K.E. ATTAR Karen Attar is the and the six-volume Catalogue of books printed in Rare Books Librarian the fifteenth century now in the Bodleian Library at Senate House (Coates, 2005, building on work begun by L.A. Library, University Shepard in 1954), testify to long-standing British of London. In 2008 interest in incunabula. So does the conception she catalogued, ex- and development at the British Library of the hibited and lectured newer of the two major international censuses of about its incunabula. incunabula, the Incunabula Short Title Catalogue She is Secretary of (ISTC; available at http://www.bl.uk). the UK Bibliographic Both the Bodley catalogue and the eleventh Standards Committee volume of BMC, on English incunabula, are of the CILIP Rare scholarly milestones, and honoured as such Books and Special Collections Group, and has in bibliographical journals (Edwards, 2007; published articles in bibliographical and pro- Linenthal, 2006; Needham, 2007; Sharpe, fessional journals about collectors and collections 2008; Wagner, 2008). Yet online cataloguing and about cataloguing. in Great Britain does not reflect this interest. Of the most important repositories of incunabula INTRODUCTION in the United Kingdom, in late 2007 only the British Library and the John Rylands University It is a truth universally acknowledged – at least Library of Manchester provided online access to in the bibliographical world – that incunabula their incunabula, via their own respective online have long held a status not enjoyed by post-1500 public access catalogues (http://130.8.109.188/ publications. Witnesses are the numerous printed TalalisPrism/index.jsp?interrface=webpage; hand-lists and catalogues, some extremely http://catalogue.bl.uk) and through COPAC, detailed, of institutional incunabular holdings, the union catalogue of major British university ranging from those at the University Library at and research libraries (http://www.copac.ac.uk). Nijmegen (Laeven, 1986; 108 items) or Milltown The Bodleian Library was in the process of Park, Dublin (Grosjean and O’Connell, 1932; cataloguing its incunabula electronically, and 117 items) to incunabula at the Bayerische Cambridge University Library intended to begin Staatsbibliothek in Munich (Bayerische in the foreseeable future. Staatsbibliothek, 1988–2000; 16,785 editions plus Thus a project in early 2008 to catalogue 2,448 duplicates). The thirteen hefty volumes of in detail online the incunabula at Senate House the Catalogue of books printed in the XVth Century Library, University of London – formerly known now in the British Museum (BMC) (1908–2007) as the University of London Library – in a sense ALEXANDRIA, 20(2), 2008 105 007 - ATTAR - Alexandria 20.2.in105 105 28/01/2009 10:27:19 What, How and WHY: AccessinG IncunaBula at Senate House LIBrarY blazed a trail. At a time when recent major printed other printed books, for example for attribution catalogues have stimulated discussion about of printer and place and date of printing, and describing incunabula, this article examines the for standard titles. Reliance on and detail of the issues considered when cataloguing incunabula major catalogues of incunabula (BMC, ISTC, online. It summarizes scholars’ desires for the the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (GW)) content of descriptions, their transferability result in their having a great deal of authority. and relevance to the online environment, and This authority in some ways pulls against the tensions resulting from the clash of library Library of Congress authorities, a standard for conventions with those of scholars of incunabula. Anglo-American libraries. The article then describes the project at Senate Reviews of printed catalogues and House Library as a case study of one major wide consultation about ISTC during its academic library’s resolution of the issues, and implementation (Hellinga and Goldfinch, 1987) assesses the value of a labour-intensive and have led to various published expressions of what hence expensive project for the institution and users want in descriptions of incunabula. While beyond it. some wishes refer specifically to the context of printed catalogues or the union catalogue/ THE NATURE OF THE MATERIAL: THE census environment, others are transferable to ‘DIFFERENCE’ OF INCUNABULA individual library online catalogues. General requirements are for subject indexing (Murphy, Incunabula and later books differ both as 1987, p. 239), detailed contents (Reeve, 1987, material productions and in the way they are p. 200), a record of the form of punctuation treated. The editions stand out from subsequent used by the printer (Saenger, 1997, pp. 496– handpress books through frequent lack of title 497) and a note of leaf size (Needham, 1993, pages, foliation and signatures. An imprint, if p. 97, p. 104; 2001, p. 235). Desires for copy- present, is in the colophon; quite often part or all specific information are to record illumination of the imprint (place and date of printing, name and other decoration which would shed light of printer) is absent. Reliance on manuscript on where an incunabulum was prepared for additions (notably initial capitals) and decorations sale, among other questions (Armstrong, 1997, is another distinguishing feature, such that one p. 476; Needham, 1993, pp. 104–105; Saenger school of thought advocates treating incunabula and Heinlen, 1991, pp. 252–256); all bindings, as manuscripts (Rouse, 1987, p. 202; Saenger contemporary or otherwise (Oyens, 1987, p. and Heinlen, 1991). Early readers, indeed, 223; Needham, 1993; p. 104; Needham, 2001, saw manuscript and print as interchangeable p. 235; to a lesser extent, Rouse, 1987, p. 204), (McKitterick, 2003, pp. 33–52). Textual post- and the manuscript waste in contemporary or publication manuscript amendment possibly near-contemporary bindings (Willison, 1981, p. occurred in printing houses, such as the manual 173). Scholars unite in clamouring for detailed correction of errata (Hulvey, 1998, p. 163; provenance information, ranging from notes McKitterick, 2003, p. 102). of marginalia to information about a library’s The descriptions of incunabula in major immediate acquisition from a bookdealer standard bibliographies or catalogues are (Altmann, 1987, p. 70; Needham, 1993, p. 105; far more detailed than in the standard short- Needham, 2001, pp. 175, 235; Rouse, 1987, pp. title catalogues of various categories of later 203–204; Saenger, 1997, pp. 503–504; Willison, material (e.g. STC, Wing, Adams). Absence of 1981, p. 172). The detail of printed descriptions the identifying features which we now expect to leads to questions about the value of repeating find on title pages renders reliance on external general information (Altmann, 1987, p. 70; descriptions of incunabula heavier than for Baurmeister, 1987, p. 147). 106 007 - ATTAR - Alexandria 20.2.in106 106 28/01/2009 10:27:19 What, How and WHY: AccessinG IncunaBula at Senate House LIBrarY ONLINE CONSIDERATIONS (albeit not leaf size), and copy-specific notes on provenance, bindings, and other copy-specific Standard antiquarian online cataloguing practice information such as imperfections, rubrication in the Anglo-American world is to follow and the binding together of discrete items Descriptive cataloging of rare books (DCRB) after publication. DCRM(B) contains certain (1991) or its 2007 successor, Descriptive instructions specifically or primarily intended cataloging of rare materials (books) (DCRM(B)) for incunabula: routinely to record signatures for descriptive cataloguing and the second edition (‘generally desirable’ 7B9.1); ‘For incunabula, of the more general cataloguing manual Anglo- note color printing and record the number of American cataloguing rules (AACR2) (Joint columns (if more than one), the number of lines, Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, and type measurements if no account is found 1998) for headings to provide access by name in a bibliographical source and the printer is and title. Library of Congress subject headings unidentified or has been identified from this (LCSH) provide subject indexing. Most libraries information’ (7B10.2). also follow Library of Congress authority forms Another transferable concern from the printed for authors’ names and for titles. The American to the online environment is a sense that repeating Library Association has provided a number of general details unquestioningly from catalogue to thesauri which may be used to index elements catalogue is not helpful. Electronically as in print, of provenance, binding and paper among other abstaining from reproducing details perceived as topics (listed in DCRM(B), pp. 206–207), while unnecessary saves time and therefore money. another American initiative, the Bibliographic Space, albeit not the economic consideration in Standards Committee of the Rare Books and the electronic environment that it is in the print Manuscripts Section of the Association of one, remains relevant online: user convenience College and Research Libraries, has supplied a is best served by catalogue records fitting on a generally accepted list of Standard citation forms single screen. for published bibliographies and catalogs used In other ways requirements of the online in rare book cataloging (2nd edn, VanWingen catalogue set it apart from both the printed and Urquiza, 1996). In the United Kingdom, catalogue and the stand-alone
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Fellows Cases/Statements
    The Once and Future Book Buchanan Library Fellows ~ Fall 2017 Incunables: The Original First Editions Some of the oldest books on earth, incunables are books printed before the year 1501. Taken from the Latin word, incunabulum or “in the cradle,” these are the first books actually printed in movable type. The incunabular aGe focused on many thinGs, one of which was the past. Many incunables were written about classic literature and theoloGy. In this case, one sees an epic Latin poem about Roman history and a commentary on the Book of Isaiah. This case spotliGhts some of the oldest books we have here in the Vanderbilt Libraries. Located in the Special Collections section in the Central Library, I wanted to focus on a type of book called an incunabulum, or incunables for plural- which are books written before the year 1501 AD. One of the pieces was published in 1492 and features a printer’s device called the colophon which is the identifyinG mark of a particular publisher. The second book in the exhibit is an incunabulum published in 1495, and features vellum (animal skin) tabs, like you miGht see in some dictionaries and other reference books. It also features a full-paGe woodcut of Jesus Christ and the Tree of Jesse, which oriGinates to the Book of Isaiah in the Bible. Binding: Bound to the Past, Looking to the Future Each and every book tell its reader a story. Most books rely upon the words written inside to take them on a journey, but what does the outside of the book reveal about the adventure? The unique role that a book’s bindinG plays in its holistic story is examined and explored in this case.
    [Show full text]
  • The Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC) Past, Present and Future John Goldfinch the British Library, UK
    Printing R-Evolution and Society 1450-1500 Fifty Years that Changed Europe edited by Cristina Dondi chapter 33 The Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC) Past, Present and Future John Goldfinch The British Library, UK Karen Limper-Herz The British Library, UK Abstract From its foundation in 1980, the ISTC has been one of the most important international reference sources for incunabula studies. Based on a merger of F.R. Goff’s Incunabula in North American Libraries: A Third Census and the Indice Generale degli Incu- naboli delle Biblioteche d’Italia, it aimed to be a comprehensive list both of 15th-century editions and of surviving copies of incunabula. While maintaining its original purpose, it has striven to take advantage of new partnerships and technical innovations to ensure its continued utility as a cornerstone of incunabula research. Managed by the British Library in London and hosted by CERL, the ISTC continues to rely on cooperation and partnership from holding institutions and researchers worldwide. Free since 2003, the ISTC can be used as a simple guide to editions and copies, but also as a dataset enabling researchers to look at 15th-century printing in new ways. After briefly looking at the ISTC’s history, this essay focuses on new developments made to the database, highlighting its continued relevance and potential to support traditional incunabula research as well as new projects, and its managers’ intention and flexibility to improve the file in response to its users’ feedback. Keywords Incunabula. ISTC. Digital humanities. British Library. CERL. Summary 1 The Past. – 2 The Present. – 3 Future.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of Books and Libraries in Bohemia
    Digital Editing of Medieval Manuscripts - Intellectual Output 1: Resources for Editing Medieval Texts (Paleography, Codicology, Philology) The history of books and libraries in Bohemia Michal Dragoun (Charles Univeristy in Prague) While books were initially rare in medieval Bohemia, they would come to play an important role in the lives of all social classes by the end of the Middle Ages. The pace of that advancement was not, however, constant. Many factors contributed to spread of books and to their use, some of them pushed the advancement forward significantly, others less significantly. Books were initially a monopoly of the Church and its institutions but gradually, the circle of book users extended to the laity and more and more texts came to be written in vernacular languages. Acknowledging the abundance or research into medieval books and libraries more generally, this overview will comment only on the most significant moments in the book culture of medieval Bohemia. There are two fundamental turning points in the history of Medieval Bohemian book culture – these were the establishment of a university in Prague, and the Hussite Reformation. To provide a brief overview of types of libraries, it is necessary to categorize them and study the development of individual categories. In any case, the Hussite period was the real turning point for a number of them. Sources The sheer abundance of sources provides the basis for a comprehensive overview of Bohemian book culture. The manuscripts themselves are the most significant source. However, the catalogues used to study Bohemian collections tend to be very old. As a result, the records are often incomplete and contextual information is often unavailable.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction the 15Cbooktrade Project and the Study of Incunabula As Historical Sources Cristina Dondi 15Cbooktrade, University of Oxford, UK
    Printing R-Evolution and Society 1450-1500 Fifty Years that Changed Europe edited by Cristina Dondi chapter 3 Introduction The 15cBOOKTRADE Project and the Study of Incunabula as Historical Sources Cristina Dondi 15cBOOKTRADE, University of Oxford, UK A Note of Thanks to All Involved I am delighted to share and celebrate the results of many years of re- search in this volume, which brings together the contributions to a conference held on 19-21 September 2018, in the very special prem- ises of the Musei Civici Veneziani, where almost 20 years ago I start- ed my investigations on early Venetian printing. In those years I was working on the catalogue of incunabula at the Bodleian Library. It was there, opening up and examining thousands of 15th-century books, that I realised how the books themselves bear witness to their movement in their manuscript annotations, decora- tion and binding styles, and that capturing that movement within spatial and temporal coordinates could unveil to us the central fac- tor that was crucial to the success of the new technology and busi- ness, and yet so elusive to document: distribution. We were sitting on the largest amount of historical evidence for understanding the impact of the new technology and trade on Eu- ropean society at large, yet we did not have the tools to capture it. This is why Material Evidence in Incunabula was conceived in 2009, and I am very grateful to the vision of the British Academy and of CERL for supporting the idea and the innovative tool we created to turn it into a reality.
    [Show full text]
  • Children's Literature COUR
    SYLLABUS DATE OF LAST REVIEW: 12/2019 CIP CODE: 24.0101 SEMESTER: DEPARTMENTAL SYLLABUS COURSE NAME: Children's Literature COURSE NUMBER: ENGL0107 CREDIT HOURS: 3 INSTRUCTOR: DEPARTMENTAL SYLLABUS OFFICE LOCATION: DEPARTMENTAL SYLLABUS OFFICE HOURS: DEPARTMENTAL SYLLABUS TELEPHONE: DEPARTMENTAL SYLLABUS EMAIL: DEPARTMENTAL SYLLABUS KCKCC-issued email accounts are the official means for electronically communicating with our students. PRERQUISITES: None REQUIRED TEXT AND MATERIALS: Please check with the KCKCC bookstore, http://www.kckccbookstore.com for the required text for your particular class. COURSE DESCRIPTION: Children’s literature is a course designed for students interested in bringing children and books together. It is especially for students with English or Education majors, for pre-school or elementary school teachers, for parents, for those working with children in day-care centers, for librarians, and for parents and grandparents. The course would also be beneficial for those exploring the field of writing and illustrating children’s books. Students will identify children’s needs and interests, learn the criteria for choosing books for children, and demonstrate the means by which children and books can be brought together. Students will read, examine, and critique a variety of children’s literature selected by author, genre, and historical time period. METHOD OF INSTRUCTION: A variety of instructional methods may be used depending on content area. These include but are not limited to: lecture, multimedia, cooperative/collaborative learning, labs and demonstrations, projects and presentations, speeches, debates, and panels, conferencing, performances, and learning experiences outside the classroom. Methodology will be selected to best meet student needs. COURSE OUTLINE: I. Children and books today A.
    [Show full text]
  • Writing a History of the Book for an Electronic Age
    8 RARE BOOKS & MANUSCRIPTS LIBRARIANSHIP KRK Communications Revolutions: Writing a History of the Book for an Electronic Age Robert A. Gross Originally presented as the keynote address for the Rare Books and Manuscript Pre­ conference on June 25, 1997, in Claremont, California. hen does an academic field begin? For the expanding specialty known as the history of the book, the landmarks are many: W • Major publications: Elizabeth Eisenstein’s The Printing Press as an Agent of Change and Robert Darnton’s The Business of Enlightenment, both appearing in 1979.1 • Intellectual centers: the Center for the Book at the Library of Con­ gress (1977) and the Program in the History of the Book in American Cul­ ture at the American Antiquarian Society (1983).2 • Encyclopedias and reference works: since the appearance in the 1980s of the multivolume Histoire de l’Edition, the French pioneer in the field, na­ tional book histories have been launched in the United States, England, Scot­ land, Wales, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Robert A. Gross, Forrest D. Murden Jr. Professor of History and American Studies at the College of William and Mary, is chair of the American Antiquarian Society’s Program in the History of the Book in American Culture. 8 COMMUNICATIONS REVOLUTIONS 9 • Degree programs, including M.A. courses of study at the Universities of Alabama, Iowa, and Wisconsin and University College, London, and a Ph.D. minor at the University of South Carolina, all established since 1986.3 • Scholarly associations, notably SHARP, the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing, created in 1991 and now counting some 900 members in 20 countries.4 By such innovations and advances, encompassing multiple initiatives and interests, does a new discipline take shape in the contemporary world of schol­ arship.
    [Show full text]
  • Book Reviews Catalogue of Books Printed in the Xvth Century Now in the British Museum. Part X
    Book reviews Catalogueof booksprinted in the XVth centurynow in the British Museum. Part X: Spain, Portugal. London, the Trustees of the British Museum, 1971, f°, lxxv, 92 pp., 20 Pl., fac., ISBN 0714101141, £ 8.-. 'BMCX: SPAIN,1' OR T U GA AL' REVIEWING- ARTICLE The student of fifteenth-century sources for the history of the Iberian peninsula will test BMC X against the rich fund of knowledge which we already have of the early years of printing there: Hacblcrl and Vindel2 for the incunabula period proper, and Norton3 for the following twenty years, 1500-20, though he is also indispensable for the last decades of the fifteenth century. Those readers of Quaerendospecialized in the field to which this journal is devoted, however, will certainly, if they are bibliographers, have come across 'Spain' in Appendix I published by Curt F. Biihler in I949 in Standardso f BibliographicalDescription.4 Furthermore, they can permit themselves a different, more restricted approach to a catalogue such as BMC X. In the history of printing, the relations and connections between the Low Countries and the area dealt with in BMC X occupy no more than a modest place :5indeed, a conspicuously modest place. In view of the history of trading between the two regions, and the political events of the end of the fifteenth century, one might have expected the situation to be otherwise. (Indeed, it is possible that the situation was otherwise, but we shall not know until library research in Spain and Portugal has told us more about the book trade based on Antwerp and Louvain.) Such an aspect of a wider question, however, requires a great deal of detail before any kind of synthesis can become meaningful.
    [Show full text]
  • Münster Monographs on English Literature
    Book Value Categories and the Acceptance of Technological Changes in English Book Production Münsteraner Monographien zur englischen Literatur Münster Monographs on English Literature Herausgegeben von / Edited by Bernfried Nugel und / and Hermann Josef Real Bd./Vol. 42 Münsteraner Monographien Simon Rosenberg zur englischen Literatur Münster Monographs on English Literature Herausgegeben von / Edited by Bernfried Nugel und / and Hermann Josef Real Book Value Categories and the Acceptance of Technological Changes Bd./Vol. 42 in English Book Production Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress Zugl.: Münster (Westfalen), Univ., Diss., 2013 Cover illustration: Münsteraner Schloss. By courtesy of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster. Supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of the University of Münster. Printed by CPI books GmbH, Leck. D 6 ISSN 0934-0300 ISBN 978-3-631-80426-1 (Print) E-ISBN 978-3-631-82738-3 (E-PDF) E-ISBN 978-3-631-82739-0 (EPUB) E-ISBN 978-3-631-82740-6 (MOBI) DOI 10.3726/b17293 . This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY 4.0 license. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ © Simon Rosenberg, 2020 Peter Lang – Berlin • Bern • Bruxelles • New York • Oxford • Warszawa • Wien. This publication has been peer reviewed. www.peterlang.com Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Acknowledgement internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
    [Show full text]
  • Book History in India, with Its Programmatic Opening Chapter, ‘Under the Sign of the Book: Introducing Book History In
    1 The History of the Book as a Field of Study within the Humanities1 I.R.Willison ‘Tout, au monde, existe, pour aboutir à un livre’ Mallarmé. The recent development of the History of the Book The History of the Book has emerged not only as a field of study in its own right but as critical for the development of the world of learning in general. Implicit recognition of this can be seen in the resources – financial and human – that the academy is devoting to its pursuit. Collaborative, multi-volume national and regional projects for an authoritative History of the Book, that are now either complete (as in the case of France) or well under way, compete successfully for these resources that are by no means unlimited. This success and the drive towards a comprehensive coverage through these projects provide at least prima facie evidence for the increasing centrality of the History of the Book. 1 A revised version of a lecture delivered to the Friends of the Library of the University of Adelaide, July 2005: ‘Bringing History to Book’. To be published in Histoire nationale ou histoire internationale du livre et de l’édition? Un débat planétaire/National or International Book and Publishing History? A Worldwide Discussion. Ed Martyn Lyons, Jacques Michon, Jean-Yves Mollier & François Vallotton, (Québec: Nota Bene , 2007). The cases cited were of necessity largely taken from anglophone sources. I am grateful to Mr William St Clair, Dr Rowan Watson of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Dr Peter McDonald of St Hugh’s College, Oxford, and Professor Alistair McCleery of Napier University for their comments; and for their advice to Professors Katharine Ellis, Jill Kraye and James Dunkerley of the Institute of Musical Research, the Warburg Institute, and the Institute for the Study of the Americas, School of Advanced Study University of London, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Hellinga Part 1
    the cambridge History of the Book in Britain * VOLUME III 1400Ð1557 * Edited by LOTTE HELLINGA and J. B. TRAPP published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK www.cup.cam.ac.uk 40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011Ð4211, USA www.cup.org 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1999 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1999 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface teffRenard 9.5/13 pt. System QuarkXPress¨ [se] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data The Cambridge history of the book in Britain. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and Index. Contents: Ð vol. iii. 1400Ð1557 / edited by Lotte Hellinga and J. B. Trapp isbn 0 521 57346 7 (vol. iii) 1. Books Ð Great Britain Ð History. i. Hellinga, Lotte. ii. Trapp, J. B. (Joseph Burney) z8.g7c36 1999 002Ј.0941Ðdc21 98Ð4398 cip isbn 0 521 57346 7 hardback Contents List of contributors x List of illustrations xii Preface xvii Introduction 1 lotte hellinga and j. b. trapp 1 . Literacy, books and readers 31 j. b. trapp TECHNIQUE AND TRADE 2 . Foreign illuminators and illuminated manuscripts 47 j. j. g. alexander 3 . Printing 65 lotte hellinga 4 .
    [Show full text]
  • Translation, Early Printing, and Gender in England, 1484-1535
    05fl_23.1_hosington.qxd 2008/11/19 16:00 PM Page 41 Translation, Early Printing, and Gender in England, 1484-1535 Brenda M. Hosington Translation cannot be divorced from the context in which it flourishes, that is, from the linguistic, literary, social, and cultural developments taking place at a given time and in a given setting. Nor can it be fully comprehended without a consideration of certain ideological impulses. One of the socio-cultural developments affecting translation in the years 1484-1535 is the introduction of printing to England. One of the ideological con- cerns in the period also affecting translation is that of gender. Both intersect in the pro- duction of translations concerning women and women’s issues, of which there is a sig- nificant number. These, I think, should be considered against the backdrop of early printing in England, for printers and patrons often had specific agendas in mind, moti- vated by ideological concerns — be they religious, moral, or commercial — which dic- tated not only the choice of texts to be published but also the editorial changes to be made within those texts. As Lotte Hellinga has pointed out, the history of printing reflects two dynamics that are in varying balance — the obvious one that is commercial and borne of the printer’s need to cover expenses and make a profit, and the more complex one that is non-commercial and relates to the power of the printed text to disseminate knowledge, implant new ideas, and so on.1 The first, the commercial aspect, has been an ongoing consideration in the history of print.
    [Show full text]
  • Alaris Capture Pro Software
    Richard IH’s Books: XI Ramon Lull’s Order ofChivalry translated by William Caxton ANNE F. SUTTON AND LIVIA VISSER-FUCHS IN 1484 WILLIAM CAXTON printed his translation of Ramon Lull’s Order of Chivalry and in an epilogue full of enthusiasm for the ideals and practice of knighthood he dedicated it to Richard III. Whether a copy was ever presented to the King is not known: no copy marked with Richard’s signature or even an ex libris survives.‘ It is reasonable to assume that Richard received a copy, however, because Caxton’s Godeffroy of Bouloyne which he had earlier translated, printed and dedicated to Edward IV, was apparently presented, and a surviving copy bears a note of Edward’s ownership.2 ' . Before discussing the actual book Caxton chose to dedicate to Richard III and the words of his dedication, it is necessary to outline Caxton’s career and put his relations with the Yorkist royal court into a correct perspective. These have too often been over-dramatised in order to place the punter, about whose personality and family life so little is known, in a narrative of stirring political events. Caxton has been made the close associate of a series of so-called courtly ‘patrons’, been seen as taking political sides, and even the output of his press has been linked to the change of kings. An examination of why and to whom he chose to dedicate some of his books and the real relationship he had with his ‘patrons’ will allow the dedication of the Order of Chivalry to Richard III to be placed in context.
    [Show full text]