Online for a short spin and continuing thoughts on internet

But then again, as far as communication goes, there is nothing that compares to internet. Having finally found a possibility to log into my email today, I was happily surprised to find an email passed on to me by my U.v.A. mentor Paul Dijstelberge, from Ms Coldiron (Florida University), concerning a common interest in 16th century Lyon printing. I look forward to hearing more details and will answer her mail subito indeed, late as I am due to NO INTERNET! In his accompanying mail P.D. goes into the internet thing: ' The ph-D and John's work have the internet in common with its direct possibilities of interacting. I have always been a fan of the image of scholarship as a Mount Purgatory where one spends a long time thinking in loneliness, gathering knowledge and endlessly rehashing it. I still think that solitary reading and thinking is of the greatest importance - but the intelligence of the comments on ilovetypography have brought a profound change in my ideas on the genesis of (my) scholarship. Meeting people on the net like this is not the same as having weekly discussions with collegues or students. The distance is important, also the casual kindness of strangers who may turn out to be your best friends.' With these thoughts he nicely balances important aspects of modern scholarship. I would like to add that (for me) writing produces clearer thoughts than would be possible in a conversation. This also in favour of internet as opposed to the discussions with collegues and students mentioned by P.D.

It seems there is a problem with posting reactions on this blog. Will try to sort out why when back in the world of internet, probably mid next week.

26-03-2010
More thinking than reading and also more than a week without internet. Has this been a handicap? I have not been able to check the spelling of my blog-entries, but bringing a dictionary would also have done the trick, and now and then it would have been handy to look something up on the web, but nothing that could not wait. This internet-less period has made me realize what a lot of time I usually spend surfing from one site to another and now I ask myself what is time not spent on the internet? What did I miss? How important is internet for research, for thinking, for following a train of thought? Or does it actually hinder the line of thinking? For now I lean towards the latter. Going from one site to another thoughts are broken off, sometimes never to be continued. During the past years, researching for an antiquarian bookdealer, internet was my most important source. In the Fall of 2009, preparing the essay on bookbindings, my mind opened up to to the enormous world of printed reference works. Even outdated publicatons can provide information not found elsewhere. The authority of the author is essential.

22-03-2010

Framework

Part I
History of Lyonese printing 1470-1600. In relation to the rest of Europe/Low Lands.
Theory on (16th century) ownership marks, marginalia and reception. The critics.
Some temporary research questions:
    ⁃    How does the collection in the U.v.A. library relate to the 16th century Lyonese book production? Sorted by genre: texts from antiquity, contemporary texts, religious texts etc.
    ⁃    Is the effect of the death of Henri II reflected in Lyonese printing/the U.v.A. corpus? Is there a change in the texts printed after 1559? Genre? Quantity?
    ⁃    Ownership marks - what part of the corpus - which genres - what kind of marks - contemporary/later - identification? What conclusions can be drawn?
    ⁃    Marginalia -  what part of the corpus - which genres - what kind of marginalia - contemporary/later - signed/dated? What conclusions can be drawn?
    ⁃    ...
Case study(ies) - ownership marks/marginalia - provenance/reception.

Part II
Descriptions of the U.v.A. titles: author - title - printer - date - binding - U.v.A. call number - inventory/pictures of ownership marks and/or marginalia - when, from whom, at what cost acquired by the U.v.A.
Indexes(?) alphabetical: author - title -  printer - ownership marks - marginalia.
Appendixes(?):
    ⁃    Figure: author - title - printer - date - ownership marks - marginalia.
    ⁃    Figure: timeline.

21-03-2010

Reception!
The first day of Spring?! Brrrr it feels like -10 outside (and hardly less inside for that matter, but that's a different story). Cloudy and sunny, but also a cold, cold wind, probably flying in from the Arctic.
And also: the EUREKA moment! It has/must have been staring me in the eyes for some time now, but even so, all of a sudden: RECEPTION. Of course! Actually pretty dim not to have thought in this line earlier, as the essay on bookbindings, in which ten packages of sheets of paper printed in Lyon in the 16th century are matched to their binder or (probably first) owner, makes use of SOME of the marginalia and ownership marks on the bindings or inside the books. Why not use that as a starting point for a fully fledged research project? And move the focus from provenance into some aspect of reception.
Take the books printed in Lyon between 1487 and 1600 in possession of U.v.A. Special Collections. If 1559 is a special date due to the death of Henri II and the ensuing religious quarrels that subsequently stood in the way of further humanist developement, it seems that culture would not simply have faded away. The humanist influence on education would have continued. Depending upon the amount of books in the corpus of the U.v.A., 1600 still seems a fitting end-date.

20-03-2010

Saturday afternoon shopping in the local bookstore in Clamecy. Not an English book in sight, but found exactly what I need to brush up my not very substantial knowledge of French history in A. Jouanna's La France de la Renaissance. An interpretative study with a very useful Chronologie starting in 1470 through 1559, the year Henri II was accidently mortally wounded by a lancet during courtly games with the Scottish Gabriel de Montgomery. With his death a period of enlightenment came to an end. A period which had only lasted for several decennia, during which an unparallelled level of artistic, literary and philosophical output was realized. All the more reason for marginalia in books printed during those years to be of interest. Jouanna's enthousiasm pleases me. Flipping through the pages I recognize names of Lyonese printers and writers, such as Etienne Dolet and Claude d'Espence, which I encountered when writing the essay on bookbindings, but which up until now did not mean much more to me than a name on a title page. I suspect Jouanna will give me a framework for their activities.

19-03-2010

What is marginalia in a printed text? Disturbance of a carefully arranged lay-out? Chaotic? Does this influence meta-thoughts and -writing? Maybe a certain degree of chaos goes with the subject? I must watch out for that, structure is important.

Back to Jackson's Marginalia. The first chapters on history and motives for marginalia bring up some interesting questions. I.e. the function of marginalia in a study by Saenger & Heinlen that reveals that notes in early printed books may actually be manuscript readers' aids supplied by the printer. (Saenger & Heinlen in: S.Hindman (Ed.) Printing the Written Word. The Social History of Books, circa 1450-1520. Ithaca: 1991. p.225-58.) I must look that up.

In Chapter Seven: 'Poetics', Jackson lists the following properties (she calls them requirements) of marginalia. Are they also relevant for annotations in 16th century books? For instance what to do about/with illegibility?

    ⁃    legibility - shorthand - (elaborate) notes
    ⁃    relevance
    ⁃    measure of truth/honesty of the readers notes
    ⁃    (certified) expertise of the content, authority of the annotator
    ⁃    signed and/or dated

Although Jackson's case studies concentrate on the English book production from 1700-2000, which is a somewhat later period than the one I am interested in, the 'Marginalia Lady' does help my thinking process with usable definitions of forms of marginalia from which I can start working and of course the endnotes and bibliography for further reading. The case studies maybe for reference when and if doing a case study of my own.