Biding my time with useful thoughts on the snags of history: on the subjectivity of perception and of the interpretation of perception. David Perkins starts me off with his reference to Nietzsche's writings on 'historisches Bewusstsein':
'What distinguishes the present age from all past ones, he says, is that we know so much more about them than they did about each other. This knowledge is unhealthy. "Alien and disconnected" images from many times and place, a "carnival of gods, customs, and arts" fill our minds as a spectacle, but none are felt to be ours. As they collide in our minds, they are all relativized, and so also are whatever convictions and values characterize the present moment in history." (Perkins 1993. p.175).
If, as Nietsche claims, knowledge of the past colours the present, then the affected present will in its turn contaminate our notion of the past. Even if this is a supposition and not a fact, this seems an unstable basis for research, and I do remember reading a book about marginalia a couple of months ago, making a mental note not to let my own findings lead to unbased postulations.
To be continued.
27-06-2010
16-06-2010
Sent in draft version number four with some 'minor' changes and an additional paragraph on an important 'why' question.
Why this corpus? Why research into ownership marks and marginalia in books printed in Lyon in the 16th century?
16th century Lyon was affluent, industrious, cosmopolitan and, after Paris, the most important cultural city in Renaissance France, which is reflected in the book production of 16th century printers of Lyon such as Sebastien Gryphe, Jean de Tournes, Charles Pesnot, Guillaume Laemarius, Guillaume Gazeau and Jacques Myt (Baudrier 1895, Cartier 1937, Gültlingen 2002, Mouren 2008).
The printers mentioned above were part of the enlightened humanist movement. Reading and writing were closely linked to education which did not end with schooling but was a lifelong experience of annotating and copying, ‘The humanist reader read with pen in hand’ (Grafton 2003, p.206). It can be assumed that a sizeable part of the 16th century Lyon collection in Special Collections has been owned and read by readers seeking education. Research into the traces of use left by these readers in the corpus aims to give insight into humanist reading customs.
Why this corpus? Why research into ownership marks and marginalia in books printed in Lyon in the 16th century?
16th century Lyon was affluent, industrious, cosmopolitan and, after Paris, the most important cultural city in Renaissance France, which is reflected in the book production of 16th century printers of Lyon such as Sebastien Gryphe, Jean de Tournes, Charles Pesnot, Guillaume Laemarius, Guillaume Gazeau and Jacques Myt (Baudrier 1895, Cartier 1937, Gültlingen 2002, Mouren 2008).
The printers mentioned above were part of the enlightened humanist movement. Reading and writing were closely linked to education which did not end with schooling but was a lifelong experience of annotating and copying, ‘The humanist reader read with pen in hand’ (Grafton 2003, p.206). It can be assumed that a sizeable part of the 16th century Lyon collection in Special Collections has been owned and read by readers seeking education. Research into the traces of use left by these readers in the corpus aims to give insight into humanist reading customs.
15-06-2010
The product of my silence of the past days: a better proposal?
Traces of Use. Ownership marks and marginalia in circa 500 books printed in Lyon 1487-1600, at Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam.
Introduction and theoretical framework
The focus of this research will be on ownership marks and marginalia in the University of Amsterdam collection of books printed in Lyon 1487-1600. The research will take place within the context of 16th century Lyon, the emphasis will be on the significance of the Lyonnese Humanist influence on publishing, printing and reading. A definition will be given of ownership marks and marginalia and an outline of their function in manuscripts and books. The value of ownership and marginalia research within the field of Book History will be explored, as will the methodological problems that are confronted during research.
Statement of the problem
Do the ownership marks and marginalia found in the corpus reflect the 16th century Humanist approach to history, education and philosophy?
Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study is to make an inventory and analysis of ownership marks, marginalia and other traces of use found in the corpus in order to interpret their meaning and to define their significance regarding research into the provenance and the contemporary reading of individual copies of a title.
Hypotheses
Due to traces of use, every copy of a title is unique. The traces of use found in the corpus will disclose information about the owners of the books and about their reading habits. The marginalia reflect the contemporary reader's contribution to humanist thought. The information gathered through studying traces of use can be applied toward a history of an individual copy of a title.
Questions
How does the research corpus relate to the overall production of 16th century printing in Lyon?
Questions concerning the interpretation of the ownership marks and marginalia (provenance and reception):
Are there ownership marks on the binding or inside the book. Can the contemporary owners be identified? What relationship is there between the owner and the genre of the book? What conclusions can be drawn from the quantity and genre of books with marginalia in relation to those without? Are the marginalia contemporary or later? What systems are used for annotating? What is the relevance of the marginalia to the text they accompany? In what way do the marginalia in the corpus reflect 16th century Humanist thought? What other manuscript texts besides annotations are to be found in the books?
And any further questions which will arise as the research develops. Looking for the unexpected.
The design - methods and procedures - instrumentation, data collection and data analysis
The research corpus will consist of circa 500 books printed in Lyon, France 1487-1600 at Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam.
The descriptions of the books and the inventory of the marginalia and ownership marks found in the corpus, will be collected and analysed in content management software Devonthink. Spreadsheet categories will be a.o.: U.v.A. call number; author; title; publisher; year when published; genre; ownership; manuscript date of ownership; types of marginalia; language used in marginalia; legibility; when acquired by the U.v.A.; binding; date of binding.
The temporary format is a blog in which trains of thought and actual results concerning the research are recorded from first activity on 9th March 2010, till conclusion, date unknown.
The purpose of the blog: notes to self, storage of material and reflection. A system to facilitate the picking up of thoughts sidelined at an earlier stage and a forum for exchange of information with peers.
Sampling
The case studies will consist of in depth investigation of the 16th century traces of use in a number of titles from the corpus. An attempt will be made to follow the titles' paths from the publisher to inclusion in the library of Amsterdam Special Collections with the objective of (re)creating the individual titles' reading-histories.
Limitation
Is a corpus of circa 500 books large enough to permit the drawing of conclusions?
Delimitation
Illegible annotations will be noted as 'illegible'. Their presence will be noted but not analysed.
Significance of the study
The significance of the study lies in what meaningful traces of use will be found in the corpus and what conclusions may be drawn upon these findings. Many titles have minimal descriptions in the U.v.A. library database, a more complete description could benefit further research.
References
http://tracesofuse.blogspot.com/
Pajares, F., Elements of a Proposal. Atlanta: Emory University, 2007. Online.
Amsterdam, 15th June 2010
Introduction and theoretical framework
The focus of this research will be on ownership marks and marginalia in the University of Amsterdam collection of books printed in Lyon 1487-1600. The research will take place within the context of 16th century Lyon, the emphasis will be on the significance of the Lyonnese Humanist influence on publishing, printing and reading. A definition will be given of ownership marks and marginalia and an outline of their function in manuscripts and books. The value of ownership and marginalia research within the field of Book History will be explored, as will the methodological problems that are confronted during research.
Statement of the problem
Do the ownership marks and marginalia found in the corpus reflect the 16th century Humanist approach to history, education and philosophy?
Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study is to make an inventory and analysis of ownership marks, marginalia and other traces of use found in the corpus in order to interpret their meaning and to define their significance regarding research into the provenance and the contemporary reading of individual copies of a title.
Hypotheses
Due to traces of use, every copy of a title is unique. The traces of use found in the corpus will disclose information about the owners of the books and about their reading habits. The marginalia reflect the contemporary reader's contribution to humanist thought. The information gathered through studying traces of use can be applied toward a history of an individual copy of a title.
Questions
How does the research corpus relate to the overall production of 16th century printing in Lyon?
Questions concerning the interpretation of the ownership marks and marginalia (provenance and reception):
Are there ownership marks on the binding or inside the book. Can the contemporary owners be identified? What relationship is there between the owner and the genre of the book? What conclusions can be drawn from the quantity and genre of books with marginalia in relation to those without? Are the marginalia contemporary or later? What systems are used for annotating? What is the relevance of the marginalia to the text they accompany? In what way do the marginalia in the corpus reflect 16th century Humanist thought? What other manuscript texts besides annotations are to be found in the books?
And any further questions which will arise as the research develops. Looking for the unexpected.
The design - methods and procedures - instrumentation, data collection and data analysis
The research corpus will consist of circa 500 books printed in Lyon, France 1487-1600 at Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam.
The descriptions of the books and the inventory of the marginalia and ownership marks found in the corpus, will be collected and analysed in content management software Devonthink. Spreadsheet categories will be a.o.: U.v.A. call number; author; title; publisher; year when published; genre; ownership; manuscript date of ownership; types of marginalia; language used in marginalia; legibility; when acquired by the U.v.A.; binding; date of binding.
The temporary format is a blog in which trains of thought and actual results concerning the research are recorded from first activity on 9th March 2010, till conclusion, date unknown.
The purpose of the blog: notes to self, storage of material and reflection. A system to facilitate the picking up of thoughts sidelined at an earlier stage and a forum for exchange of information with peers.
Sampling
The case studies will consist of in depth investigation of the 16th century traces of use in a number of titles from the corpus. An attempt will be made to follow the titles' paths from the publisher to inclusion in the library of Amsterdam Special Collections with the objective of (re)creating the individual titles' reading-histories.
Limitation
Is a corpus of circa 500 books large enough to permit the drawing of conclusions?
Delimitation
Illegible annotations will be noted as 'illegible'. Their presence will be noted but not analysed.
Significance of the study
The significance of the study lies in what meaningful traces of use will be found in the corpus and what conclusions may be drawn upon these findings. Many titles have minimal descriptions in the U.v.A. library database, a more complete description could benefit further research.
References
http://tracesofuse.blogspot.com/
Pajares, F., Elements of a Proposal. Atlanta: Emory University, 2007. Online.
Amsterdam, 15th June 2010
06-06-2010
The books and their markings will have to wait. It seems that theory goes before research, which is not so much surprising as regretful, having had a glimpse of all the wonderful material lying there waiting for me in the dungeons of the U.v.A.
Initial catchwords for the U.v.A. search machine: 16th century Lyon, Humanism(e), Renaissance. I prefer a systematic approach and will leave the marginalia for now. And so, here I am, confronted by a pile of French and English secundary literature with interesting titles such as Intellectual Life in Renaissance Lyon and L'humanisme lyonnais au XVIe siècle. Promising titles which will hopefully provide me with meaningful background for my research.
My eye is caught by an article on Maurice Scève (c.1500-c.1564). Does the U.v.A. collection also include work by him I wonder? Alas! Only twentieth reprints! Internet research produces an Italian antiquarian bookdealer who has a copy of the magnificant entrance of Henry II and Catharina de Medici in Lyon for sale: Scève's La Magnifica et Triumphale Entrata printed in Lyon 1549 by Guillaume Rovillé. Maybe the University could be persuaded that their Lyon collection would not be complete without a contemporary edition of this famous Lyonnese poet's work. The selling price is € 10.500... My first reaction: these Italian bookdealers, their prices are too much! But, further research reveals that only later, nineteenth and twentieth century critical editions of Scève are momentarily offered for sale. Might contemporary copies of Scève's work be that scarce?
One minute I am immersed in an article, the next, curiosity driven research. Did I not mention that earlier?
Initial catchwords for the U.v.A. search machine: 16th century Lyon, Humanism(e), Renaissance. I prefer a systematic approach and will leave the marginalia for now. And so, here I am, confronted by a pile of French and English secundary literature with interesting titles such as Intellectual Life in Renaissance Lyon and L'humanisme lyonnais au XVIe siècle. Promising titles which will hopefully provide me with meaningful background for my research.
My eye is caught by an article on Maurice Scève (c.1500-c.1564). Does the U.v.A. collection also include work by him I wonder? Alas! Only twentieth reprints! Internet research produces an Italian antiquarian bookdealer who has a copy of the magnificant entrance of Henry II and Catharina de Medici in Lyon for sale: Scève's La Magnifica et Triumphale Entrata printed in Lyon 1549 by Guillaume Rovillé. Maybe the University could be persuaded that their Lyon collection would not be complete without a contemporary edition of this famous Lyonnese poet's work. The selling price is € 10.500... My first reaction: these Italian bookdealers, their prices are too much! But, further research reveals that only later, nineteenth and twentieth century critical editions of Scève are momentarily offered for sale. Might contemporary copies of Scève's work be that scarce?
One minute I am immersed in an article, the next, curiosity driven research. Did I not mention that earlier?
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