ABA News
43rd Annual Conference On Book Trade History
Family Business: Generational Continuity In The Book Trade Since The Fifteenth Century
13–14 November 2022
Stationers’ Hall, Ave Maria Lane, London EC4M 7DD
Organised by Robin Myers, Michael Harris, Giles Mandelbrote, Julian Pooley and Laura Cleaver in association with the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association Educational Trust
INTRODUCTION
Family dynasties have helped to define the European book trade over the past five centuries. In the early modern period, domestic housing provided the setting for generations of family members to assume crucial roles in the organisation and practices of the book trades. External family relationships also created networks which permeated the fabric of the trade, coalescing in such institutions as the Stationers’ Company of London.
This year we will explore the importance of generational continuity and patterns of inheritance in the context of book production.
THE SPEAKERS
Federico Botana is an art historian whose research interests include Italian late-medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and the trade and collecting of medieval manuscripts in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Tim Clayton has specialised in the study of all aspects of print production in the long eighteenth century, being the author of The English Print, 1688–1802 (1997). His recent research has explored verbal and visual satire and propaganda in the late Georgian period. His latest book James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire was published in November 2022.
Shanti Graheli lectures in Comparative Literature at the University of Glasgow. Her forthcoming book, Italian Books and the French Renaissance, examines the circulation and collection of Italian printed books in France in the 16th century. She has published studies of the Aldine press, provenance studies, and early modern libraries.
Michael Harris works on the history of print and the organisation of the London book trade. He is currently working on book trade networks through case studies of the Nutt and Gosling families.
Dirk Imhof was Keeper of Rare Books and Archives at the Plantin-Moretus Museum. His publications include Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations in Sixteenth Century Europe (with Karen Bowen, 2008) and Christophe Plantin’s Correspondence. Perspectives on Life and Work as a Publisher in 16th-century Europe (2020).
Karen Limper-Herz is Lead Curator, Incunabula and Sixteenth Century Printed Books at the British Library. She is Hon. Secretary and a Vice-President of the Bibliographical Society of London. Her research encompasses European bookbinding and the history of book collecting in 19th-century England.
Robin Myers is a leading authority on the history of the Stationers’ Company. She was hon archivist (1978–2008) and is now archivist emeritus; she has published widely on the Company and its members and as a liveryman, is involved in its current affairs.
Ester Camilla Peric is a PhD candidate at the Scuola Superiore Meridionale, Naples, exploring the value of printed catalogues included by Conrad Gesner in his Bibliotheca universalis (1548) for investigating printers’ output and marketing strategies and the dynamics of loss and survival of 16th century editions. Her interest in the 15th-century book trade was the subject of her first monograph: Vendere libri a Padova nel 1480: il Quaderneto di Antonio Moretto (2020).
Angéline Rais is a post-doctoral research fellow for the CULTIVATE MSS Project (University of London, SAS, IES), working on the activities of early 20th century German booksellers. Her PhD explored the antiquarian book trade in Switzerland through the purchases made there by Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1822–23.
FEES
The conference fee includes coffee/tea and biscuits and a sandwich lunch and reception on both days.
Registered students may apply for a limited number of reduced rate places, sponsored by the Bibliographical Society
Conference fee £95
Student conference fee £60*
Single day fee £60*
Student single day fee £50*
Early booking is recommended, and places will be offered in order of receipt. The number of places may be limited, as we will be observing social distancing regulations applicable at the time.