Volume 10, Number 2 - University of Massachusetts Amherst

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SHARP News
Volume 10|Number 2 Article 1
Spring 2001
Volume 10, Number 2
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et al.: Volume 10, Number 2
Volume 10, Number 2 Spring 2001
publishing history, in line with Edward 1988 and under the library school's founding
Said's plea in CultureandIrnperidlisrn (1993) professor Jean Whyte, book history flour-
for literary and cultural critics to study ished. Now it is mainly IT, but some
Post-ColonialR eflections on the
colonizer and colonized together, the benefits from the Whyte years remain, such
Late Victorian Fiction Business
intertwined stories of metropolis and as the large collection of colonial editions in
Elizabeth Morrison colonies thus making for a history both the Monash Library to which Johanson had
Hawthorn, Victoria, Austraha more inclusive and more dvnamic. Trainor access. Defined by him as a "British book
1
J
' may also be seen as drawing on his re- produced for the colonies'' (Trainor calls it a
Australia's 2001 Centenary of Federation
searched and developed understanding of "cheap run-on"), the colonial edition was
celebrations are being conducted without
the complicated strands of Anglo-Australian more often than not a novel. Colonial
excited popular involvement,w hich is
identity as explored in his B.ntish Irnperidlim editions first manifested in Murray's Home
perhaps not surprising consideringt he
and A ustralidn Nationulisrn (1994). His and Colonial Library series, issued 1843-
backwash of Sydney Olympics euphoria and
formulation in relation to the bdok trade 1849. Such publishing arrangements really
Y2K hype and the bicentennial burnout
appears in two articles published in the took off, however, in the late 1880s, most
following an outbreak of Australianism
Bibliographical S0mi-yO fAustraliuand Nm spectacularly with Macmillan's Colonial
around the 1988 commemoration of the
Zealand (BSANZ)B ulletin. It should be Library, and for many years accounted for
start of antipodean British settlement.
stressed that at present, and with the most of the British books exported to
Nevertheless, the Federation Centenary is an
cessation of the promisingP ublishing Studies Australia. Particularly useful for British book
occasion for significant Australian historical
in 1999 after the untimely death of its historians is Johanson's use of the annual
stockthg- - not only because on 1J anuary
founder and editor John Curtain, the Board of Trade figures published in British
1901 six Australian colonies became one
quarterly BSANZ Bulletin is the best ongoing Parlidmenmy P a pt o quantlfy these exports
nation but also because, just three weeks later
source of articles about Australian book and display them graphically. His identifica-
and before the fanfare had finished, there
trade history. Since 1993 there have been tion and discussion of the main colonial
came the laments and eulogies to mark the
many articles bearing on Anglo-Austrahan series will likely be relevant and useful for
end of the life and reign of Queen Victoria.
fiction of the late Victorian period. In 1996 book historians in other parts of the former
This conjunction of the formal ending of
Trainor's "British Publishers and Cultural Empire, while his uncovering of how the
colonial rule and of the Victorian era is a
Imperialism" appeared, and in 1997 his local (Australian)b ook trade not only
reminder that the history of print culture in
"Imperialism, Commerce and Copyright." adapted to the imperial conditions but could
white settler Australia would be thin indeed
Based on conference papers, both look at the often turn them to its own advantage
without its shaping British context. Con-
period 1870 to 1930 when, he claims, cautions against severely simplistic readings
versely, as I hope to show in surveying some
Australasia (Australia and New Zealand) of cultural imperialism.
recent Australian research into late nine-
comprised the largest single market for the
teenth-century fiction publishing, there are
aspects of authorship, reading and publish- British book trade, a market which was CONTENTS
cultivated by the British through a structure
ing down under that are important for the
of local branches and representatives,
history of the book in Britain. GUESCT OMMENT 1
through fashioning an appropriate product,
Historians of the book in Australia LEITERS 4
,the colonial edition,t hrough imperial
often collect and analyze empirical data within RESOURCES 5
copyright law and, finally, through restrictive
a two-stage model comprising nineteenth- CALLFSO R PAPERS 7
agreements with American publishers.
century dependent colonial status with no CALLFSO R CO~UTIONS 8
One of these factors seen to be contrib-
Australian literature or publishing to speak CONFEREVCES 9
uting to this huge export market is re-
of, succeeded by a twentieth-centuryi ndepen- AWARD&S F ELLOWSHIPS 10
dent Australian nation with its own literature searched in depth and detail by Graeme
Emrno~s 10
and publishers. But it was never quite so Johanson in his just publishedA Study of n
BOOKR EVIEWS
simple. Historian Luke Trainor from Coloniul Editions in Australid, 1843-1 972,
BIBLIOGRAPHY 15
Christchurch,N ew Zealand, offers a useful based on his Ph.D. thesis.' Johanson teaches
SHARP NEWOSF NOTE 16
theoretical formulation that applies post- library and information studies at Monash
SHARPEND 16
colonial concepts of cultural imperialism to University, Melbourne where, from 1976 to
Published by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, 2001 1
SHARP News, Vol. 10, No. 2 [2001], Art. 1
2 SPRING 2001 SHARP NEWVOSL . 10, NO. 2
That a good many of the novels issued authors whom Sutherland does not single
SHARP NEWS
in colonial editions and sold in the Austra- out but who may be similarly classified as
- - - - - lian colonies were stories of Australian life neither British nor Australian but as visitors,
ED~OR
may well be taken as evidence of an emerging temporary residents or permanent colonists.
Fiona Black
body of Australian literature and a develop- As a component of imperial fiction, the
School of Library and Info. Science
ing local taste for it. But that is only a small London-published Australian colonial titles
University of South Florida
part of the big picture. As we have seen, the are indubitablv art of the Victorian fiction
E-mail: [email protected] / 1
British products exported to the Australian business, and the particular circumstances of
MAILING ADDRESS: colonies included a quantity of books. In their production are worth a look.
While
45 10 Montague Street turn, the primary materials that the colonies literary biographies and reference
Regina, SK S4S 3K7 Canada provided for home manufacture were not books can serve to introduce such investiga-
only the obvious substances - wool, meat, tion, they generally deal with a novelist's life,
ASSOCIAETDEI TO&R BIBLIOGRAPHER
minerals - but also less tangible cultural literary work and reputation and, although
Linda Connors
matter, such as copy for the production of referring incidentally to publishing circum-
Drew University Library
im~eriafli ction. As cultural historians have stances, do not focus on and scrutinize
Madison, NJ 07940 USA I
discussed and general historian Norman author-publisher relations or a novel's
E-mail: [email protected]
Davies expounds in The Isles (19959, the publishing history. Substantive work in the
BOOKR EVIEWED ITORS rhetoric of empire, including the literary area of colonial literary production is coming
Ian Gadd imaginings of life on remote frontiers, was from scholarly editing projects, which entail
Pembroke College an integral part of the imperialist enterprise. original and probing research into the history
Oxford OX1 1DW LK Thus, it is argued, the dominance in late of composition, production and reception
E-mail: [email protected] Victorian times and at the apogee of imperial of designated titles, the results being
expansion, of the adventure novel and of incorporated into lengthy introductionsa s
Paul Gutjahr
stories set beyond the Isles. In a standard well & informing the textual editing.
Department of English
bibliography of Australian literature there are Proclaiming itself "the first series of critical
Indiana University
entries for more than 300 novels about editions of major works of the nation's
Ballantine Hall #442
1020 E. Kirkwood Ave. Australian life that were published in literature," among its wide range of forms
Bloomington, IN 47405 USA London during the later decades of the and periods the Academy Editions of
nineteenth century, representing some 100 Australian Literature includes the accepted
E-mail: [email protected]
authors. While London publication was the classics of colonial fiction, Henry Kingsley7s
MEMBERSHSIEPC RETARY
goal of many an aspiring colonial writer, 7be Recollections of Geofi Hamlyn (pub
Barbara Brannon
these fi-g ures do not, however, bear witness lished 1996), Marcus Clarke7sHisN atural Llfe
SHARP
to a superabundance of successful novelists and Rolf Boldrewood's Robbery Under Arms
University of South Carolina
down under (in fact, as readers' reports in the (these both forthcoming),a nd Catherine
P.O. Box 5816
Macdan archives can show, there were Martin's hitherto uncanonized An 14ustralidn
Columbia, SC 29250 USA
many who tried and failed). While some Girl (also in the pipeline). Unconstrained by
E-mail: [email protected]
fiction copy crossed the seas (discussed questions of canonicity but no less scholarly
ED~~ORAIASLSI STANT further below), much was written and in aim and execution, the Colonial Texts
Marni Chidsey supplied on the spot, as it were. Many of the Series, which began issuing titles in 1988 (the
School of Library and Info. Science authors of these novels seen to belong to bicentennial year!), comprises works of
University of South Florida the corpus of Australian colonial literature nineteenth-centuryf iction chosen "for their
E-mail: [email protected] also inhabit John Sutherland's pantheon of power to communicate a fuller and richer
Victorian fiction writers. These include understanding of Australia's colonial culture
visitors such as Henry Kingsley and Anthony than is otherwise available." The series
Trollope who each wrote two novels of includes novels by the well-recognized
Australia; sometime residents such as Francis authors Cambridge,C ouvreur and Martin
SHARP News (ISSN 1073-1725)i s the
Adams, Louis Becke the South Sea story- and the lesser-knownL ouisa Atlunson,
quarterly newsletter of the Society for the
writer, Guy Boothby the creator of Dr. Ernest Favenc, N. W. Swan and Mary Vidal.
History of Authorship, Reading and
Nikola, Jessie Couvreur who wrote as The General Editor of both series is Paul
Publishing, Inc.
"Tasma," Benjamin Farjeon, Nat Gould of Eggert, who is Director of the Australian
racing tale fame, Ernest Hornung the creator Scholarly Editions Centre and teaches in the
COPYD EADLINES
of Raffles, and Rosa Praed. Then there were School of English at the Australian Defence
March 1st June 1st
the more-or-lessp ermanently settled Force Academy in Canberra, while the editors
September 1st December 1st
colonists such as Rolf Boldrewood, Ada of individual volumes are widely dispersed
1 - Cambridge and Marcus Clarke. While some through Australia. The research associated
SHARP WEB:w ww.indiana.edu/ sharp
others are now just names, there are many with these and similar endeavors can
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/sharp_news/vol10/iss2/1 2
et al.: Volume 10, Number 2
SHARP NEWVS OL. 10, NO. 2
contribute new insights into the late Slade were both Melbourne booksellers, the tions yet to be explored. While providing
nineteenth-century operations of certain former also the only publisher of any size in some theoretical direction for com~rehend-
London publishing houses - Bentley, the Australian colonies, the latter also a I ing fiction commodification,i t is aI l imitation
I
Heinemann, Macmillan, and numerous lending library (known as "The Mudie's of of Norman Feltes' Litevdry Capitaland the
I
others. Melbourne" and the subject of Wallace Late Victoriun Novel (1993) that it makes no
Considered collectively, the London- Kirsop's paper given at the 2000 Annual reference either to serialization or to offshore
published late nineteenth-centuryA ustralian Seminar on the History of the British Book dealings, although it uses Walter Besant and
novels being republished as scholarly Trade). Based in London, with branches in Hall Caine, both internationallys erialized and
editions fit a typical pattern of publication - Australian colonial cities, Petherick ran the acclaimed late Victorian authors, as case
in London three-decker( at least into the early Colonial Booksellers' Agency and, by studies.
1890s) to single volume to cheap reprints arrangement with the primary publishers, One piece of recent Australian research
often accompanied by newspaper and/or from 1889-1894 brought out the Favourite has, however, broken some new ground in
periodical serialization and sometimes also and Approved Authors colonial editions the area of mass market fiction - not the
by American and Continental European series. As case studies, some of the scholarly triple-decker bestsellers but the unremarkable
editions. But there were differences. Some edition stories are little by little shedding romances turned out primarily or solely for
had been serialized in the Australian press more light on the actual procedures and syndicated serialization. Toni Johnson-
years before London publication (instead of finances of joint publishing arrangements. Woods (known to SHARPists for a confer-
book proofs being used as setting copy for That the research associated with scholarly ence paper in 1996 on the serializing of M. E.
more or less concurrent serial issue), and the editing projects is modifying received Braddon down under) teaches in the
texts were, as correspondence in the Bentley versions of Australian colonial literary history Department of English at the University of
and other publishers' archives attests, sent as may be detected in Elizabeth Webby's 7he Queensland where she recently completed her
paste-ups of clipped installments. The CzmMge Companion to Amridn Literatuw Ph.D. thesis about the long-running
degree of authorial control thereafter was far (2000). However, too often Australian literary AustrAan popular miscellany, theAustralian
less than as outlined in Allan Dooley's studies, book history and bibliography tend Journal (18 65-1962).' This periodical was
Author and Fnnter in Irioridn Enghnd to privilege fiction texts published between founded ostensibly to foster local writing,
(1992). If accepted, texts might then be the covers of books at the expense of but in fact for much of the nineteenth
edited quite considerably without reference to publication in periodicals to an extent that century almost half the novels published in
the authors who, subject to the tyranny of does a disservice to the flourishing literary it were from imported copy, many of the
distance, also were given no opportunity to culture of the colonial ~eriodT. his is titles having previously appeared in theNeze,
I
see proofs (the consequent variance between particularly true in relation to the late York Ledger, which, along with the London
original Australian serial and subsequent nineteenth-century serialization of fiction in Journal, Johnson-Moods shows to have been
English book texts being cause now for the newspapers. Elsewhere I have described a model for the Jouml. The authors include
critical editing!). In many cases the London general features of this prevalent phenom- Sylvanus Cobb Jr., Eliza Dupuy, Harriet
publishers, rather than the authors, arranged enon: the mix of local Australian offerings Lewis, Leon Lewis, Alfred Rochefort, all
for American and European editions as well and imported novels; the range from quality writers whose serial fiction was widely
as for English and Scottish serializations. It and bestseller to pulp fiction; the conditions syndicated among smaller country and
-
was probably a sense of powerlessness that from sole rights to wide syndication; the suburban papers throughout the Australian
drove Ada Cambridge in 1892 to engage A. P. provenance from individual authors to colonies. While Johnson-Woods does not
Watt as her literary agent, after Kipling had publishers to literary agents and to syndicat- investigate questions of provenance and
recommended him during Kipling's visit to ing bureaus; and the physical form in which syndication, being more concerned with
Melbourne in 189 1. She had written mainly the copy was procured - ranging from assessing the significance of the Australian
for Australian newspapers from 1872 to 1889 proof sheets to stereotype plates to part- fiction component of theAustralianJ ouml,
until her success with the Heinemann edition printed sheets to complete "supplements.'' she certainly opens up a new line of enquiry
of A Marked Man in 1890 established her, As yet, however, few details of the complex and one to be pursued, ~erhapst,h rough the
she said, as a "British author [and] no longer jigsaw have been put together. It is not papers of Robert Bonner (publisher of the
an Australian one in the press sense." possible to contribute an equivalent Austra- Ledger) held in the New York Public Library.
Noted by Johanson, but not dealt with lian dimension to the British serial fiction While the primary sources for research
in detail by him, London publishers not research published by Michael Turner some into serialization of imported and local
infrequently joined with Australian book decades ago and apparently added to by fiction are the files of newspapers and
- -
trade businesses in issuing colonial editions: Graham Law in his SerializingF iction in the magazines, the time-consuming scrutiny of
thus Bentley in 1885 with George Robertson Victorian Press, published late 2000, and to which may be repaid by the tiny but vital
to reissue Marcus Clarke's convict novel; and the American Agle presented by Charles clues encountered, author and title indexes to
Heinemann in 1891 with E. A. Petherick to Johanningsmeieri n fiction and the Amwican the serial fiction are critical for narrowing the
bring out Cambridge'sA Marked Man and Literary Marketplace (1997). As a phenom- field and focus and thus making projects
with Melville, Mullen & Slade The ThreeMiss enon of international reach, fiction serializa- viable. Hitherto, while there has been much
Kings. Robertson and Melville, Mullen & tion has large economic and cultural implica- such activity in Australia, it has mostly been
Published by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, 2001 3
SHARP News, Vol. 10, No. 2 [2001], Art. 1
4 * SPRING20 0 1 SHARP NEWVS OL. 10, NO. 2
--
uncoordinated. Promise of coordinated For investigating the Australian colonial 4NanB owman Albinski,A ustralian Literary
Internet access to a large number of separate component of the late Victorian fiction Manwmpts in North Amwicdn Libraries:
indexes is offered by the projected Gateway business, the Chadwyck-Healey microfilms A Gu& Canberra: Austrahan Scholarly
being developed for the AUSTLIT database of publishers' archives are a godsend to cash- Editions Centre and National Library of
maintained by the Australian Defence Force strapped antipodean researchers. Another Australia, 1997.
Academy library. If this comes to pass, access tool of great value is Nan Albinski's guide to
will be provided to listings of the Australian sources held in North America? Its primary
literary contents of numerous (but by no listing of Australian authors, publishers and
means all) nineteenth-centuryA ustralian agents includes entries for all major Austra-
To the Editor:
newspapers and magazines. But the Gateway lian colonial novelists and points to relevant
The Guest Comment on Smilla in
would have nothing to offer relevant to the archival material: publishers' business
SHARPN ews Vol. 10, No. 1 was very
study of Besant or Braddon or Caine or records, correspondence,p hotos, manu-
interesting, but I am not sure that the
countless other British novelists serialized scripts, etc. Especially valuable are the links to
different treatment in the British and
down under and thus be of very little help in the contents of the A. P. Watt archives at the
American English translations supports the
tracing individual arrangements, let alone New York Public Library and the University
commentary that follows. Since the transla-
arriving at some understanding of the scope of North Carolina, which had already been
tion published by the British Harvill Press
and implications of the serial fiction copy mined by Canadian bibliographer and
was "the text the way Hraeg and his Danish
export trade and its eventual consumption. publishing historian Elaine Zinkhan, who
publisher wanted it," it is not just a transla-
The few examples of comprehensive researches the overseas publication of
tion, it is also in a sense a second edition
nineteenth-centurys erial fiction indexes (that selected classic Australian authors. She used
revised by the author. The dropping of the
is, not restricted to Australian novels) include them to effect in relation to Ada Cambridge,
reference to "British commandos going to
mine to the Melbourne Age, published in the as witnessed in a BSANZ Bulletin article in
Indonesia" was not, I would guess, primarily
Book TrdHistory Group NmZetteyf orMarch 1993. She has also used them to speak and
related to the question of its translation.
1992 and Johnson-Woods' yet-to-be publish about Henry Lawson, that turn of
Despite the statement that "We may only
published one to a score or more major the century Australian icon seen as belonging
speculate about the reason for it being made,"
newspapers and magazines. to the period of literary nationalism that
a letter to the author or publisher might have
As attested by the activities of the supplanted the colonial writers and spoke
produced some illumination. One possibility
Australasian Victorian Studies Association through brand new Australian publishing
is that they felt that the observation would
(AVSA), Victorian Studies has a lively outlets. But Lawson was also subject to
produce adverse reactions from oversensitive
following in this part of the world. Another British opportunities and constraints, both
British readers. More probable, perhaps, is
indication of this are the Victorian Fiction before and after 1901. In some respects that
the possibility that, in reconsidering Srnilla's
Research Guides from the Department of date is an artificial historical marker, for
train of thought, it occurred to them that
English at the University of Queensland. dominant Anglo-Australian structures and
these particular French and British parallels
Some guides are author bibliographies - mechanisms were to persist at least until
were not the best examples of Europe
Jessie Fothergill, Edmund Yates, Margaret 1914, and were still forces to be reckoned
continuing to "empty out its sewers into the
Oliphant, and many more. Most of them, with until well after World Warn. However,
colonies," and also that something had gone
whether intentionally or not but in any case that is another story, and one on which in
badly wrong with the geography of these
disappointingly,d o not list Australian due course the projected three-volumeA
references. So far as I am aware, the Foreign
serializations, though undoubtedly these History of the Book in Australid will have
Legion was never sent to Korea: at the time
occurred. Those for the Anglo-Australian much to say.
of the Korean War it was extremely busy in
writers Francis Adams and Rosa Praed are NOTES
Indochina, up to the final battle of Dien
welcome and usefil exceptions. Some guides 'Graeme Johanson, A Study of Colonidl
Bien Phu. Nor can I think of an example of
are indexes to the fiction in certain English Editions in Australid, 1843-1 972.
British commandos being sent to Indonesia
periodicals -B elgraviu, Cassell's, PallM all Wellington, NZ: Elibank Press, 2000.
sometime before Smilla was published in
Magazine, and more, and one is edikingly (Sources for the History of the Book in
1992, but that may just be a failure of
surprised sometimes to come across writing Australia, no. 2.)
memory on my part. If the Korean reference
by an Australian author. Forthcoming in the 'Elizabeth Morrison, "Serial Fiction in
was retained in the French translation, I am
series is Graham Law's index to the fiction in Australian Colonial Newspapers," in
surprised that it has not been questioned.
the lllwtratedL ondon Nms and 7he Graphic. Liteyature in the Marketplace, ed. John 0.
As serialization arrangementsb etween 7he Jordan & Robert L. Patten. Cambridge In any case, military interventions,
Graphic and certain Austrahan newspapers are &New York: Cambridge Univelity however dubious they may seem, are hardly
known of, this particular guide may well Press, 1995, pp. 306-24. analogous to the former widespread
provide important leads for serial fiction 'Toni Johnson-Woods, "Beyond Ephemera: European practice of using colonies as
research here, and perhaps also for any The Australidn journal (1865-1962) as dumping grounds for undesirables. In short,
interested researchers in Canada and New Fiction Publisher." Ph.D. Thesis, I am suggesting that reviewing the text of
Zealand. University of Queensland, 1999. Smilla may have created an opportunity for
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/sharp_news/vol10/iss2/1 4
et al.: Volume 10, Number 2
SHARP NEWVSO L.1 0, NO. 2 SPRING20 01 5
rectifying some faulty drafting in the original. pre-1800 periodicals. In the mid-1950s, Libraries ofthe United States and Canudureveals
That is the sort of correction process that William Sutherland,J r., and Stewart Powell the broad scope Osborn envisioned for the
happens all the time in publishing regardless launched the effort at the University of Texas project. Additionally, Osborn's extant
of translations, e.g., when an American at Austin. Supplementingt he University's correspondence with his indexers (although
education or a paperback edition of a British own serial holdings, Sutherland and Powell containing few of his own letters) allows a
- - -
hardback is being prepared, and I question collected microfilms of periodicals from vague tracing of the project's development as
whether the Smilla example is all that American and British libraries, splicing it faced various hurdles in the indexing
resonant for translation studies. broken runs where necessary; compiled a process. Here also are found accounts of
thesaurus of eighteenthcentury terms to use work schedules, wages owed the indexers,
Angus Fraser
as a control language; produced preformatted apologies for protracted illnesses that held up
Kew, Surrey, England
cards for the indexing process; commis- progress, even some backbiting on the part
sioned the writing of a main frame computer of one indexer who denigrated the work
program for the database; made presenta- habits of another.
tions of their plans at a few annual meetings The indexing process required indexers
of the Modern Language Association, where to read every page of each periodical, and for
reformatted
volunteer indexers were enlisted; and, when each subject on a page, fill out a
all was ready, posted microfilms and indexing 4" x 6" index card by hand. These cards
materials to their volunteer indexers across recorded data for seven fields: subject,
From London to St. Louis: the Contents
the country. author, reprint data, title of periodical, date,
of Eighteenth-Century Periodicals
At first, the project seemed to go well. page reference, and the location of the copy
Submitted by James E. Tierney In fact, if I remember correctly from my visit of the periodical indexed. In pre-computer
University of Missouri-St.L ouis with Sutherland in Austin many years later, days, of course, Osborn's index was slated
Any serious scholar of early modern an index for periodicals from 1701 had been for hard copy publication, and consequently
British history and culture would warmly completed and entered into the database. the indexers also created elaborate webs of
welcome an index to the contents of the However, in time, forces beyond Suthlerland cross reference cards for each individual index.
age's periodicals. This vast resource of and Powell's control took their toll on the When World War II broke out and the
information reflects the entire spectrum of volunteers and ultimately caused the project's project was perforce concluded, this handful
contemporary culture -politics, religion, demise. The young indexers soon realized of British indexers had produced indexes for
social customs, science, medicine, business, that time spent indexing periodicals lead to well over two hundred periodicals. The cards
literature,t heater, the arts, even &ary little academic advancement or reputation, were shipped to Yale, each individual
recipes. and they began to put their priorities in periodical index packed in cardboard boxes-
Yet, this immense body of information, order. Remote from their far-flung indexers, the size of shoe boxes. With the shipping,
still extant in runs of more than a thousand the project directors could do littleto however, comes the tragic part of the story.
titles, remains largely untapped because of its influence the waning interest of their Years later, Osborn told this writer that many
inherent difficulty of access. No tool exists to workers. of the indexes went to the bottom of the
guide scholars to the subject of their interest The century's second effort to produce a Atlantic while en route to Yale, the victim of
in these hundreds of thousands of pages. periodical index had actually been the first. German torpedoes. At Yale, half of the
Even that marvelous modern achievement This project was the brainchild of the surviving indexes were eventually integrated
the English Short-T itle Catalogueis mute on eminent scholar/collector James M. Osborn, into a single alphabetical order. However, this
the subject: the ESTC can tell us where to of Yale (whose rare book and manuscript work was soon discontinued,p erhaps
find the periodicals, but it does not tell us collection would later become a major wing because, as Osborn also told me, the Internal
what is in them. Indeed the original publish- of the Beinecke Library at Yale). In the mid- Revenue Service had disallowed the deduc-
ers of some of the more popular, long- 1930s, Osborn hired a handful of young tion he had claimed for financing the project.
running publications periodically issued British scholars to index periodicals both in The remnants of Osborn's dream lay
indexes, and some modern scholars have the British Library and in the Bodleian untouched for almost thirty years in, as he
provided the same for a smattering of titles. Library at oxford, the two largest UK liked to call it, "the bowels of the Beinecke."
However, the vast majority of these publica- repositories of pre-1800 periodicals. Osborn At this point, the fate of the project was to
tions remain uncharted. Anyone wishing to selected the list of titles to be indexed, take a most unexpected turn. Knowing my
trace a subject through these periodicals must instructed his indexers in the process, work with periodicals, Osborn offered the
wade through them, page-by-page, regularly a supplied preformatted index cards, and the entire collection if I would do something
frustrating task because of the sheer bulk of project was launched. with it. Shortly after his death within the next
material. Some extant materials auxiliary to the year, a friend and I packed the 80,000 index
To address this regrettable situation, project provide interesting asides on the cards into his van and headed down Route
three visionary scholars of the last century work. For instance, the card file Osborn had 70 to St. Louis, where, ever since, the
undertook the mammoth task of producing created by cutting entries from a copy of the collection has been lodged in heavy file-card
this much-needed index to the contents of five-volume Union List of Sm'als in the cabinets in my home office.
Published by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, 2001 5
SHARP News, Vol. 10, No. 2 [2001], Art. 1
For better than twenty years, as time and computer, was transferred to a PC, and has Spectdtor from which it derives. The archive
funding have allowed, I have been trying to passed through a succession of software will be coded to enable users to study the
turn these cards into the periodical index Jim database programs over the years. The format and typography of all of these
Osborn had envisioned. Without a register processing of Osborn cards for entry into the periodicals by accessing digitized image files.
of the existing collection, the first major task database has likewise become complex and Users will be able to conduct complex
was to inventory the collection of cards, half time-consuming,p rimarily because it structured searches of this large corpus, and
of which were still in their original wrappings involves rereading the original periodical texts to access critical materials that elucidate the
as shipped from England in the 1930s. The in order to verify and supplement Osborn's works and the contexts of their production
inventory showed complete indexes to full data. and reception.
runs of 136 periodicals, almost complete Perhaps it is enough for present Ultimately, The Spectator Project will
indexes to another 20 titles, and very purposes to say that currently indexes to 69 function not only as a research instrument,
fragmented coverage of the remaining 49 periodicals (in various stages of completion) but also as tool for teaching, especially at the
titles. Although, from the outset, my own have been keyed into a Microsoft ACCESS graduate level. While there are a few editions
intention had been to supplement Osborn's database, a user friendly interface installed for of eighteenth-centuryp eriodicals on-line and
indexes by indexing all surviving British searching, and the entire database written to a in CD-ROM format, none have linked
periodicals from the age, practicahty required CD-ROM. Much more needs to be done to multiple periodicals together for the purpose
that the first stage of the project be limited complete the first stage of the project of studying their complex interrelation. And
to the 136 complete indexes and the (indexes for 156 periodicals), but I am happy the limits imposed on the study of these
completion of the twenty near-complete to report that all the systems are in place, and periodicals through reprint editions and even
indexes. a working product has been produced. Now, through primary documents are extensive.
At that point, two other phenomena major funding is needed to bring the index Reprint editions, including the definitive
making an impact on the academic world to full realization. edition of The Spectator, are often hardcover,
prompted major enhancements to both the s multi-volume series, and are often out-of-
content and the mode of future publication print, so they are rarely owned by scholars.
The Spectator Project:
of the index. Computerization of the index And book editions of periodicals are limited
A Hypermedia Research Archive of
and delivery of the data on individual in precisely those ways that inhibit the most
Eighteenth-Century Periodicals
desktops had become a real possibility. What interesting aspects of the scholarly work
is more, this new electronic mode was not Submitted by Joseph Chaves currently being done on them. Since very few
limited to the restrictions of the printed Rutgers University are facsimile editions, they do not reproduce
page: the entire database could be searched the periodicals' format or typography, and
The Spectator Project is an interactive
for any subject instantaneously. Although the they exclude elements of the originals (such
hypermedia environment for the study of
workload would be considerably increased by as advertisements)r egarded as extra-textual.
73e Tatler (1709-171I ), The Spectator (1711 -
making the transition to electronic mode, an Moreover, the kind of editorial appara-
1714) and the eighteenthcentury periodical in
affirmative decision was inevitable. tus that is possible in a book is imperfect for
general. The project was born of a collabora-
Second, about that time, a new scholarly demonstrating the level of imitation and
tive effort led by several Rutgers University
interest in publishing history had begun to appropriation that takes place between the
groups and organizations: the Center for
emerge. New societies, journals, and academic periodicals of Addison and Steele and those
Electronic Texts in the Humanities, the
programs concerned with every facet of periodicals that follow. Scholars studying
Group for Transatlantic Studies, and the
publishing history had begun to spring into original documents of eighteenth-century
Council for Literatures and Languages.
existence. It seemed irresponsible to produce periodicals (and particularly those scholars
The usefulness of a web-based environ-
an index to one of the principal media in the ment for the study of eighteenth-century working.. in national traditions other than
history of publishing without taking this English) may not be aware, for example, that
periodicals clustered around The Tatler and
burgeoning scholarly interest into account. a given passage imitates and alters a passage
The Spectatori nheres both in their innovative
Consequently, the next major transition in from The Spectator, and, of course, will not
character and their immense influence. The
the Osborn index was to elaborate its simple, have the guidance of an editorial apparatus.
format, style, and even the content of these
seven-field records into much larger records This last point is particularly important, as
periodicals were immediately and closely
that accounted for such data as the names of the reprinting of periodical essays in modern
imitated in hundreds of periodicals in
editors, the names and addresses of editions lags far behind scholarly interest in
Europe and the Americas. The Spectator
periodical publishers and printers, and the periodical. Even in scholarly editions,
Project will allow users to compare imitated
bibliographical accounts of periodicals, footnotes are limited in their capacity to
and imitating formats and passages of text
including their days and frequency of document the passages imitating Addison
through the means of hyperlinks. A
publication and their price. and Steele beyond reproducing a few lines of
The history of the project since it has footnote will appear, for example, in the text The Tatleror The Spectator. Our site will
been in St. Louis has been one of evolution, of Marivaux's Le Spectateurfiangais or Eliza assuage all of these difficulties.
but one too complex to detail in this space. Haywood's 7he FwleS pectator, and the user The database is drawn from Henry
The project was begun on a mainframe will click on it to bring up the passage in The Morley's 1891 edition of The Spectator (since
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/sharp_news/vol10/iss2/1 6
et al.: Volume 10, Number 2
SHARP NEWVSO L.1 0, NO. 2 SPRING20 0 1 7
its copyright has lapsed), and includes such as those of Hildegard of Bingen, process, we hope to open up what is often a
Morley's footnotes. The site is coded in Alfonso el Sabio, Brunetto Latino, Dante narrowly conceived list of Irish texts and
XHTML, runs javascript for the pop-up Alighieri, Birgitta of Sweden, and Christine authors to recent research in areas such as
notes, and has a search engine to allow de Pizan. An exhibition is planned for 2002 bibliography and book production, cultural
complex searches. The project runs on a of the illuminated manuscripts in the and social history, feminist studies of reading
Linux server in the Center for Electronic Biblioteca Riccardiana, such as Lucca's and reception, and the new British history.
Texts for the Humanities at the Alexander Hildegard von Bingen. This exhibition will
Questions to be addressed might include:
Library of Rutgers University. also include non-illustratedw orks such as the
To what extent and why has the Irish
We are developing an advisory board of Riccardian's Marguerite Porete, Arezzo's
novel become synonymous with the
literary scholars, cultural historians, and Egeria, as well as Siena's Birgitta of Sweden,
national tale of Ireland?
library personnel, from Rutgers and else- illuminated Revelationes,t ranslated into
How important is Ireland in the Irish
where, in order to discuss the challenging Italian by Catherine of Siena's disciple,
novel? Or in the British novel?W hat is
questions that the project raises, and to begin Cristofano di Gano.
gained - or lost - by placing the work
the editing of sections devoted to periodicals The meeting in 2003 will focus on the
of Irish novelists in relation to British
other than %e Tatler and %e Spectator. We printed books concerning Florence or written
and/or European literary and intellectual
hope to enter into further dialogue with here, such as John Milton, ParheL ost,
traditions?
scholars beyond Rutgers through our Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Cdsd Guzdi
How is a novel constituted as Irish?
listserv. We invite interested scholars to Windows and Aurora Leigh, Robert Browning,
Through character, setting, authorial
contact us: %e Ringand the Book, and Fyodor Dosteiv-
identity?I s there another way?
sky, 7he Idiot.
E-mail: [email protected] What difference has been made by the
Sponsors include the Biblioteca
Website: http://harvest.rutgers.edu/ recovery through bibliographic research of
Nazionale, the Biblioteca Laurenziana, the
projects/spectator hitherto obscure or unavailable novels
Biblioteca Riccardiana, and S.I.S.M.E.L. of
relating to Ireland?
the University of Florence.
Irish novelists and British publishing
Julia Bolton Holloway industry: do London and the metropoli-
Biblioteca Fioretta Mazzei tan publishing scene dominate the
Study Meeting on the City and the Book
Piazzale Donatello 38,50132 Florence Italy relationship between Ireland and the
Loca~Um: Florence, Italy E-mail:j [email protected] novel?W hat about connections with
Data 30 May - 1J une 2001 Websites: www.urnilta.net Scotland and Wales?
&dine: 15 April 2001 City and Book Congresses, 2001-2003: What part does Ireland play in British
The first of three International Study www.umilta.net/congress.html nineteenthcentury fiction?W hat factors
Meetings on the City and the Book concen- made Ireland (as opposed to, or perhaps
trates on the great European Bibles, the in conjunction with, other parts of the
Facts and Fictions: Ireland and
Silver and Gold Codices in Sweden, the British empire) avadable for representation
the Novel in the Nineteenth Century
Lindisfarne and Lichfield Gospels in in the British novel?
England, the Book of Kells in Ireland, the Locdtio~ Centre for Editorial and What is the history of British novels in
Bible in Icelandic, now returned to Iceland Intertextual Research, Ireland?
from Denmark, and the Codex Amiatinus in Cardiff University HOWm uch interaction was there between
the Laurentian Library, Florence, and on the Dam 14-16 September 2001 Irish and British novelists and their texts
pilgrim monks and even Vikings who i 27 April 200 1 (e.g., Charles Dickens's reading tours of
transported them. We welcome also papers What was the relationship between the Ireland, Thackeray's travels, Trollope's
on Europe's adoption of the Hebrew emerging national cultures of Britain and residence in Ireland)?
Scriptures, on Egeria, on Jerome, Paula and Ireland and the increasingly institutionalized Scenes of reading: what difference does the
Eustochium, on the shaping of our culture form of the novel in the nineteenth century? study of reviews, readers and reception
by the alphabet and the book. This conference invites papers which, history make?
The first year's conference will be held in rather than regarding "Ireland," "Britain" or Where do novels stand in relation to other
the Certosa, just outside Florence, following "the novel" as stable objects of knowledge, kinds of writing (eg,p amphlets, newspa-
its inauguration in the Sala dei Cinquecento will locate ideas of nationality within the pers, biographies,p opular histories)?
of the Palazzo Vecchio. An excursion is multiple contexts determining how fictions
Full details available on our website. Please
planned to the hermitages of two medieval were written, read and distributed in the
send abstracts (200 words maximum) to:
Irish pilgrims beyond Fiesole. The following nineteenth century.
years will include excursions to Vallombrosa, Our aim is to interrogate the concept of Jacquehe Belanger
Bello~~uardeotc,. the "Irish novel" through an exploration of Centre for Editorial & Intertextual Research
The meeting in 2002 will concentrate on the meanings of "Ireland" in nineteenth- PO Box 94, Cardiff University
the great illuminated European manuscripts century British and Irish writing. In the Wales CFlO 3XB UK
Published by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, 2001 7
SHARP News, Vol. 10, No. 2 [2001], Art. 1
8 SPRING 2001 SHARP NEWVOSL . 10, NO. 2
+
Telephone: [phone] of legal publication with presentations of Fax: [phone]
Fax: + 44 (0)29 2087 4502 new work and new projects in this area. E-mil:e [email protected]
E-mil:B [email protected]
If interested (and if willing also to offer a
Website: www.dac.uk~encap/ceir/factr lease
presentation or short paper) contact:
James Raven
Printing History: New Criteria Mansfield College Studies in Book and Print Culture
New Series from
LocdtUm: Readmg,UK Oxford OX1 3 7°F UK
University of Toronto Press
Data 11J anuary 2002
Mine: 1J une 2001 General Editor: Leslie Howsam, Depart-
Women Editing Periodicals
ment of History, University of Windsor
The Printing Historical Society and the
&dine. 1 August 2001 Advisory Board: Richard Landon (Thomas
Department of Typography & Graphic
Fisher Rare Book Library, University of
Communication will host a one-day For a collection of essays on Women
Toronto); Bill Bell (Centre for the History of
conference on the theme of the future of Editing Periodicals, to be edited by Ellen
the Book, University of Edinburgh);J ames
printing history. The Society hopes to open a Gruber Garvey and Sharon M. Harris we are
Raven (Faculty of Modern History, Oxford
debate about its commitment to the many interested in articles on American women
University);S ydney Shep psi-te-ata Press,
and varied recent developments in printing. periodical editors, 18th-20thc enturies, that
Victoria University of Wellington, New
go beyond biography. "Periodicals" may be
Issues that might be addressed include: Zealand).
conceived broadly, including magazines,
What is printing today? It is with great pride that University of
newspapers, women's editions, gift annuals,
Printing history in the eyes of fine and Toronto Press announces the founding of a
amateur press periodicals, children's maga-
other private printers new series, Studies in Book and Print
zines, zines, US-based publications in
Printing history as a field of research/its Culture. Edited by Leslie Howsam, this new
languages other than English, etc. We also
relationship to the history of the book series is both international and interdiscipli-
welcome papers about organizations of
Printing history, the web and other nary in scope. The series plans to acquire
women in the profession, connections
electronic resources manuscripts in literary history, historical
between publications, and editors who
Museum aspects of printing history bibliography, textual editing, studies of
worked on more than one publication.
Printing history in the universities authorship and publishing, and analyses of
The place of printing history in design and Essays might consider the following: reading, literacy, and print culture, amongst
printmaking histories Political programs of editors others. The first book in the new series will
Relationship of editing to writing and
be Whdt is Book History?E ssays in the
Speakers will have up to 45 minutes each.
other tasks
Emwgence ofa Disc@line,e dited by Bill Bell
Proposals of up to 2 pages should be
Collaborative nature of editing
and with a foreword by Roger Chartier.
submitted to the Conference Committee, via:
Power or lack of power of the editing role
University of Toronto Press is delighted to
Peggy Smith, Visibility or invisibility of the editor and
be working with Professor Howsam and the
Department of Typography & Graphic her work
series advisory board, and looks forward to a
Communication Women's editing for female or male
long and productive series that will be useful
The University of Reading readers
in advancing book and print culture studies.
2 Earley Gate Editor's relationship to her readers
University of Toronto Press has had a
Whiteknights,R eadmg RG6 6AU UK
Enquiries are welcome. Essays should long association with book and print history
Telephone: [phone]
be a maximum of 7,500 words, including through its acquisitions program, its
endnotes and Works Cited. Please submit association with the British Library, and with
two copies of your completed article, along a range of great editing projects at the
Cambridge Project for the Book Trust with a disk (compatiblew ith MS Word or University of Toronto, such as the Collected
New Colloquia WordPerfect) by the deadlme, to: Works of Erasmus and the Conference on
Editorial Problems. University of Toronto
Locdtion: London, UK Sharon Harris
Press is also pleased to be the publishers for
Dam 8 September 2001 Department of English
the English edition of the History of the
TCU Box 297270
This is a preliminary notice to alert ~ookC anada project currently underway.
Fort Worth, TX 76129 USA
SHARP members to the first in a new series
Initial enquiries about manuscript submis-
of one-day informal colloquia (to be held
sion should be directed to:
about every 6 months), sponsored by the Ellen Gruber Garvey
Cambridge Project for the Book Trust: Department of English Kristen Pederson
Saturday, 8 September in London (exact New Jersey City University Editor, Humanities
venue yet to be confirmed)," Publishing the 2023 Kennedy Blvd. University of Toronto Press
Law" - considering aspects of the history Jersey City, NJ 07305-1 597 USA 10 St. Mary Street
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/sharp_news/vol10/iss2/1 8
et al.: Volume 10, Number 2
SHARP NEWVSO L. 10, NO. 2
Toronto, ONM 4Y 2W8 Canada Europe, America and beyond. Papers dealing 1 (www.c-span.org/about/bpl.asp), Brian
Fax: [phone] with the prehistory or late history of the 1 Lamb will present "Notes on Book
E-mail:k [email protected] circulating library are also welcome. Notes," his interview program (www.
Leslie Howsam For further information: , booknotes.org/navigation.asp)w ith
authors on any and every subject, featured
Department of History
Angela Wright every weekend on "Book TV."
University of Windsor
English Department Andrk Schiffrin, who founded and
Windsor, ONN 9A 3B4 Canada
Sheffield Hallam University directs the nonprofit publishing house
Collegiate Campus The New Press (www.thenewpress.com)
Sheffield S1 0 2BP UK after twenty-eight years as editor-in-chief
E-mail:A [email protected] of Pantheon Books at Random House,
Website: www.shu.ac.uk/corvey/news will offer views from his recently published
Remembering Don McKenzie irhe Business ofBooks: How the International
Loa~ion: National Library of New SHARP 2001 Ninth Annual Conference Cmglomwi Took OzmP ubl&ingand
Zealand, Wellington, New Changed the Way We Redd (Verso Books,
Zealand Loc&m: Richmond and Williamsburg, 2000).
Dates 12-1 4 July 200 1 Virginia, USA Novelist (irhe Fmta, Vox) and critic (U
Daa: 19-22J uly 200 1 and I, The Size of Thoughts) Nicholson
A conference organized by the History
The Ninth Annual Conference of the Baker has gained a wide readership for his
of Print Culture in New Zealand in associa-
Society for the History of Authorship, fierce criticisms of the library profession in
tion with the Stout Research Center, Victoria
Reading, and Publishing is being hosted by the United States and Great Britain. He
University of Wellington and the Alexander
the Library of Virginia (www.lva.1ib.va.u~) will expand on this perspective in a talk on
Tumbull Library.
and the Virginia Center for the Book "libraries and the assault on paper," the
This conference will commemorate the
(www.lva.lib.va.us/about/center/index.htm) subtitle of his forthcoming book, Double
work of Don McKenzie and will feature
located in Richmond, and by the American Fold. Libranisand theAssdult on Paper
speakers from the LK, Australia, the US, and
Studies Program and the Earl Gregg Swem (Random House, 2001). Baker recently
France.
Library of the College of William and Mary founded the American Newspaper
-
If you are interested in finding out more in Williamsburg (www.wm.edu). Repository (www.gwi.net/ dnb/
about this important seminar, contact: Convening in the historic capital of the newsrep.htm1) to preserve some 7,000
Susan Bartel Virginia colony and the contemporary capital bound volumes of US newspapers from
Alexander Tumbull Library of the twenty-firstc entury state, the confer- the nineteenth and twentieth centuries he
PO Box 12-349 ence will span the centuries of book history, rescued from dispersal and potential
with some 44 sessions and 160 papers destruction after the British Library put
Wehgton NZ
Telephone. [phone] dealing with the creation, diffusion, and them up for sale.
Fax: [phone] rece~tiono f the written or minted word in Books, libraries, and reading will provide
I I
E-mail:s [email protected] all parts of the globe and from the age of entertainment as well as instruction at
Gutenberg to the present. A variety of SHARP 2001:
sessions will feature the conference sub- The conference will play host to "The
Print Culture in the Age of the theme, "Books and Libraries in the New Book Guys" (www.b ookguys.com), a
Circulating Library, 1750-1 850 Millennium." With every aspect of commu- syndicatedp rogram carried on numerous
nications undergoing change in the electronic
Loa~iun: Gronigen and Sheffield Hallam public radio stations. Conducted by rare
age, the SHARP meeting offers an occasion
Universities, Sheffield, UK book dealer Allan Stypeck and broadcaster
to reflect on the present and future condition
Dattx 19-22 July 2001 Mike Cuthbert, "The Book Guys" offer
of the print medium.
on-air appraisals of books, rare and
Speakers include Isobel Armstrong,
Several guest speakers prominent in the commonplace, in response to questions
Peter Garside,J ane Moore, James Raven,
world of books will highlight the conference: from listeners and from studio audiences,
Cldford Siskin, Christopher Skelton-Foord, add
Lawyer, screenwriter, bestselling and based on those queries, range far and
Wi1 Verhoeven, and Edward Jacobs.
authbr of suspense thrillers (~bsolse
wide over the field of book publishing
The title of the conference highlights
Power, saving~ aitha)n d most recently of
and collecting. For SHARP 2001, the
one key aspect of the material culture of
Wish You Well (Warner Books, 2000), a
print - circulating libraries - as a means family drama set in 1940s Virginia, David program will focus on the historical
of raising broad questions about the Baldacci (www.david-baldacci.com)w ill interests of conference participants, who
relationship between writing and changes in open the conference in Richmond with a are invited to bring with them books
production, dissemination and reception. We tdk on writing for the mass market. about which they have special knowledge
welcome papers on all aspects of print Founder and Chief Executive Officer of and that they would like to discuss with
culture at this time in Britain, continental the cable television network C-SPAN Stypeck and Cuthbert on the air.
Published by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, 2001 9