Volume 22, Number 3 - University of Massachusetts Amherst

17 Pages·2015·0.48 MB·English

SHARP News
Volume 22|Number 3 Article 1
Summer 2013
Volume 22, Number 3
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et al.: Volume 22, Number 3
SHARP N
ews

Volume 22, Number 3 Summer 2013
with tempera, silver, and burnished gold leaf catalog featuring most of the objects in the
e R
xhibition eviews
on sumptuous vellum measuring 35 x 25 cm. cases and color reproductions of the illu-
The tome consists of 400 folios, 3 full-page minated and illustrated leaves of the missal.
illuminations, and 31 historiated initials, some Lengthy articles expand upon the exhibition
more lavish than others. A reproduction of for visitors who want to know more about
The Caporali Missal:
the colophon, written in red, is prominently the missal and artists, the church, and the
A Masterpiece of Renaissance
displayed on the wall accompanied by a trans- community. Essays include a history of the
Illumination literation and translation of the Latin text. missal, an extensive biographical sketch of
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio To the left of the missal are pages from the Caporalis, an account of the Franciscan
17 February – 2 June 2013 two volumes of the Antiphonary of the Ab- order in an historical and cultural context,
bey of San Pietro, Perugia, illuminated by and a history of the church and convent of
Can a museum create an exhibit and cata- Giapeco Caporali, displayed in horizontal San Francesco, Montone. Seventeen of the
log around one object? In a lower gallery of cradles. Extant straps and clasps hang from objects are featured in the catalog along with
the Cleveland Museum of Art, the sparkling the boards and bosses poke from board edges. full page descriptions followed by reproduc-
exhibition revolving around the Caporali The boards themselves are not visible to the tions of the illuminated pages and letters
Missal is an affirmative answer. Purchased by viewer. With the horizontal positioning of from the missal.
the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2006, the the Antiphonaries, it is difficult for visitors Historians of the book, the page, and il-
Caporali Missal was written and illuminated to imagine monks or choirs using these huge lumination will find this vibrant exhibition of
by Bartolomeo Caporali (c.1420-c.1505) and tomes to chant the service. Next, the visitor a renaissance manuscript visually stimulating,
his brother Giapeco (d.1476), who painted views panels or icons from the same period balanced by the captions and the essays in the
the marginal and floral designs, for the Fran- painted by the Caporalis for nearby Italian catalog. The Caporali Missal is an exquisite
ciscan community and church in Montone, churches. The luxurious blues and reds vie for reminder that elaborate manuscripts were
near Perugia, Italy. attention with the generous amount of gold created and used during the incunabula pe-
Stephen N. Fliegel, curator of medieval leaf. The opposing wall holds vestments and riod and for many centuries to come.
art, brought together liturgical books and ritual objects for use in church services. The
panels scribed and illuminated by the Caporali final wall of the exhibition contains full size Miriam Kahn
brothers, vestments, a chalice, and other mis- reproductions of the elaborately illuminated Kent State University, Ohio
sals from the same period and area of Italy and designed vellum leaves. All these illumi-
from the museum’s vast holdings in medieval nated images are available for the visitor to Stephen N. Fliegel. The Caporali Missal: A Mas-
art, while borrowing others from churches study in full-size reproductions on the back terpiece of Renaissance Illumination. Cleveland:
and museums in Umbria. Visitors entering wall of the gallery, in the catalog, and on the Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. 131p. ISBN
the gallery encounter images of the landscape exhibit website. 9781935294122. (paper). US $24.95. <http://
and buildings of Umbria and Perugia, Italy. At On a short wall facing the reproductions www.clevelandart.org/events/exhibitions/capo-
first hidden from view, the missal sits in a large are five images illustrating the illumination rali-masterpiece-renaissance-illumination>
case behind fabric photographs of the church process, from scraping hide to make vellum to
for which the sacred book was hand-written the final stage of painting. The case below is
and illuminated. The missal is surrounded by filled with tools needed by the craftsmen. The Contents
pages, books, other contemporary missals, illuminated manuscript examples, produced
ritual objects, and paintings, most written out by Stephen Otlowski, follow the process of
and illustrated by the Caporalis. These objects writing, illumination, and painting. Tools in- exhibition Reviews 1
represent the church services, both Temporale clude quills, knives, and burnishing tools for book Reviews editoR 3
and Sanctorale. the gold leaf. This small case is an excellent shARP offiCeRs 3
The missal, which is a guide to the order of introduction to manuscripts, perfect for teach- book Reviews 6
readings within the service and the calendar, ing school children and scholars alike about exhibition Reviews Cont. 9
was finished in 1469. The leaves of the missal this complex craft. ConfeRenCe Reviews 10
are held open in an elaborate horizontal cradle The magnificent illuminated manuscript AwARds 13
that hides the binding. While the text is writ- is described, analyzed, and contextualized in sCholARshiPs 15
ten using black ink, illuminations are painted an online exhibit and a 132-page exhibition bibliogRAPhy 16
Published by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, 2013 1
SHARP News, Vol. 22, No. 3 [2013], Art. 1
2 c summeR 2013 shARP news vol. 22, no. 3
Murder in the Library Library and available from the bookshop.
shARP n
ews An A–Z of Crime Fiction Several queens of crime are listed, including
Agatha Christie, Margery Allyingham, Doro-
The British Library, London
editoR 18 January – 12 May 2013 thy L. Sayers and Josephine Tey.
Low lighting, engaging colours, original
Sydney Shep, Wai-te-ata Press
books and just the right amount of informa-
Victoria University of Wellington One in three novels published in English
tion on each of the individual entries, the
PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand 6140 falls into the broad category of crime fic-
exhibition makes for easy reading. As with
[email protected] tion. Illustrated with books from the British
some plot twists in this genre, the technology
Library’s collection, this abecedarian exhibi-
editoRiAl AssistAnts - 22.3 intended to add a sound dimension failed. At
tion reveals the historical development of
Sara Bryan, Ya-Wen Ho the time of visiting, we were unable to hear
the genre while showcasing authors, editions,
Publication Assistants, Wai-te-ata Press Agatha Christie explaining her working sys-
film tie-ins, and sub-genres. The alphabetic
tem, or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, recorded in
theme starts with A for Agatha Christie (who
Review editoRs outsells Shakespeare), passes by C for Clues, the year of his death, talking about Sherlock
Fritz Levy, Books – Europe Holmes, or Raymond Chandler talking to Ian
represented by two packs of realia offering
University of Washington, WA, USA Fleming in 1958. Other dimensions that were
clues for reader detectives to solve the crime,
[email protected] missing include evidence of the contempo-
and, past intervening letters, to G for the
Millie Jackson, Books – Americas rary reception of these stories. However, the
Golden Age of detective stories between the
University of Alabama, AL, USA tightly focused exhibition reminds us to renew
two World Wars. N is for Nordic Noir and O
[email protected] our acquaintance with perennial favourites
for Oxford’s academic murders solved by the
Susann Liebich, Books –Australasia/Pacific ready for our summer reading.
police detective Morse. In a series of colour-
James Cook University, QLD, AUS ful small cases, the exhibition continues on to Sally Hughes
[email protected] the end of the alphabet with Z for The Tokyo Oxford Brookes University, UK
Abhijit Gupta, Books – South Asia
Zodiac Murders (2004) by the Japanese author
Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India Soji Shimada. c
[email protected]
Some enthusiasts find evidence of the
Lisa Pon, Exhibitions
start of crime and fiction in the Bible story of
Southern Methodist University, TX, USA American Little Magazines of
Susannah and the Elders, but more clues point
[email protected] the 1890s: A Revolution in Print
to Edgar Allen Poe’s locked rooms, ineffective
Katherine Harris, E-Resources
police and a brilliant detective in The Murders The Grolier Club, New York
San Jose State University, CA, USA in the Rue Morgue (1841) as the first use of 20 February – 27 April 2013
[email protected]
these perennial crime fiction devices. Locked
bibliogRAPheR rooms where the victim is dispatched or the This beautiful collection of little maga-
Meraud Ferguson Hand murderer departs from a room that offers zines, often referred to as “fadazines,” “din-
Oxfordshire, UK no obvious means of escape warrant further keys,” and “freak magazines,” subtly reflects
[email protected] attention under the letter L. The Hollow Man the decline in our current print media. Dubbed
(1935) is presented as the best ’locked room’ as “protest literature” and equated with today’s
mystery of all time. Featuring the fat detective blogs, these magazines were meant to criticize,
Dr. Gideon Fell, Dickson Carr’s story refer- mock, and double-check what the mainstream
subsCRiPtions ences The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1907) by was publishing. This analogy easily extends
The Johns Hopkins University Press Gaston Leroux, who is better known for his into a larger cyclical pattern on the rise and
Journals Publishing Division later novel, The Phantom of the Opera, as the fall of media forms, or, as my friend who
PO Box 19966, Baltimore, best detective story ever written. spent her career in news magazines puts it:
MD 21211–0966 Crime fiction features women as writers “Magazines explode on to the scene. A few
[email protected] and characters. The ’mother’ of the modern hundred more follow. Editors have nervous
c detective story is Anna Katherine Green with break-downs. Industry collapses. You know,
her novel Murder Most Genteel (1878), an imme- same old story.”
SHARP News [ISSN 1073-1725] is the quarterly
diate success. In later books, she creates two Designed as a direct contrast in size and
newsletter of the Society for the History of Author-
women dectectives, Miss Amelia Butterworth, message to the larger, glossier, popular maga-
ship, Reading and Publishing, Inc.. The Society takes
a spinster, and Violet Strange, a debutante zines that were rising up in the late 1800s,
no responsibility for the views asserted in these
and sleuth, both forerunners of Miss Marple. these literary works in the exhibit American
pages. Copyright of content rests with contribu-
Women as lead characters range from V. I. Little Magazines of the 1890s: A Revolution in
tors; design copyright rests with the Society. Set
Warshawski, the American ballsy detective Print at The Grolier Club in New York re-
in Adobe Garamond with Wingdings.
created by Sara Paretsky, to Mrs. Paschal, the mind us that there is always a need in society
CoPy deAdlines: 1 March, 1 June,
star of Revelations of a Lady Detective (c. 1870) to counter how we get our information. The
1 September, 1 December
who removes her crinoline to climb a lad- title is apt – revolution in print is what the
shARP wEB: der. This nineteenth-century book is one of avant-garde does best, providing the common
http://sharpweb.org several published as facsimiles by the British man with information beyond the typical
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shARP news vol. 22, no. 3 summeR 2013 d 3
sleek and chic presentation of basic news the University of Delaware, the University of research assistance for the Cambridge Uni-
and entertainment. Once the idea to provide Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Delaware versity Press edition of Jonathan Swift’s
alternative criticism to mainstream literary Art Museum, and the Grolier Club itself, as Journal to Stella. I have recently taken courses
activity caught on, presses, writers, and artists well as from various private collectors who on ‘Analytical Bibliography’ and ‘Scholarly
popped up all over the country. were kind enough to release works for the Editing’ at the University of Virginia’s Rare
This exhibit tracks the rise of these maga- exhibit. Book School, and in May 2013, I attended
zines in America, based on their European Seeing this display calls to mind somewhat the Reanimating Playbooks symposium at the
influence in the late 1800s from journals such modern attempts to keep this physical format Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-
as Yellow Book and Le Chat Noir. On display alive, among them Andre Codrescu’s Exquisite Avon, at which I gave a short talk on the
were the works and influences of Gelett Corpse, a lit mag started in 1980s that, when lineation of Rowley’s When You See Me.
Burgess, Thomas Mosher, Elbert Hubbard, in print, was a taller, thinner format of the
and Will Bradley, with a few publications from typical journal style, designed to be read on
Stone and Kimball Publishing and England’s the subway where space is minimal and where shARP offiCeRs
William Morris’s Kelmscott Press. The exhibit the common man spent much time. (Now
clearly points out that the goal of these little the Corpse is online and spoofs The New
magazines was to included everyone. Writers York Times format.) Though we may fear the Congratulations to the new and returning
such as Stephen Crane, Rudyard Kipling, Kate transformation of the printed word to online, officers whose positions were confirmed
Chopin, and many others appeared in The the question is not, “Will words survive?” but in the recent SHARP nomination process.
Germ, The Lark, The Savoy, The Butterfly, The “How will they evolve?” After viewing this We enclose the biographies they submitted
Chap-Book, The Philistine, Papyrus, The Philoso- display, I had a futuristic vision, perhaps 80 below.
pher; the list goes on, but the message is clear years in time, of bibliophiles visiting an exhibit Many thanks to our nominating com-
– these little magazines served all. of laptops on display with online lit journal mittee for overseeing this process: Carole
Mosher, Hubbard, and Bradley were issues pulled up, considering how quaint that Gerson, Patrick Leary and James Raven.
showcased as emerging participants early in writing history was, how that era was just a
the development process. Mosher, a forerun- blip in time for whatever becomes the next President
ner in American printing presses, produced literary scene. Ian Gadd, Professor of English Litera-
The Bibelot, which had a volume on display. A Elizabeth S. Leik ture, Bath Spa University, UK.
copy of Hubbard’s The Philistine: a Periodical Goucher College, Baltimore, MD I have been involved with SHARP for
of Protest and other printings from his famed almost two decades, posting my first message
Roycroft Press explained a printing style and to SHARP-L in April 1995, and attending my
color altered from Kelmscott’s to make an b R e first SHARP conference a few months later.
ook eviews ditoR
American distinction. Hubbard also devel- Since then, I have served the Society in four
oped the Arts and Crafts movement with his official capacities: as the European Book
Roycrofters community. A warm welcome to our newest European Reviews Editor for SHARP News from 2000
Bradley’s collection included covers for Book Reviews Editor, Joanna Howe, who is to 2006, as Recording Secretary from 2003
The Chap-Book and Collier’s Weekly issues, as assuming the role after the departure of our to 2009, as co-organiser of SHARP’s annual
well as his early publication Bradley: His Book. longstanding editor Fritz Levy. Here’s a bit of conference in 2008, and as Vice President
His Collier’s Weekly cover featured a British her background: since 2009. My bibliographical and book
soldier standing next to a cannon with fire- historical credentials include my appoint-
works in the background; the red, white, and From September 2007 to September 2008, ment as a volume editor for the forthcom-
blue color choice representing both countries. I worked as an editor at The History Press ing History of Oxford University Press, and as
Beyond the written word, the beauty of this (previously Tempus Publishing) and contin- a General Editor of The Cambridge Edition of
work lies in its flowing yet detailed graphics ued to work for the company as a freelance the Works of Jonathan Swift; I have also run the
on each magazine’s cover. editor until May 2010. During this time, I also HoBo: History of the Book @ Oxford website
The curator of this exhibit, Dr. Kirsten worked for BBC Audiobooks as a freelance since 1996.
MacLeod, Lecturer in English Literature, proofreader. I completed a BA (Hons) in Eng- SHARP’s success depends on the tireless
from the School of English Literature, Lan- lish Literature at Bath Spa University in 2007 work of colleagues on the Executive Council,
guage and Linguistics, Newcastle University, and an MRes in English in 2009. In January the wise counsel of our Board of Directors,
England, deserves great credit for acknowl- 2010, I began my Ph.D., a critical edition of and the enthusiasm and commitment of the
edging these various publications. For the Samuel Rowley’s When You See Me, You Know Me membership more broadly; in many ways a
short-lived span they existed, these little (first published in 1605), for which I received President’s primary role is to ensure that we
magazines touched all levels of writers and a full AHRC doctoral scholarship in October are all moving in approximately the same di-
artists; two books displayed at the start of that year. I currently co-teach a first-year rection. However, as SHARP enters its third
the exhibit – L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of undergraduate course, Writing, Gender and decade and faces new opportunities and chal-
Oz and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening – verify Politics, 1500–1750. Since November 2008, lenges, I believe we need to assess our priori-
this influence. Dr. MacLeod pulled these I have been employed as a research assistant ties and ambitions as an organisation. Here,
materials from the collections of libraries at for the History of Oxford University Press project our greatest asset is our diversity – whether of
Columbia University, Princeton University, and from June to October 2010, I provided discipline, profession, nation, or intellectual
... / 4
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approach – and few other scholarly societies For more information about specific projects, Martyn Lyons, Emeritus Professor in His-
can draw on a similar breadth of experience or please visit <http://jasonensor.com/>. tory & European Studies, University of New
expertise to help them as they move forward. South Wales.
We are about to begin a year-long period of Board of Directors I have published many works on the his-
open cogitation and consultation with the Anne E. B. Coldiron, Professor of tory of the book and the history of reading
membership, an opportunity for serious and English, History of Text Technologies, and and writing practices in nineteenth- and
frank discussion and debate that, I hope, will Affiliated Faculty in French, Florida State twentieth-century France, Western Europe,
set the agenda for the Society’s activities for University. and Australia. I was co-editor of, and a
c
the coming decade, and that will decide the My research treats late-medieval and major contributor to, A History of the Book
best ways for us to support book historical early modern translation, transnational in Australia, 1891-1945: A National Culture
scholarship across the globe. I hope you will book history, and textual studies (selected in a Colonised Market (2001) and wrote the
join with myself and my colleagues as we seek papers, <http://fsu.academia.edu/Anne nineteenth-century chapter for A History of
to ensure that SHARP continues to be nimble, Coldiron>; short c.v., <http://english.fsu. Reading in the West, eds. G. Cavallo & R. Chart-
lively, and prosperous. edu/faculty/acoldiron.htm>). Currently a ier (1999). My latest books are A History of
SHARP member, daily list-reader, and oc- Reading and Writing in the Western World (2010)
Vice President casional conference-session speaker, I would and The Writing Culture of Ordinary People in
Sydney Shep, Senior Lecturer in Print & bring to the SHARP board my closely related Europe, c.1860–1920 (2013). A fellow of the
Book Culture and The Printer, Wai-te-ata service experience: editorial board, Arch- Australian Academy of the Humanities and
Press at Victoria University of Wellington, Book (<http://archbook.ischool.utoronto. a past president of the Australian Historical
New Zealand. ca/archbook/index.php>); advisory board, Association, I am on the editorial boards of
She has been a dedicated SHARP-iste Tudor-Stuart Translations Series (MHRA, Book History and Mémoires du livre. I have been
since 1997, and served the organization in UK); MLA book prize committee member a member of SHARP since 1993 and gave a
various roles including Editor of SHARP and chair; 10+ years of judging fellowship/ keynote lecture at the Helsinki conference
News (2003–present), regional conference grant proposals. Like SHARP, these groups in 2010. Together with Jean-Yves Mollier, I
organizer (2005), website redesign com- work to promote excellent scholarship while organized the international conference on
mittee (2009–10), and Board of Directors enhancing a collegial community. About L’histoire du livre et de l’édition in Sydney in
(2009–2015). As an ex-officio member of SHARP’s future: I would seek an alert, mov- 2005. A member of SHARP’s new transla-
the Executive Committee, Sydney is familiar ing balance, attending to (1) members’ wishes, tions committee, I fully support the current
with the key issues shaping the present and (2) the global and the interdisciplinary, (3) move to ‘internationalise’ SHARP and would
future of the organization as it moves into material-textual pasts and digi-futures alike, seek to push SHARP further in this direction.
its third decade. She is dedicated to extend- while maintaining focus on our core purpose, My proposal for a panel on scribal culture at
ing SHARP’s global and multilingual reach, the history of authorship, reading, and pub- the Congrès international des sciences historiques
fostering exchange and collaboration between lishing. Finally, I’d insist that scoundrels like (CISH) in China in 2015 has been accepted,
scholars whether they be established book me pay our dues on time. and I hope to boost SHARP’s presence at this
historians or emerging digital humanists, and important global event.
maintaining SHARP’s reputation as a dynamic Michael Everton, Associate Professor
community cutting across disciplinary divides of English, Simon Fraser University, BC, Ruth Panofsky, Professor of English,
and embracing converged economies of Canada. Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.
practice. I work in the fields of eighteenth- and She teaches Canadian Literature and Cul-
nineteenth-century American print culture, ture, specializing in publishing history, author-
Director of Electronic Resources particularly publishing and intellectual prop- publisher relations, and textual scholarship.
Jason Ensor. erty. My publications include The Grand Chorus Her recent publications include The Literary
I am currently the Social Media Liaison of Complaint: Authors and the Business Ethics of Legacy of the Macmillan Company of Canada: Mak-
officer for SHARP. I have a bachelor’s degree American Publishing (Oxford UP, 2011) and ing Books and Mapping Culture and The Force of
and three postgraduate degrees in humanities articles in Early American Literature, Legacy, and Vocation: The Literary Career of Adele Wiseman.
fields; a record of professional presentations ESQ, and I’ve held research fellowships at the Currently, she is preparing a SSHRC-funded
and publications in the field of Print Culture American Antiquarian Society and the Hun- study of women in English-language book
Studies; demonstrated proficiency and flu- tington Library. I teach in my department’s publishing in Canada, 1900–2000. A member
ency with several technologies commonly M.A. Specialization in Print Culture, a program of SHARP since its inception and a participant
used in digital humanities and digital history I coordinated 2008–11. Thus far my partici- in SHARP conferences as presenter and panel
projects (such as database design and devel- pation in SHARP has been limited to giving chair, she would like to boost her involvement
opment, DCMI-encoding, and GIS); experi- papers (2013, 2009, 2007), but I look forward with SHARP by joining its board of direc-
ence deploying information technology tools to doing my part to keep SHARP a vital and tors. Moreover, as a long-time member of
and services in my own research; hands-on relevant organization. I’m especially interested the Bibliographical Society of Canada and a
expertise in all aspects of print and digital in continuing the work to further ‘internation- recent council member, she foresees welcome
publishing; and am publisher for the inde- alize’ SHARP membership and in finding ways opportunities to mount joint initiatives and
pendent Australian academic press Network to take more public stands on issues affecting conference panels that would link the con-
Books (<http://networkbooks.com.au/>). universities and libraries worldwide. stituencies of SHARP and the BSC.
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shARP news vol. 22, no. 3 summeR 2013 d 5
Re-elected Officers high priority of mine, especially the creation things, a translation project into and from
Treasurer of a more sophisticated member interest English, Spanish, and Chinese languages,
Jim Wald. Professor of Modern European database. among others. Regional officers are contrib-
Cultural History, Hampshire College (Am- A member of SHARP since 1993, I spe- uting to a database on regional activities and
herst, Massachusetts); Chair of the Board cialize in British literature and culture of the they will hold their first plenary session on
of Directors, Massachusetts Center for the long eighteenth century, postcolonial fiction, internationalism at SHARP 2013. I believe
Book (Boston). and the history of manuscript, print, and we have made fantastic progress but I am
I have been a member of SHARP for digital cultures. I established and now serve also acutely aware of how relatively limited
about a decade and a half and have served as as the director for the West Chester University that progress is. SHARP has a wonderfully
Treasurer since 2003. The duties of the Trea- Center for Book History. strong backbone. Because of that, it can, as
surer as defined in the Constitution – receiv- a society, take a life-preserving step further
ing, managing, and reporting on funds – are Recording Secretary towards becoming genuinely and represen-
just the essential practical tasks. The larger role Corinna Norrick-Rühl, a German-Ameri- tatively global and I would very much like to
of the Treasurer is to facilitate the strategic can book historian employed as a research and help in those next steps.
vision and initiatives arising from the delibera- teaching associate at the Gutenberg-Institute
tions of the Executive Council (EC). for Book Studies in Mainz (MA in English Director for Publications and Awards
In recent years, we have helped move Literature and Book Studies in 2009, Ph.D in Claire Squires, Director of the Stirling
SHARP into a new phase of institutional Book Studies in 2013). Centre for International Publishing and
maturity befitting its growing influence and She is SHARP’s Regional Liaison for Communication at the University of Stir-
recognition. We succeeded in putting our Germany and is committed to increasing ling, UK.
finances on a more sustainable footing by membership in German-speaking countries She has been SHARP’s Director for
entering into a partnership with Johns Hop- (for instance through a SHARP-sponsored Publications and Awards since 2009. She
kins University Press for the management of network conference in Freiburg in May). also serves on the Editorial Committee of
membership and publications. As a result, we In June 2012, she took over the office of the Open Library of the Humanities, a new
have been able to undertake new initiatives pro tempore Recording Secretary. Her newest UK-based open access arts and humanities
– modernization and complete redesign of SHARP-related project is working closely with publisher. Her ambitions for the role of
our website, financial support for regional Jim Kelly (University of Massachusetts) on the Director for Publications and Awards over
and special-topics conferences, funding of SHARP Archives. In general, she is particu- the forthcoming period of office are to steer
scholarships to rare book and digital hu- larly interested in the internationalization of SHARP’s print and digital communications
manities programs, and increased funding SHARP and in the recruitment/involvement strategies, and continue the effective admin-
for conference travel grants – while holding of early-career researchers. istration of its awards.
dues costs down.
Our new prominence presents both op- External Affairs Director Member-at-Large
portunities and challenges. Among the latter: Simon Frost, formerly External Lecturer, Bertrum MacDonald, Professor of
how to balance our missions as both a mem- University of Southern Denmark; currently Information Management, Faculty of Man-
bership organization and a growing force in Senior Lecturer in English, Bournemouth agement, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS,
the international community of book studies. University. Canada.
Supporting this larger role will require us to be The aim of the External Affairs office is I have been a member of SHARP since
more aggressive and creative in securing new to increase SHARP’s ‘transnational’ interests. the mid-1990s and an Executive Member at
resources. I look forward to working with the Over the past few years, this office has raised Large since 2009. I particularly appreciate
EC and the membership as we embark upon the overall level of regional liaison activity the interdisciplinary character of the society
the coming year of reflection and planning. considerably. Smaller regional SHARP-en- and have been an active participant in the
dorsed conferences are now a common oc- annual, international conferences. In 2005, I
Membership Secretary currence, with the use of SHARP’s website co-chaired the Halifax conference. Over the
Eleanor Shevlin, Department of English, for dissemination now tested through con- past two decades, SHARP has established a
West Chester University of Pennsylvania, ferences in Denmark and France. Further prominent international presence through its
West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA. regional conferences have been planned annual conferences and occasional focused
I welcome the opportunity to serve as your in conjunction with smaller seminars and meetings. These events require quite complex
Membership Secretary for another term. I am one-day events: in Spain, Germany, Finland, management and as the Executive Member
committed to recruiting new members and Argentina, and hopefully Taiwan, alongside at Large, I developed a conference manual
retaining existing ones. Establishing affilia- events in France and Anglo-America. During which includes guidelines and documenta-
tions with other professional organizations my term of office, the number of liaison of- tion of best practices. This initiative requires
is just one strategy that has increased our ficers increased from 13 to 20, including many further work as we plan conferences over the
membership. The production of a SHARP early-career members, a good number from next few years. I will continue to assist con-
brochure representing its depth, breadth, and outside the Francophone/Anglophone remit, ference organizers and will focus on revising
synergy adds another tool for recruiting new and a new ‘regional’ officer for social media. the conference manual during my next term
members from around the world. Harnessing We’ve secured a small budget for regional of office. I look forward to working with all
technology to better serve members is also a activities, and begun work on, among other SHARP members on this initiative.
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the second edition of Lyrical Ballads. What is This ongoing reassessment of Protestant-
book Reviews new in Wordsworth’s Poetic Collections, however, ism as “a religion of the book” reiterates
is Bates’s careful documentation and analysis how important it is to set English book pro-
of Wordsworth’s prose and its evolution over duction within its wider, European context.
Brian R. Bates. Wordsworth’s Poetic Collections, twenty years. Through this chronological Similarly, it is evident that the boundaries
Supplementary Writing and Parodic Reception. sweep, Bates finds new importance in the 1814 between ‘medieval’ and ‘early modern’ are
London: Pickering and Chatto, 2012. 236p. prospectus to The Excursion, which “stands in no longer seen as rigid and exclusive, nor are
ISBN 9781848931961. (hardback). £60.00 the middle of and seemingly links together the categories of Protestant and Catholic,
/ US $99.00. all of Wordsworth’s works” (111). From when it comes to the use of illustrations for
1814 on, Wordsworth’s supplementary prose didactic purposes. Chapter 1 sets the scene by
Wordsworth’s Poetic Collections, Supplementary broadened the interpretation of his previous examining the socio-economic background
Writing and Parodic Reception locates William poetry, established the terms for his future to the production of images in England,
Wordsworth at the intersection of a bur- reputation (secured with The River Dudden), noting the limitations of the English trade
geoning, early nineteenth-century reading and positioned his poetry as part of a larger and its relationship with continental artisans.
public and an emerging class of professional movement to identify a “national literature.” Chapter 2 assesses the impact of the English
critics who vied to “explain how and why to Wordsworth’s Poetic Collections is the tenth Reformation on the production of – and
write, publish, and read poetry” (3). Starting volume in Pickering and Chatto’s History of demand for – illustrated religious books,
with Lyrical Ballads, with Other Poems (1800) the Book series edited by Ann R. Hawkins. noting how reform in England provided “a
and moving though Poems, in Two Volumes, Consistent with previous volumes, Bates’s legitimate, though not unbounded, space for
by William Wordsworth (1807), The Excursion offering is exceptionally well researched and visual religion” (45). The subsequent chapter
(1814), Poems by William Wordsworth (1815), documented, and his prose is energetic and considers the longevity of overtly Catholic
and The River Dudden (1820), author Brian accessible. He is at his best in the sections on images and a book’s ability to both “mimic
Bates adeptly focuses on the Lake Poet’s Wordsworth’s parodists, especially the chapter and borrow” (101) but also “mock and scorn”
prose – the prefaces, footnotes, endnotes, devoted to Mant’s The Simpliciad. While the (101) traditional images, depending on the
headnotes, half-title pages, epigraphs, ad- chapter on Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria dis- context of their (re)production. Chapter 4
vertisements, and other paratexts in which plays the author’s excellent interpretative skills, then moves into close analysis of specific im-
his poetry is wrapped – and discovers a self- its connection to his larger thesis is somewhat ages: Protestant images of Christ. Depictions
conscious “editor, anthologist, literary and unclear. This quibble aside, Wordsworth’s Poetic of Christ became “fertile territory” (103) for
cultural critic” (1). Collections is an admirable addition to a series the exploration of religious identity during the
The rather esoteric title suggests an that has produced first-rate works for those sixteenth century, with their popularity and
examination of a small gap in Wordsworth interested in book history, genre, authorship, appropriateness varying over time.
scholarship. Do not be fooled. Wordsworth’s and the emerging reader. Chapter 5 considers Protestant depic-
Poetic Collections tells two equally fascinating Russell M. Wyland tions of God, laying particular emphasis on
and important stories. First, Bates clearly National Endowment for the Humanities, the controversy surrounding the images of
situates poets and poetry within the critical Washington DC the Father in the 1568 and 1572 editions of
scrum for the hearts and minds of readers in the Bishops’ Bible. Chapter 6 considers the
early nineteenth-century England, recounting c transition to symbolic illustrations of God,
how Wordsworth used the prose accompany- observing a general “scholarly disinterest”
ing his poetry to guide the taste and critical David J. Davis. Seeing Faith, Printing Pictures: (181) in this transition to date. The influence
responses of an expanding readership. Simply Religious Identity during the English Reformation. of the Geneva Bible becomes apparent, as
put, Wordsworth tried to function as both a Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2013. xv, Davis reveals a “growing affinity for divine
poet and a critic. Second, Bates convincingly 243p., 47 ill. ISBN 9004236015. £88.00. symbols” (190) from c.1560 onwards. For
demonstrates how such authorial heavy-hand- Protestants, these symbols became what
edness opened Wordsworth to the parodies The central aim of Davis’s analysis of Bullinger referred to as the “divine mirrors”
of critics such as Richard Mant and J. H. printed images during the period c.1535–1603 (cited on 209) by which the nature of God
Reynolds. These parodists fixated on Word- is to reveal how images were not just a pre- could be portrayed on a printed page. The
sworth’s prose, protecting their turf against a Reformation form of religious devotion, but volume concludes with the assertion that it is
poet who dared to provide his readers with a a “valuable and elaborate aspect of religious now “impossible to ignore…the polysemous
critical roadmap for understanding his poetry. identity across the sixteenth century” (2). His nature of these illustrations as employed
While the parodies by Mant, et al., “severely detailed introduction situates this work within in early modern religious culture” (213).
damaged” (77) the Lake Poet’s poetic reputa- recent analysis of religious images undertaken Their use proves to be both reformed and
tion after the publication of his 1807 Poems, by revisionist scholars in the fields of book traditional, and their acceptance dependent
Bates concludes that their parodies ultimately history, history, theology, and literary studies. entirely upon their context. That context
validated Wordsworth’s prose strategy and Indeed, throughout, Davis is meticulous in his remained essential in justifying the role of
helped secure his canonical status. detailed, cross-discipline references to those illustration in post-Reformation England.
The importance of Wordsworth’s prose working in such areas, and what interdisci- Printers continued to include illustrations
is no secret; most students of Romantic lit- plinary analysis can reveal about the role of in religious books, since they consistently
erature begin their studies with the Preface to images during the English Reformation. provided “the eye of the mind with a way of
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framing and understanding what was being here unless at least one copy can be located printed in color, except for ten plates in the
read” (215); they reinforced and clarified the now” (viii). Some items that appeared in earlier first two hundred (of 1,000) copies of the
textual content. catalogues have been dropped in consequence. first part. It was published in Boston between
This is a sophisticated, thoughtful assess- Ideally, these lost (or spurious) items would 1817 and 1822, and it came out in six parts
ment of early modern religious identity, in have made an appendix. But while new discov- bound in three volumes. It is a landmark
which the logistics of book production and eries might swell the inventory a little, there will of American book illustration, a classic of
the changing theological framework for images be no further contractions; the ceiling might American medical and botanical literature,
are considered carefully. It is a must-read for go higher, but the floor is now secure. and a fine example of letterpress printing.
students of the English Reformation and early Catalogue entries are in short-title format. Richard J. Wolfe’s detailed study of the print-
modern book history. Descriptions are compact, but specific. Editors ing, binding and publication of Bigelow’s
Elizabeth Evenden are named (where known), as are commenta- work was first published by the Bird and
Harvard University tors. If an edition includes a supplement, such Bull Press in 1979, and it was attractively
as Maffeo Vegio’s popular Book XIII of the printed on handmade paper in an edition of
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Aeneid, or poems of dubious authorship, such “approximately 300 copies.” Tipped into the
as “Ciris” or “Culex,” that is noted too. There front of the book were two original plates
Craig Kallendorf. A Bibliography of the Early are three indices: of authors, commentators, that were intended for Bigelow’s work but
Printed Editions of Virgil: 1469–1850. New editors, and translators; of places of publica- that were never used. The price was $85.00.
Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2012. xiii, 368p. tion; and of printers. This last pair will be This second edition of Mr Wolfe’s book
ISBN 9781584563105. US$95.00 invaluable to book historians who want to was published in an edition of 260 copies
compile statistics or study regional specialties. of which 245 are for sale. It was printed on
In 1954, the Forlivese bibliographer Literary scholars and historians of classical machine-made paper, and it also has two
Giuliano Mambelli crowned his long career scholarship will benefit as well. For the first original plates intended for the American
with a catalogue of editions, translations, and time it will be possible to know (rather than Medical Botany. The price is now $95.00. The
adaptations of the Roman poet Virgil. The estimate) which commentaries on Virgil were second edition provides an index; some mi-
work was completed under post-war condi- most popular in a given time period. nor corrections have been made; and a short
tions that seemed, as T.S. Eliot put it, unpropi- This kind of work, especially of identify- paragraph is added.
tious; and, not surprisingly, it proved to have ing commentators and editors, could only Mr. Wolfe’s argument that the plates in
holes. But until now we could only guess at have been accomplished by someone, like the American Medical Botany were printed
their number or size. Beginning with the editio Kallendorf, who has already devoted more from lithographic stones as stone etchings is
princeps (now dated to 1469) and ending in than three decades to studying the books and unchanged in the second edition. Although
1850, Mambelli described 1,637 items. Craig writing about their contents. Where more some scholars doubted this claim, it has of-
Kallendorf’s new census, A Bibliography of detail is required, the reader’s first stop should ten been repeated. Mr. Wolfe’s argument is
the Early Printed Editions of Virgil: 1469–1850, be Kallendorf’s own bibliography of Renais- based on a document in the Harvard Archives
covers the same period in slightly fewer pages, sance Virgils published in Venice (1991), of that he called a “bill, or receipt, or memo-
but triples the number of items, to more than Renaissance Italian translations (1994), and randum, or whatever.” Evidently he could
5,000. This includes Latin editions of Virgil’s his catalogue of the Junius Spencer Morgan not decide what this document was. In fact,
Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid, and the Appendix Collection at Princeton University (2009), it was a cost estimate, and it was prepared
Virgiliana; translations in more than a dozen reviewed in SHARP News 19.4 (2010): 7–8. long after Bigelow’s American Medical Botany
languages; centones; commonplace books; For the incunable period, there is an excellent was published. The document consists of
dictionaries; and travesties. census by Martin Davies and John Goldfinch three slips of paper, and some words are
The new descriptions are more accurate, (1992) and, for illustrated Virgils, a Handbuch written on the backs of two of them that
as well as more numerous. As explained in by Werner Suerbaum (2008). A catalogue Mr. Wolfe evidently did not notice. On the
his introduction, Kallendorf was able to in- of translations and commentaries, edited by back of one of the slips are these words,
spect at least 30 per cent of the items in his Virginia Brown, is also underway. “Butts Estimate med. bot.” Butts was no
catalogue firsthand. That is a high proportion doubt Isaac Butts, the official printer of the
for a project on this scale: equivalent to the David Scott Wilson-Okamura Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Society,
effort of rechecking every item in Mambelli’s East Carolina University of which Bigelow was a member. Elsewhere
whole inventory. The remaining items, which there is a note saying that the typography of
c
Kallendorf was not able to handle personally, the work would be the same as that used in
are described on the basis of catalogues and printing the catalog of the first fair of the
personal correspondence with libraries in Richard J. Wolfe. Jacob Bigelow’s American Medical Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Society.
central and eastern Europe. Botany 1817–1821. Second Edition With Correc- As this catalog was published in 1837, the
To these latter sources Mambelli had no tions and Additions. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll cost estimate must have been drawn up in
access, but even for Italy, Kallendorf’s descrip- Press, 2012. xii, 128p. ISBN 9781584563937. or after that year. The cost estimate probably
tions are more complete and, where they are US $95.00. referred to a new edition of the American
not based on firsthand inspection, have been Medical Botany that Bigelow planned to write,
carefully cross-checked with other records. Jacob Bigelow’s American Medical Botany is or else a supplement to it.
“The principal rule is that no book is listed the first American book with all of its plates Mr. Wolfe says on p. 54, “The first Ameri-
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can book illustrated with plates prepared by annual examinations. The Technical Instruc- September 1880, 7). So popular was this print-
pure lithography is a botanical work also, Sir tion Act (1889) resulted in the creation of ing project cum competition that American
James Edward Smith’s Grammar of Botany,” early polytechnics, usually called colleges of and Continental printers cloned the concept.
a work published in New York in 1822. The art and science. Special interest groups such as Closer to home, however, Robert Hilton was
earliest-known American work printed by the British Typographia formed a nation-wide scheming to wrest the PISE away from Tuer
lithography is, in fact, The Children’s Friend, system of branches and produced an official and launch out on his own with the Leicester-
no. III, which was published in New York organ, The British Printer, itself an exemplar based printers, Raithby and Lawrence. Not
the previous year. It is very rare, and it is little of the new, artistic printing movement. Not only was the once-close business relationship
known except to historians of Santa Claus. surprisingly, the key player in this journal was between Hilton and Tuer at stake, but the lead
Mr. Wolfe does not mention the CD- Robert Hilton, one-time colleague of Andrew proponent of typographical modernity was
ROM edition of Bigelow’s American Medical Tuer of the Leadenhall Press, London. snatching the chalice away from antiquarian-
Botany that was published by Octavo in 2004 Graphic designer and book collector Mat- ism, tradition, and old-style printing. By 1898
with a commentary, nor does he cite any thew Young has previously published on the and the demise of the PISE, the ‘golden-
contemporary reviews of American Medical firm of Field & Tuer. This new work, beauti- tongued’ Hilton had established and closed
Botany. One of the reviews provides a good fully designed and lavishly illustrated, takes up down several trade journals, lost a legal battle
description of how the plates were printed. the story of the Printers’ International Specimen with Raithby and Lawrence, and been impris-
They are aquatints, as Bigelow himself always Exchange, outlines the genesis of the idea, oned for contempt of court. Nevertheless, the
called them. reproduces a choice selection of specimens Printers’ International Specimen Exchange “had
Philip J. Weimerskirch in full colour, and most usefully, includes enormous influence and effectively served
Smithfield, RI an appendix of the printers involved in the its original purpose” (38). As famous as the
enterprise and the volumes to which they con- Exchange and its story was, complete sets of
c
tributed. The PISE was a landmark globalising the exquisite vellum and parchment bindings
initiative suggested by printer Thomas Hailing laced with catgut and stamped in gold are col-
Matthew McLennan Young. The Rise and Fall of Cheltenham and promoted by Tuer who lector’s items. If you can’t find or afford one,
of the Printers’ International Specimen Exchange. was editor of the quarterly Paper and Printing Young’s book will amply fill a conspicuous
New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2012. Trades Journal and who published critiques gap in your bookshelf.
154p., ill. ISBN 9781584563099. US $59.95. of specimens in the pages of his own trade Sydney J Shep
journal. Between 1880 and 1898, the Printers’ Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
From the middle of the nineteenth cen- International Specimen Exchange involved an
tury, there was a heightened awareness that annual subscription of one shilling and the
c
the printing trade was losing its skills base production of sufficient broadsheet speci-
and quality standards were slipping. Debates mens to be then collated and/or bound and
about the role, length, and number of ap- distributed to all participants. Although Tuer Keri Yousif. Balzac, Grandville and the Rise of
prenticeships and the constant union battles expected only about a hundred for the first Book Illustration. Farnham, UK, and Burl-
against boy and girl labour and ‘turnovers’ number, 230 subscribers – master printers ington, VT: Ashgate, 2012. 200p., ill. ISBN
were exacerbated by the problem of un- and apprentices alike – entered from over 9781409418085. £55.00.
employed journeymen printers, tramping 7 countries. Subsequent exchanges included
around the country or the globe possessed almost 400 participants and specimens from From the period immediately following
of valuable, yet under-utilised, transferable nearly 20 countries, which Young graphs and the 1830 July Revolution, and almost without
skills. Itinerancy and mass migration resulted analyses. Burma, Macao, Russia, and Argen- interruption until the stirrings of the Artist’s
in a lack of continuity and fragmentation in tina joined Australia and New Zealand, the Book at the nineteenth century’s close, French
the trade that would ultimately impact on the latter represented by the titlepage to Robert publishing witnessed an explosive expansion
quality and commercial viability of work as Coupland Harding’s journal Typo contributed of illustrated materials. Whether in newsprint
well as the prestige position of printers as the to volume ten. or in book form, the demand for illustration
aristocrats of artisans. As Tuer observed, “it must not be lost sight gave rise to new market forces resulting in a
From the 1880s, discussions about the of that the governing idea of the Exchange recalibration of the relationship between writ-
place of trade education, outside the print is that of technical education of the work- ers and those who provided the images for
shop, were seriously entertained. The adjunct man, by placing within his reach a collection their work. In her cogent study, Keri Yousif
role of printers’ libraries and mechanics’ insti- of the productions of his fellow craftsmen, examines this struggle for supremacy as it
tutes in providing evening lectures, as well as so that he may be enabled to compare his played out between Balzac and Grandville
spaces of reading, conversation, and debate, own work with that of others, and find out – two emblematic giants of their respective
quickly led to discussions about formally his own shortcomings, to notice and profit fields, whose associations were frequent and
structured teaching opportunities, course by the arrangement of types and ornaments, momentous – through the lens provided by
design, and accreditation. The London City or combination of colours which produce the theories of Pierre Bourdieu.
and Guilds Institute took the accreditation the best effects, and the manner in which As abundantly illustrated books and print
of trade training in hand, relying upon local difficulties that have occurred in his own ex- material made their way to ever larger audi-
teachers to follow syllabi drawn up by profes- perience have been overcome or are avoided ences, they set in motion an “instability of the
sional colleagues, and prepare students for by others” (Paper and Printing Trades Journal, cultural field in the wake of popular imagery”
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(171) for which Bourdieu’s theories provide Morris’s attitude toward his translations is
an excellent analytical grid. Professor Yousif exhibition Reviews Cont. summed up in his comment to Magnusson,
uses Bourdieu’s notion of the cultural field to “I can’t be bothered with grammar...I have no
illuminate the competitive moves for superi- time for it...I want the literature, I must have
How We Might Live:
ority by two geniuses, who were locked into the story. I mean to amuse myself” – and he
a remapping of hierarchies that the period’s the Vision of William Morris clearly did with Völsunga Saga: The story of the
technical progress in papermaking, printing Hornbake Library, University of Maryland Volsungs and Niblungs, with certain songs from the
and distribution further energized. 4 September 2012 – 13 July 2013 Elder Edda, 1870; Of the Friendship of Amis and
The book’s structure reflects a back and Amile, 1894; and The Tale of Beowulf, 1895.
forth movement, focusing now on one, now William Morris was in the air this spring in For his Kelmscott Press books, Morris
on the other of the principals in their strug- the Washington DC area with a pre-Raphaelite designed three types: “a Roman type based on
gle for advantage. The greater onus was on show at the National Gallery and a splendid those of fifteenth-century Venetian printers;
Grandville as the traditionally lesser partner exhibition on the life and work of Morris at Troy – a Gothic type created for The Recuyell of
in the text/image hierarchy. But Balzac was the University of Maryland’s Hornbake Li- the Historyes of Troy; and Chaucer – a smaller
often on the defensive, even resentful, as the brary. Special Collections Librarian Douglas version of the Troy created for the Kelmscott
new fervor for illustration threatened his pre- McElrath and Curator Ann L. Hudak drew the Chaucer.” The masterful The Works of Geoffrey
rogatives. Or, as Yousif concludes most aptly, exhibition title from one of Morris’s lectures. Chaucer was published in 1896. This “was the
“Balzac’s strategy is defensive, to maintain The collection, whose core of 340 items was culmination of William Morris’s vision for an
control of the book; Grandville’s is offensive, acquired in 1985, now numbers 900 items. The ideal book. It embodied his love of medieval
to take control of the book” (179). efficient cause of the present exhibition (57 literature and art, as well as his love of beauty.
Her discussions of monuments of the books, 14 pieces of ephemera, and 3 letters), Its vast scope and magnificence inspired his
nineteenth-century French illustrated book however, was the recent acquisition of a copy friend and collaborator Edward Burne-Jones
such as Les Français peints par eux-mêmes, Scènes of the magnificent Kelmscott Chaucer. to compare it to a ‘pocket cathedral’.”
de la vie privée et publique des animaux, and in The exhibit presents ‘Vision, Life and The exhibit notes claim “his greatest
particular Un Autre monde, Grandville’s most Legacy of William Morris,’ ‘Morris as Author, achievement was as a creative visionary who
fraught creation, show how both writer and Morris as Calligrapher,’ ‘Morris as Translator, acted on his beliefs and produced beautiful
illustrator were caught in the cogs of com- Morris as Preservationist,’ ‘Morris as Socialist,’ things.” And yet, Morris was a conflicted
modification (143–144). She emphasizes mar- ‘Art and Socialism,’ ‘Morris as Printer,’ ‘The character: a Socialist, though not a Marx-
ket factors that came into play in their rivalry, Kelmscott Press and Works Printed at The ist, who made and sold through his Morris
such as Balzac’s indebtedness to the publisher Kelmscott Press,’ ‘The Kelmscott Chaucer,’ and Company (originally Morris, Marshall,
Hetzel and its effect on his participation in ‘Morris’s Influence on Book Design,’ ‘Morris Faulkner, & Co.) beautiful things that only the
works where he could no longer claim to as Decorator,’ ‘The Arts & Crafts Movement,’ wealthy could afford. He complained that “I
be the creative genius (95); or the meteoric ‘Collecting Morris,’ and ‘Morris Association spend my life ministering to the swinish luxu-
rise in remuneration that moved Grandville Copies.’ ry of the rich.” Among the many pamphlets,
far above the level achieved by craftsmen il- On display is the only known copy of an all in perfect condition, to be seen were How
lustrators, and yet did not vouchsafe him the 1896 poem written and printed by Kelmscott I Became a Socialist, Useful Work and Useless Toil,
standing of artist (87). Press workers upon Morris’s death – an item Chants for Socialists, and Alfred Linnell Killed in
The discussion is supported throughout that one eminent American ‘Morrisian,’ Trafalgar Square: A Death Song.
by many judiciously selected images that present during my first visit, said he had never The ephemera items, often quite rare, are
put today’s reader in the moment, as it were, seen. A drawing early in the exhibit shows a fascinating; where else, for example, could
when alert nineteenth-century readers had to bearded, burly Morris, who could be straight one see two beautifully printed menus for
wonder what exactly they were looking at; or out of one of Maurice Sendak’s illustrations, his September Wayzgoose, the traditional fall
perhaps, how they were being asked to read reading to his wife, Jane, in her bath, who is dinner for employees of the Kelmscott Press
images. For this is what was at stake: a con- limned as the Pre-Raphaelite figure she was. to mark the changing of the seasons!
flation between reading images and imaging An extremely rare copy – only nine oth- One could also see examples of his stained
texts. If there was to be no authentic victor ers are known because the original typeface glass (Minstrel Angel with Organ), his textiles
in the will to dominate the cultural field, it Morris designed was deemed unreadable and (Strawberry Thief fabric), his wallpaper, tiles,
is because a subtle shift, leading to a new so abandoned – of Ari Thorgilson’s The Story and of course his own volumes of lyrics (The
kind of illustrated literary performance, was of Gunnlaug the Worm-tongue and Raven the Skald Earthly Paradise:A Poem. 1870, 4 Volumes),
underway, and would take several generations is exhibited in the case of translations. Morris historical romances (A Tale of the House of the
of readers to resolve, in the several senses studied Icelandic with his friend Eirikr Mag- Wolfings and all the Kindreds of the Mark); and
of that term. The durable changes through nusson, “who translated the prose tales into tales (Child Christopher and Goldilind the Fair,
which Grandville and Balzac struggled were English, and Morris in turn rewrote the stories 1895). To the caption “How we might live,”
the inescapable consequence of mechanisms taking on the persona of a medieval trouba- one might be tempted to add “and work” but
that Keri Yousif has lucidly identified in this dour” as the exhibit notes inform us. No less for William Morris the former fully included
study. a critic than Oscar Wilde said of Morris: “he the latter.
John Anzalone is our only true story-singer since Chaucer; August A. Imholtz, Jr.
Skidmore College, New York if he is a Socialist, he is also a Saga-man…” Beltsville, Maryland
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