The Early Modern Book in a Digital Age (seminar)

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This was a spring 2003 Masters' semester seminar led by Evelyn Tribble.

The seminar drew on the collections of the Folger Library to introduce Master's-level students to the book in early modern England. Participants worked extensively with primary materials and were introduced to the collections of the Library and to research possibilities in the field. The seminar also introduced students to the basics of bibliographic description, editing theory and practice, printing history, and the role of the book in early modern literary and historical studies, including the relationship between print and manuscript culture, the emerging role of authorship, modes of circulation and transmission of texts, and the role of visual culture in the period. Finally, the seminar also examined digitization projects and discuss the ways that electronic texts are changing editing practices. A continuing thread in discussions were the parallels, if any, between the communication revolution of the early modern period and that taking place today.

Director: Evelyn Tribble is Associate Professor of English at Temple University. She is the author of Margins and Marginality: The Printed Page in Early Modern England (!993) and numerous articles. Her textbook Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age is forthcoming from Longmans.