Reshaping the Early Modern Book World:
Competition, Protection, Consumption
International Conference 30-31 May & 1 June 2022

As printing with moveable type quickly spread in Europe, everything about the production, distribution and consumption of books changed radically within decades. Old and new clients had to be persuaded of their need for books, now available in ever-greater quantities; large print runs and increasing competition forced printers to seek ever-cheaper production methods and materials; technical innovators and publishers of new text editions sought protection for their products from governments, which in turn tried to regain control over the increasingly elusive circulation of information, knowledge and opinions that undermined traditional power structures. Compared to manuscript production, the printing business was very capital-intensive, marked by a slow return on investment, and it required the development of trade routes, specialised fairs and advertising strategies. Publishers and booksellers developed innovative techniques and refined their know-how to create new tastes and to satisfy new demands from the public.
For about a century, the hand-press book as a commodity underwent slow but dramatic changes. Books changed hands more often transnationally amongst wholesalers settling debt and credit on account. Information about books and prices circulated amongst booksellers in letters, printed advertisements or catalogues. Important printing enterprises developed systems and tools to come to grips with regional and international competition. Printers and publishers deployed strategies to win a place in the market: for instance, by focussing on niche markets, collaboration or product diversification. The book world underwent a deep transformation, and so had society.
This international conference marks the conclusion of the EMoBookTrade project funded by the European Research Council (ADG GA 694476) and directed by Professor Angela Nuovo. At the core of this five-year project are two powerful and innovative tools which facilitate, on the one hand, the study of the privilege system in Venice from the introduction of printing in the Serenissima until 1603, and on the other hand, the prices of books in Europe. This information is organised in two related and fully searchable databases, available online to all researchers.
As printing with moveable type quickly spread in Europe, everything about the production, distribution and consumption of books changed radically within decades. Old and new clients had to be persuaded of their need for books, now available in ever-greater quantities; large print runs and increasing competition forced printers to seek ever-cheaper production methods and materials; technical innovators and publishers of new text editions sought protection for their products from governments, which in turn tried to regain control over the increasingly elusive circulation of information, knowledge and opinions that undermined traditional power structures. Compared to manuscript production, the printing business was very capital-intensive, marked by a slow return on investment, and it required the development of trade routes, specialised fairs and advertising strategies. Publishers and booksellers developed innovative techniques and refined their know-how to create new tastes and to satisfy new demands from the public.
For about a century, the hand-press book as a commodity underwent slow but dramatic changes. Books changed hands more often transnationally amongst wholesalers settling debt and credit on account. Information about books and prices circulated amongst booksellers in letters, printed advertisements or catalogues. Important printing enterprises developed systems and tools to come to grips with regional and international competition. Printers and publishers deployed strategies to win a place in the market: for instance, by focussing on niche markets, collaboration or product diversification. The book world underwent a deep transformation, and so had society.
This international conference marks the conclusion of the EMoBookTrade project funded by the European Research Council (ADG GA 694476) and directed by Professor Angela Nuovo. At the core of this five-year project are two powerful and innovative tools which facilitate, on the one hand, the study of the privilege system in Venice from the introduction of printing in the Serenissima until 1603, and on the other hand, the prices of books in Europe. This information is organised in two related and fully searchable databases, available online to all researchers.
Conference organizers
Prof. Angela Nuovo, Università degli studi di Milano
Dr. Saskia Limbach, University of Göttingen
Dr. Andrea Ottone, Università degli studi di Milano
Dr. Joran Proot, Cultura Fonds, Dilbeek
Scientific advisory board
Prof. Angela Nuovo, Università degli studi di Milano
Prof. Christine Bénévent, École nationale des chartes, Paris
Prof. Lodovica Braida, Università degli studi di Milano
Prof. Hilario Casado Alonso, Universidad de Valladolid
Prof. Giuseppe De Luca, Università degli studi di Milano
Prof. Dr. Markus A. Denzel, University of Leipzig
Prof. Cristina Dondi, University of Oxford
Prof. Ian Maclean, University of Oxford and University of St Andrews
Prof. Germano Maifreda, Università degli studi di Milano
Prof. Andrew Pettegree, University of St Andrews
Prof. Andrea Zannini, Università degli studi di Udine
Programme
On 30-31 May 2022, conference sessions will be held at the Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, Sala Polifunzionale, viale Pasubio 5, 20154 Milano. Advance registration is requested. No fee.
Monday, 30 May 2022
Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
Sala Polifunzionale
viale Pasubio 5, 20154 Milano
10:00 am
Registration
10:45
Welcoming Remarks
11:00
Panel 1 – The economy of the book trade
A statistical analysis of book prices in Venice (1586–1600)
Joran Proot – Cultura Fonds, Dilbeek & Francesco Ammannati – Università di Firenze
Book prices from the Officina Plantiniana in a comparative perspective (1581–1631)
Renaissance publishers, market risks and empiric methods of assessment
12:30
Lunch Break
14:00
Panel 2 – Practitioners’ Perspectives I
Johannes Bibliopola (c. 1500–1524), the first bookseller in Transylvania
Saskia Limbach – University of Göttingen
Paying for Frankfurt books: Sigmund Feyerabend and the prices of his legal publications
Mona Garloff – University of Innsbruck
How to sell used books? Second-hand book trade in early 18th-century Central Europe
15:30
Break
15:45
Panel 3 – Practitioners’ Perspectives II
Paul Schweitzer-Martin – University of Munich
Incunabula production and trade in a nutshell: The case study of Speyer
Kevin M. Stevens – University of Nevada, Reno
Deciphering the Antoni-de Franceschi partnership in Milan (c. 1588–1590)
Andreas P. Bassett – University of Washington, Seattle
The evolution of playbook titles in the early modern London book trade (1576–1660)
Tuesday, 31 May 2022
Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
Sala Polifunzionale
viale Pasubio 5, 20154 Milano
9:30
Panel 4 – Niche markets I
Claudia Rosenzweig – Bar-Ilan University
Paratexts in old Yiddish printing in Italy
Kristof Selleslach – Museum Plantin-Moretus
Book pricing at the Officina Plantiniana. The 1640 folio edition of the Missale Romanum
Pawel Maciejko – Johns Hopkins University
Rabbis and Jesuits: On the Prague edition of the Babylonian Talmud
11:00
Coffee Break
11:30
Panel 5 – Niche markets II
Julia Smith – University of Edinburgh
Colour and the consumption of early modern books: Printer-commissioned colouring in illustrated printed books from Nuremberg
Doris Gruber – Austrian Academy of Science
German-language travelogues and the book market. Interconnections and specializations
Gloria Moorman – Università di Padova – RISK
Geography at the service of the state: Blaeu, Coronelli, and atlas publication in Amsterdam and Venice (c. 1660–1700)
13:00
Lunch Break
14:30
Panel 6 – Book privileges
Erika Squassina – Università di Milano – EMoBookTrade
Tailored protection for the printing industry in Venice: the privileges system (1560-1580)
Julia Dreyer – University of Münster
Florentine printing privileges in favour of printers and authors during the Duchy and the Grand Duchy of the Medici family
Marius Buning – University of Oslo
Crystallizing public opinion: Printing privileges in the Dutch Republic
16:00
Break
16:30
Panel 7 – Authorship and market regulation
Florine Lévecque-Stankiewicz – Bibliothèque Mazarine
Diffuser et contrôler: L’activité éditoriale de Pierre Gringore (c. 1500–1540)
Manuela Bragagnolo – Università di Trento
Authority and authorship of normative books in early modern times: The ‘invention’ of the author of Martin Azpilcueta’s Manual de confessores
On 1 June 2022, conference sessions will be held at the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, via Brera 28, 20121 Milano. Advance registration is requested. No fee.
Wednesday, 1 June 2022
Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
via Brera 28, 20121 Milano
9:30
Welcoming Remarks
Panel 8 – Consumers’ perspectives
Yelda Nasifoglu – University of Oxford
Collecting mathematical books in early modern Britain
Giulia Giannini & Stefano Gulizia – Università di Milano – TACITROOTS
Viral science: The Accademia del Cimento as print culture (c. 1660–1680)
Alberto José Campillo Pardo – Universidad de Sevilla; Universidad del Rosario (Colombia)
The consumption of culture: Circulation of specialized libraries in the Spanish Empire during the 18th century
10:30
Break
11:00
Panel 9 – Old books and digital technologies
John Craig – Simon Fraser University
Creating a database of books purchased by English parishes (1536–1642)
Gerhard Lauer – University of Mainz
Computational book studies: Challenges and opportunities
12:00
Closing remarks
Locations
Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
Sala Polifunzionale
viale Pasubio 5, 20154 Milano


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Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
On 1 June 2022 conference sessions will be held at the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, via Brera 28, 20121 Milano.


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