British literature underwent profound changes in the period 1900-1940. What role did audiences and channels of book distribution play in this? In this wide-ranging collection, the influence of publishers, distributors, librarians and readers come to the foreground to open up new perspectives on literature and print culture. Rooted in original archival research, chapters include studies of the engagement of canonical writers and bestsellers with the literary marketplace; the influence of international and mobile audiences; publishing practices involving genre, promotion, and censorship; and...

The literary genre of “thumb bibles” belongs to the category of miniature books and is a subtype of children's bibles. Thumb bibles summarize the full bible by paraphrasing selected biblical narratives. Adhering to the Reformation principle of sola scriptura, their aim is to teach children and youth the biblical basics. For this purpose, many of them are illustrated. Popular with collectors, thumb bibles have largely been ignored by researchers. This publication is the first academic study of thumb bibles. For the first time in their centuries-long history, it explores their genesis in...

In Spoils of Knowledge, Emma Hagström Molin offers novel perspectives on document and book plundering. At the forefront of her study is the controversial heritage connected to the Swedish Empire (1611–1721) kept in Swedish archives and libraries. Previous studies suggest that continental spoils were perceived as an inferior and problematic category, and that Catholic books in particular were hard to accommodate in Protestant libraries. However, by considering systems of classification and collection orders of archives and libraries, Hagström Molin unearths a much more complex history of...

This groundbreaking book is the first comprehensive study of Italian communication on the Revolt in the Low Countries. Nina Lamal provides a compelling account of the deep Italian involvement in this long conflict, also known as the Eighty Years’ War. Drawing upon a wide range of sources in manuscript and print, including newsletters, printed pamphlets, political treatises and historical narratives, Lamal investigates how news on the conflict was brought to the Italian peninsula, and how it influenced political debates as well as historical discourses. She unravels why it had such an impact...

The history of the Netherlands in the seventeenth century cannot be adequately told without considering ministers’ understanding of print, and how they used print to encourage godliness and the nature of their personal libraries. This study is built upon an examination of 234 auction catalogues of ministerial collections, nearly all that are known to survive, and the transcription of fifty-five of these catalogues. Libraries were possessions of central importance to the ministers who owned them. Knowing the kinds of print with which ministers interacted provides us with valuable insights...

Seventeenth-Century Libraries: Problems and Perspectives presents key topics for understanding the theory and practice of library formation in the seventeenth century, both in Britain and on the Continent. In eight studies (plus a substantial introduction and afterword) based on meticulous research, the volume addresses questions of acquisition, classification, administration and access, spatial arrangement and furniture, networks of collecting, and dispersal of libraries, and serves as an introduction to methods of investigating these themes. Seventeenth-Century Libraries: Problems and...