This series provides an expert outlet for short scholarly works focused on the handmade book as an object, and cultures that emerge around it, both in the past and present. While the concept is firmly rooted in the idea of the manuscript, the series aims to explore the book as a medium in its own right, transcending easy periodization boundaries and capable of functioning as an axis of various cultures. It is not bound to the Eurocentric notion of the medieval, allowing for both a global perspective and innovative comparisons. The focus on materiality allows authors to explore topics of manual labour, cultural critique, and the social contexts of books, and enables conversations on the importance of premodern and modern book cultures to the understanding of our own digital world. 

Submissions

The series is open not only to medievalists and manuscripts scholars but also to librarians, artists, digitization specialists and media researchers interested in taking the handmade book as a focus or point of departure for their work. This kind of cross-discipline and cross-epoch investigation makes the series unique in its approach. From digital afterlives to analogue precedents the series highlights the continued relevance of premodern book studies. We also hope that this format will open a forum for the marginalized in book scholarship to be centred, by offering a platform to voices, topics and locales not usually amplified.

The length of books is limited to 50k words.

Coverage

Geographical scope	Global
Chronological scope	The earliest book cultures to present times
Keywords	book production, manuscript, handmade books, artists’ books, media, textual cultures, old media, objects of communication

Editorial Contact

Anna Henderson –  [email protected]

Series Editors 

Prof. Elaine Treharne

Stanford University

[email protected]

https://english.stanford.edu/people/elaine-treharne

Dr. Mateusz Fafinski

Freie Universität Berlin

[email protected]

https://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/fmi/bereiche/mittelalter/team/Fafinski.html

Dr. Bonnie Mak

University of Illinois

[email protected]

https://ischool.illinois.edu/people/bonnie-mak