45th Annual Conference on Book Trade History Focuses on Diversification
The theme of the 45th Annual Conference on Book Trade History will be Beyond books - Diversification in the book trade.
Held November 17 - 19, 2024, the organisers point out that the term ‘book’ can cover a wide range of artefacts, including pamphlets, paperbacks, hard bound volumes large and small, and even electronic texts. "Similarly, the book trade has never been exclusively limited to a strict definition of its merchandise. This conference explores what these sidelines and relationships reveal about the book trade and the books that were traded."
The conference is organised by Giles Mandelbrote, Laura Cleaver and Julian Pooley, in association with the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association Educational Trust. Highlights of the 2024 programme include:
* Ana Dias, postdoctoral researcher with the Crafting Documents project (University of Oxford) on Beyond book production in early medieval Chelles: the curious case of relic labels
* Grace Touzel, librarian at London’s Natural History Museum, on Filling in the Blanks: Vellum Binders of London (1650-1850)
* Jane Carroll, Ussher Associate Professor in Children’s Literature at Trinity College Dublin, on Good and Pretty Things: The Interplay of Children’s Books and Material Objects
* Laurence Worms, antiquarian bookseller, on From Wall-Maps to Globes: Some Outliers in the World of Print
* Nicholas Pickwoad, who teaches and publishes on the history of bookbinding, on The impact of stationery binding on the binding of printed books
* Laura Carnelos, Library Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at Eton College, on A Paper Emporium. The Remondini Family and their Sale Catalogues in the 18th and 19th Centuries
* Adrian Seville, emeritus professor at City, University of London, on How Elizabeth Newbery by an inspired act of piracy transformed the English trade in printed board games
The conference will be held at Stationers’ Hall, Ave Maria Lane, London. More details including how to register here.
