DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS EXTENDED TO 15 SEPTEMBER

=93Birth of the Bestseller: The 19th Century Book in Britain, France, =
and=20
Beyond=94

The Bibliographical Society of America invites proposals for papers to=20=

be delivered at =93Birth of the Bestseller: The 19th Century Book in=20
Britain, France, and Beyond,=94 a conference on book history to be held=20=

in New York on 29-31 March 2007.

The nineteenth century saw enormous changes in the world of books. The=20=

rise of a mass readership, the invention of machine-driven=20
technologies, new reproduction methods, and an astonishing variation in=20=

literature, authorship, publishing, periodicals, printing, typography,=20=

illustration, marketing, taste, and design contributed to an era of=20
intense complexity and development. Yet, despite growing interest in=20
recent decades, some aspects of the period remain largely unstudied.=20
This conference, to take place at three prestigious venues, will focus=20=

on the physical book in nineteenth century Britain, France, the United=20=

States, or elsewhere.

The conference topic and location are occasioned by concurrent=20
exhibitions at the Grolier Club (=93Lucien and Esther Pissarro=92s =
Eragny=20
Press=94), the Morgan Library & Museum (=93Victorian Best-sellers=94), =
and=20
the Fales Library, New York University (=93Nothing New: The Persistence=20=

of the Bestseller=94). Related exhibitions and events will be held =
during=20
Spring 2007 at the Bard Graduate Center and the New York Public=20
Library.

Plenary speakers for the conference:

Petra ten-Doesschate Chu,=A0 Professor of Art History and Director, MA=20=

Program of Museum Professions, Seton Hall University
Marie E. Korey, Librarian, Robertson Davies Library, Massey College in=20=

the University of Toronto
Margaret D. Stetz, Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies=20
and Professor of Humanities, University of Delaware
John Sutherland, Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus, University=20
College London and Visiting Professor of Literature, California=20
Institute of Technology
Michael Winship, Professor of English, University of Texas at Austin

Subjects for proposals may include, but are not limited to:

-- production, publication, circulation, and marketing of=20
bestsellers (not limited to fiction)
-- genres and formats specific to or developed in, the nineteenth=20=

century, such as books in =93parts,=94 the three-volume novel, =
yellowbacks,=20
penny dreadfuls, cheap reprints and original series, editions de luxe,=20=

private press books, illustrated books and magazines,=20
photographically-illustrated books
-- development of a mass reading public, the rise of periodicals
-- new publishing and marketing strategies
-- international production and markets across the Channel and the=20
oceans through communication, travel, and shipping
-- changes in production technology=97including printing, typography,=20=

papermaking, bookbinding, and reproductive methods=97and the impact on=20=

content, the publishing and printing industry, and the economics of=20
bookmaking
-- illustration for popular and elite audiences
-- authors and authorship, illustrators, publishers, designers,=20
agents, and printers, their roles, their relations, the rise of=20
celebrity status
-- book collecting, bibliophily, the rise of bibliographical=20
studies
-- copyright and piracy
-- Arts and Crafts reaction against industrial book design,=20
private presses, limited editions
-- implications for research on print culture and publishing history

Abstracts (one page maximum) for 20 minute papers, together with a=20
curriculum vitae or resume, must be received by the conference=20
committee by 15 September 2006. Proposals may be sent via e-mail or=20
regular mail to the Chair of the committee:

Mark Samuels Lasner
Senior Research Fellow
University of Delaware Library
181 South College Avenue
Newark, DE 19717
marksl_at_udel.edu

=93Birth of the Bestseller=94is organized by the Bibliographical Society =
of=20
America and is co-sponsored by the Grolier Club, the Morgan Library &=20
Museum, and the Fales Library, New York University. Supported in part=20
by the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the=20
National Endowment for the Humanities.

For further information, go to: http://www.bibsocamer.org.

Mark Samuels Lasner
Senior Research Fellow
University of Delaware Library
181 South College Avenue
Newark, DE 19717
Tel (302) 831-3250
marksl_at_udel.edu
biblio_at_aol.com=

         ==========================================================
              From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
                        CFP_at_english.upenn.edu
                         Full Information at
                     http://cfp.english.upenn.edu
         or write Jennifer Higginbotham: higginbj_at_english.upenn.edu
         ==========================================================
Received on Wed Aug 23 2006 - 17:12:52 EDT