To put scholars working on Late Medieval and Early Modern manuscripts and printed books in contact with each other
The Early Modern Book Project aims to put scholars working on Late Medieval and Early Modern manuscripts and printed books in contact with each other. The project is addressed primarily to junior scholars – namely Master, PhD and early career researchers – who are too often unaware of each other's mere existence. This is a consequence of the disciplinary boundaries within the Humanities between History, Art history and Literature. It is also due to a lack of communication among institutions on a local as well as an international level. The second observation that led to the implementation of this project is the great development of research on the History of the Book to the point where the usual avenues of exchange among scholars are not efficient enough for this growing scientific community.
To make a list of who is working where on what with respect to Late Medieval and Early Modern books
This project was initiated and is currently administred by Louis-Gabriel Bonicoli (University at Albany), Catherine Kikuchi (École française de Rome) and Alissar Levy (École nationale des chartes). To begin with, we, along with members of this group, want to establish a "who's who" of scholars working on the subject, irrespective of their major, to facilitate the communication among them. The point is to make a list of who is working where on what with respect to Late Medieval and Early Modern books. It includes contact and research information to make it easy for everyone to get in touch with people working on a specific aspect of the subject, or on a particular corpus, or in nearby institutions, etc.
To encourage information sharing and news of recent or forthcoming publications and conferences on the various aspects of these books
Another side of this project is to encourage information sharing and news of recent or forthcoming publications and conferences on the various aspects of these books. This collective intelligence takes the form of a public calendar with short summaries about relevant events and publications. A private forum, intended for the project's members, has been designed to allow them to communicate more freely.
Sharing skills to improve each other's research
Finally, the Early Modern Book Project is about sharing skills to improve each other's research. Scholars interested in Late Medieval and Early Modern books come from a variety of academic backgrounds, each of them having their own expertise. With the publication of short bibliographies and the organization of informal workshops, we aim to share the technical knowledge relevant to the study of manuscripts and early printed books.
The project was conceived as an international scientific community. It is an association under the French law, but there are no physical headquarters and the project isn’t directly affiliated to any specific institution or country. It is designed to be supported by its members.
