The invention and relatively rapid dissemination of print in 15th- and 16th-century Western Europe did not replace manuscript culture. Whether in the form of draft manuscripts, letters and journals, note-taking, margin annotations, manuscript dissemination to escape control, or documentary records, the two media—print and manuscript—continued to coexist, intertwining and influencing each other in complex ways across the globe. In various regions, from Europe to Asia, Africa, and the Americas, manuscripts remained central to intellectual, cultural, and religious practices, often complementing or resisting the spread of print. Although recent scholarship has addressed this dynamic in specific contexts, manuscript production is still rarely considered as a distinct phenomenon in the early modern and modern periods across different cultures. This oversight neglects the profound impact manuscripts had on intellectual and cultural life worldwide, where they served as vessels for innovation, subversion, and the preservation of alternative voices. Moreover, it overlooks the materiality of manuscripts, which developed in specific local and regional contexts, conveying unique physical characteristics that shaped both the form and content of the works themselves.
The conference will explore these and other uses of manuscripts, welcoming contributions that address:
- Manuscript production and circulation during the early modern and modern periods
- Modern codicology and handwriting studies
- Print-to-manuscript and manuscript-to-print transitions and their coexistence
- Hybridization of the two media across different periods and regions
- Digital representation and analysis of such documents, including Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) and quantitative codicology
- Study and assembling of public and private archives and libraries
- Scholarly editing of manuscripts and hybrid documents
- Textuality of texts transmitted through manuscripts
- Social networks and manuscript production (e.g., how social relationships, patronage, and collaboration among scribes, authors, and intellectuals influenced manuscript production and content)
- Cross-cultural manuscript traditions (e.g., interactions between different manuscript practices and production centers, including trade, diplomacy, and scholarly exchanges across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and other regions)
- Censorship and media circulation
We also welcome contributions that examine the global persistence of manuscript culture alongside print in the early modern and modern periods, taking into account the diversity of manuscript traditions worldwide. This includes exploring how manuscripts remained essential for knowledge transmission, record-keeping, and resisting dominant discourses, even as print technologies became increasingly prevalent.Other topics such as the theory and practice of textual scholarship and digital textual scholarship will also be welcomed.
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