Printing and Misprinting: Typographical Mistakes and Publishers’ Corrections (1450–1600)

Lincoln College, Oxford, 20 April 2018
Convenors: Geri Della Rocca de Candal and Paolo Sachet

This one-day symposium – opening with a keynote lecture by Anthony Grafton (Princeton) – aims to explore the notions of typos and manuscript or stop-press emendations in early modern print shops. Building on Grafton’s seminal work, scholars are invited to present new evidence on what we can learn from misprints in relation to publishers’ practices, printing and pre-publication procedures, and editorial strategies between 1450 and 1600. The subjects of investigation may include texts, images or mise en page, of both incunabula and sixteenth-century books issued in and outside Europe, stretching from the output of humanist printers to wide-ranging vernacular publications.

Particularly welcomed are case studies and comparative analysis of:
•manuscripts, proof sheets or printed copies retaining publisher’s preparatory interventions for a new edition
•extant copies of a faulty edition which was corrected by the publisher more or less systematically
•different faulty editions by the same publisher and/or of the same text
•developments of printed errata
•contemporary sources (e.g. paratextual material, scholarly correspondence and treatises) discussing typographical mistakes and publisher’s corrections

This call is open to established and early career scholars as well as PhD candidates. Papers must be delivered in English, not exceeding 20 minutes in length. If you wish to take part in this conference, please send your CV and proposal (max 300 words) to printing.misprinting@gmail.com no later than 16th October 2017.