Evolving Professional Practice
Politics of Learning: Dr. John Fell and the Fell Types at Oxford University in the Later Seventeenth Century
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session David Raizman
This paper examines the printing types both procured from Holland and commissioned in England by Bishop John Fell (1625-1686) for the Oxford University Press, published as a specimen in 1693 but in use at the press beginning in the later 1670s. The Fell Types are well-known to historians of type and print and have been the subject of numerous articles and books, culminating in a handsome folio volume compiled by Stanley Morison and published in 1967. Bishop Fell’s mission to assemble his types for the Oxford University Press required great energy and expense, and he encountered numerous obstacles and frustrations along the way, all the while serving as Dean of Christ Church College at Oxford, Vice-Chancellor of the University, and as bishop of Oxford from 1672. While the drawn-out process of assembling the Fell Types has been studied in great detail by printers and typophiles, my paper focuses upon the types in relation to the texts for which they were used and in comparison with contemporary institutionally-based publishing of the period in Europe such as the Imprimérie Royale in France and in Rome at the Vatican, of which Dr. Fell was well aware. A study of the Fell Types reveals the political and religious motivations for typographic innovation at Oxford, and the connections between publishing, typographic quality and authority in Restoration England. It also touches upon related issues of rights, privileges, and business practice in the printing industry.
Mediating Professional Scholarship. . . Again: Professionalization of Science and the Creation of Nineteenth-century Academic Journals
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Shawn Martin
In the digital age, technological change and evolving scholarly practices have transformed the ways in which university faculty communicate their work. Such a revolution, however, is not new. In the nineteenth-century United States, the need to create and to disseminate scholarship was just beginning to develop and evolve into the modern scholarly communication system. American scholars had long placed a strong emphasis on “practical” knowledge of use to industry, and in the nineteenth century, tied their own identities to professional middle-class scientific societies. By analyzing the socio-historical reasons for professionalization in the United States, particularly the creation of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Chemical Society (ACS), two of the earliest professional scientific societies, and by performing textual analysis of nineteenth-century American journals, such as the "American Journal of Science and the Journal," of the American Chemical Society, it becomes clear that American scientific scholarship was created as a professional activity tied to the market needs of a growing industrial economy. The question is, should scholarship remain the same in a changing social world?
The Franklin Library "Signed 60" and the Evolution of Twentieth-century Subscription Publishing
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Brian J McDonald
I explore one aspect of the evolution of twentieth-century subscription publishing by considering the Franklin Library, which was established in 1973 as a division of the Franklin Mint, the manufacturer and marketer of collectibles founded in 1964 by noted entrepreneur Joseph Segel. The Franklin Library (which closed permanently in the year 2000) produced books designed specifically for collectors, often printing classics and out-of-copyright texts with attractive bindings, high quality paper, and other decorative elements, selling them at a price reasonable enough to attract a mass market. In general, Franklin Library books were produced and marketed as part of series to which customers would subscribe, paying a set amount each month for which they would receive a new book from the series. I will specifically focus on the Franklin Library series known as the "Signed 60," a collection of limited editions by contemporary American writers (produced in the late 1970s to early 1980s), hand-signed by the authors, exploring the editorial, commercial, and manufacturing aspects of producing such a series.
