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Dear Colleagues,
For some time now, we in the Society for the History of Authorship,
Reading and Publishing have felt the need for a global, searchable
bibliography of book historical scholarship. Because the next SHARP
conference (3-8 July 2000 in Mainz, Germany) promises to attract a wide
range of scholars from many countries, it would be an ideal launching pad
for such a project. We therefore want to propose an open workshop at the
Mainz conference, where some initial planning and brainstorming for this
bibliography could be carried out. Right now everything is open to
discussion, but we can put on the table a few basic proposed guidelines.
First, this should be an on-line bibliography, easily available to all
scholars, searchable in several languages, continually updated and
corrected. It may never be published in any complete print edition.
Second, it should aim at universality, covering the entire field of book
history scholarship. (Of course, we will have to settle on a working
definition of book history.)
Third, while SHARP is taking the initiative here, this must not be
exclusively a SHARP project. It should be a collaborative effort open to
all book history and bibliographic societies, working as equal partners.
Mainz will be the place to discuss organization and funding, but first we
would like to have a sense of how much interest there is in this proposal.
Please contact me if you want to participate, and specify whether you (a)
might wish to speak at the Mainz workshop, (b) want to attend the workshop,
but as a listener rather than a speaker, or (c) cannot attend the Mainz
conference, but want to be involved in this enterprise. And we welcome any
suggestions, ideas, criticisms, or salutary warnings you may have to offer.
Cordially,
Prof. Jonathan Rose
Department of History
Drew University
Madison, NJ 07940, USA
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Telephone: 973-408-3545
Fax: 973-408-3768
[Other lists please copy.]
